Building your house and being organized

[goshawk at gnat.net]

> Date:          Sun, 20 Apr 1997 02:34:43 -0700 (PDT)
> From:          "Shannon C. Dealy" <dealy at deatech.com>
> To:            coblist at deatech.com
> Subject:       Nader Khalili (fwd)
> Reply-to:      coblist

> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Sat, 19 Apr 1997 10:34:11 -0400 (EDT)
.My wife and I were sitting down the other day attempting to get this 
task of building our house in to some kind of perspective so we can 
begin the actual  process of  building.  Going to workshops and such 
are very good ways to get ready and to expand your  knowledge and 
skills but eventually the day comes when it is time to build. The 
task can sometimes feel overwhelming. I know that my wife and I are
up the task but at the same time I know  it is going to be a major 
event in our lives. I remember Nader telling me that we would not be 
the same people when we finished our house.
 
Now  most forms of earth building are labour intensive They also lend 
themselves to flexible work schedules:  if you plan in advance. For 
example  always keep a pit of cob ready so you can for even an hour 
or two a day.   I feel the cob  works best when it has had a chance to sit for a bit before being 
worked. I work at home and often will only have an hour or two that I 
can put into the  house. If my  building material is prepared in 
advance then I can go down an load up the old  wheel barrel  and work for an 
hour or two.
 
Now what about getting help in either the form of friends and 
neighbours or hell you might even try to put on your own 
mini-workshops and include some general instructions to go  along with the 
"hands on" experience.  Regardless, you will need to be even more 
organized in this case.  When working with a crew of folks you need 
to put some folks to work just making sure that the folks who are 
building have everything they need. (keep that cob a coming). Maybe 
you need to keep two pits going, one to work from and one soaking and 
getting  ready.

Now building with earth is an inherently organic process. Leave 
production schedules and such to the building developers. Yes you 
need to get done but take the time as you are building to stop and 
think is there anything I want to add or change. We actually plan on 
cooking a meal in our "kitchen" when only the foundation is in place. 
We want to get the "feel" of the room. Then we can say let's add a 
cubby hole here to put spices or something. Because building with 
earth is such an organic process you can almost grow a house rather 
than build it. It grows as  you get ideas while building and takes 
advantage of earth's flexibility.  

Now we live in a rather rural setting and live in a one room 
trailer. We anticipate (hopefully!) that some folks might want to 
spend the weekend working and learning and sharing. Thus we want to 
add some fun in the works too. Don't burn out the help. I think I've 
heard the cob folks sometimes play music when making cob. Great idea.
We plan on cooking lots of good food and having bon fires and nights 
to socialize. Keep some musical instruments on hand. A little singing 
and dancing after a day of building can be wonderful. This is a 
good time to talk out ideas that may have occurred while working 
during the day. Adding a little fun helps encourage folks  to come 
back and help again. Plus it  is keeping in the spirit of building 
with earth. 

My wife came up with a good idea. She plans on taking the photo of 
everyone who helps out and in our central dome (a 22 foot diameter 
earth dome) she will circle the whole thing with photos of these 
folks building.  We called it the circle of hearts because it will 
represent all the people who made the dream possible. Building is 
what forms community and community is what I think a lot of us are 
looking for today. Community with each other and Community with 
Mother Earth.

See you'all  at the clay pit.

Pat and Carroll Newberry 
Mauk, Georgia.

"If you don't have enouph madness in you, go and rehabilitate yourself" - Rumi