Developing a network of friends can be a big help for achieving your dream of home ownership. A quick search on Meetup.com for ‘earthbag’, just one of numerous social networking sites, turned up the following groups that may prove helpful.
Texas Natural Builders “This group is for anyone interested in Natural Building. We explore and experiment with strawbale, cob, cordwood, pallets, rammed earth, earthbags, wattle and daub, papercrete, earthships, adobe, and all other natural building methods. This group is not centered around the Waller location — it is intended for all of Texas locations and all members can set their own meetups in their areas!”
Portland Natural Building Group “Meet other locals who explore a variety of building techniques that use in-situ materials for housing: earth, clay, cob, rammed earth, earthbag, straw bale, wattle & daub, round wood, bamboo.”
Another search on Meetup.com (again, just one possible site to consider) for ‘natural building’ turned up dozens of groups in Chicago, Vancouver, Great Lakes, Syracuse, Louisville, Los Angeles, San Diego and elsewhere. Some groups seem more interested in permaculture or holistic living, but you might find some people with common interests in natural building.
Search for ‘earthbag’ or ‘natural building’ on Facebook and you’ll find loads of interesting sites and most likely find others with common interests who live nearby.
Thank you Owen!!!! I am very honored to be mentioned by you!!
I’m glad you mentioned facebook for different earthbag projects, there are a lot. One good one I’d like to point out is the “Earthbag Builders” group. It’s the most interactive.
An australian builder created it a few years ago, and in the past year it’s got pretty active. Just thought I’d drop that in!
The link is pretty long, but here it is: http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/39495056171/
Thanks, Luke. I’ll take a look. Somehow I missed that one.
Update: That’s a very good site. I plan to post it on our blog soon.