Cob: Re: Welcome Mother Nature

[Sarah Kopp]

OK, I know this post may not make me popular but I can't take any more of
this...

Building a house is all about shelter.  Most of what we want to be sheltered
from is nature.  Birds and bees are great in their environment, but not
necessarily in mine.  While building my strawbale house I was enchanted by
the birds who came in to strip random seed heads of grain; I nicknamed my
house "the birdhouse."  But birds bring mites and lice, and those insects
can carry diseases.  In fact my house was so badly infested with straw itch
mite that it was questionable if we would be able to move in this year when
it was completed.  How does getting 200 bites per day grab you as a great
way to share your home with Mother Nature?

I am building a house because I don't want to sleep outside worrying about
weather, bugs, snakes, etc while sleeping, eating and doing all the other
cozy activities that I do in my home.

Making your portion of earth a refuge for nature and wildlife is great -
birdhouses, bat houses, butterfly and bee attractors, amphibion habitats,
rare plant nursery all great stuff and you don't have to have them in your
house.  One meter away from your house, in your garden, they are sharing
your habitat.  In the walls of your house they are intruders.  Keep them in
their place and you and your home will be healthier and happier.

Sarah
Tsfat, Israel
-----Original Message-----
From: Bob <owl at steadi.org>
To: coblist at deatech.com <coblist at deatech.com>
Date: é"á àá úù"ñ 21:52
Subject: Cob: Welcome Mother Nature


>You have spoken to my heart. The ancient scriptures say "bread made with
>love is sweet. Bread made without love is bitter" to paraphrase its wisdom.
>Can we add, "a house in tune with life is a vital cloak that holds us in
>Mother Nature's arms." A machine build house has all the life squeezed out
>of it and often these days is filled with poisonous off-gassing adhesives
>and plastic carpets, covers and curtains..
>
> Shouldn't every cob house have cavities for birds nests built into them. I
>know my mosquito eating swallows would love that. Maybe the cliff swallows
>would too. Could I invite an owl to come and liven up the night, and
>morning doves to sing in the dawn and dusk. Perhaps you who have seen ants
>and wasps as invaders have forgotten we homo sapiens may be the invaders
>and they are just taking back a little territory.
>
>When we learn to love the creations of Mother Nature we can sing in the
>rain and catch the tingling snow flakes on our tongues like the hippo did
>in our local zoo. We can liberate ourselves from the feudalism of
>domineering machines and welcome gentle incursions of the wild creatures
>around us. If my walls are 14" thick certainly there is lots of room for
>squirrel and chipmunk burrows, too. What a joy it would be to wake up to
>the happy voices of Nature's living creatures in our windows and walls.
>
>Cob is much more than a low cost way to build a strong and lasting house.
>It is a bridge back to our ancient roots when our ancestors lived close to
>the soil and tuned their lives into the seasons, and meshed their daily
>chores with the living universe. Ianto Evens has made cob into cozy
>cottages curved in all the walls like the trees and boulders near by. Sun
>Ray Kelly has taken it further and sculpts buildings into pieces of art.
>Many who build today add sculpted decorations to their buildings. To these
>creative persons cob is an art form, a connection with the soul of life. To
>them the building process is a living working community. All that is
>missing is the singing that poured fourth from the spirit of former
>peasants as they moved together like a great coordinated living.being
>through their daily labors. Ianto's Welch blood must have flowed through
>song. I just don't know him well enough.
>
>When I build my house there will be no effort to keep out the wild
>invaders. It may have bee hives and special cavities opening not just for
>inside nooks but also openings to the out side of the walls. I can even
>imagine bird nest cavities with little glass windows I can look through
>from within the house to watch the hatchlings grow.
>
>Thank you Elke for awakening my primordial spirit.
>
>Bob Luitweiler
>
>
>