Cob: Cob Mixer Misunderstandings

[nature boy]

Well,

I have been enjoying this rapport about innovating cob
mixing until now. We are now well into
misunderstanding, so some clarification is in order.

Brian is on to an idea which is an attempt to
transcend the electric powered cob mixing which often
happens, especially on big projects. His idea is to
combine human foot power which normally mixes cob with
human brain power which can help this process become
more doable in cold, wet weather. 

Brian is encouraged by those of us in the Natural
Building Convergence who have a good deal of both
by-foot and by-mixer experience. His idea is
challenging but doable, and is offered in the spirit
of human-powered mixing. He certainly is not doing
this without respect for tradition or without advice
about how cob construction happens. He is part of the
Convergence organizing group and has support from a
good number of people who he is working with on
coordination, outreach, design, scheduling, and
logistics. He is also an avid bicycling activist who
is always ready to prove the value of human-powered,
geared leverage design.

This debate has been set off by the inevitable
miscommunications which arise when people communicate
without being in the same place, working together on
common projects. This email stuff is indeed a poor
excuse for communication, but it is where we find
ourselves at this time.

Ocean, I do think your language was a bit gruff, but
your point was made. Brian, I hope your idea turns out
to make the small electric mixer obsolete for use in
cobing, and as Pedro Ferbel says, let's use the same
principals also for washing our clothes and doing
other things we are wasting electricity and killing
fish for now.

Thanks,
Mark Lakeman

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