[Cob] cob in western Carolina

[Nancy Striniste]

I am a landscape designer who specializes in creating natural playspaces for children.  I'm in northern VA and have worked with Ed Raduazzo on a some wonderful whimsical cob playhouses, benches and garden walls-- a great way to expose people to the concept of natural building.

Next week I'm going to Asheville, NC to present a workshop to a group of early childhood teachers on natural building.  This is part of a bigger teacher training event on outdoor learning environments.  These are all teachers from the western part of the state, and I will be showing them lots of pictures and describing the process, then doing a hands on activity where they will build little fairy houses out of cob-- just so they get their hands and feet in mud.  After the conference is over, I will be returning to Virginia-- and leaving behind lots of teachers who are (hopefully) excited about the idea of natural building to enhance their outdoor playspaces.  

I'm wondering if there are people on this list who are in western Carolina and who could be available to help schools, preschools and childcare centers who might be interested in doing some natural building on their playgrounds. These might be paid or volunteer projects-- I would love to be able to direct teachers to local natural building resource people

Thanks in advance!

Nancy Striniste