It's been over three months since hosting a week-long intensive Cob & Natural Building workshop with Michael G. Smith. I think we are nearly recovered. Hosting a workshop like this is a big commitment, and a lot of work. For anyone who may be contemplating hosting such a workshop, or curious about why we did and what it entailed, this is for you. Ever since we attended a cob workshop in May 2009, we knew we wanted to host one. Our reasons for hosting a workshop were to make our house building an educational experience for others and to make a big push on the cob walls of our house. After going through it, we realize that probably the biggest reason to host this workshop should have been having Michael involved. Michael has been with us through the design phase and there to consult with us as various questions and situations arise. Michael is also a phenomenol natural building instructor. We were blown away by how he kept the weeklong course varied, interesting, and energetic till the end.

There were slightly over 20 people that attended, including about 7 locals and 5 work traders that had been staying with us for a while. We had people come from as far and wide as Rhode Island, Texas, North Carolina, and Alaska.

The most obvious reason to host a workshop, from an outside perspective, is that we made a big push to raise the walls of our cob and straw bale house--we got a lot done that week with all the extra feet and hands.

An unexpected bonus was the participation from locals and the community. We had a number of locals take the workshop, come to Michael's slideshow at the Community Center, and host us for a local home tour. It was awesome to see our fellow community members excited and inspired by Michael and the workshop.

For food we hired our neighbor to cater. It was essential for us to not have to worry about this aspect of the workshop. Nieves and Sierra, our neighbors and cooks, served up hearty and healthy vegetarian meals for lunch and dinner.

Breakfast was a self-serve assortment of yogurt, granola, eggs, etc. We had a nice space to eat under a big top tent and meals were a great time for socializing and getting to know each other.

At the end of the week, Michael asked a couple participants to volunteer to organize a house-warming celebration. This was perhaps the biggest highlight of the week for us. The work space was cleaned up, seating arranged, and friends, neighbors, and workshop attendees gathered to put some good energy into the rising building.

People shared their gifts - whether this be creating a fire from only natural materials (this ceremony was my favorite part - thanks so much Ryan!),
singing songs, playing instruments, and dancing.

We had an amazing group of people there to help build the walls of our house, and then warm them up with fire, friendship, and good wishes.

It was a lot of work to get ready for the workshop and to host so many people, but it's something we're committed to. For us, it makes our house bigger than us. It's now a vehicle for learning and inspiring others. We can't express how grateful we are to everyone who came and gave their energy to this project.

We hope to do it again next year. Look for more details here at at http://www.sustainabilityschool.us. (p.s. If you're thinking of hosting a workshop and want more of the nitty-gritty details, leave a comment here and we can talk more.)
(Photos by me and Nick Gabinet. Thanks Nick!)