Well, well, well! It’s been many a year since Culture’s Edge at Earthaven hosted a natural building camp. But this August (24-29), we once again are offering a full six-day adventure into the world of cob and its sophisticated cousin, compressed earth block.

Both cob and the blocks are started with the same basic ingredients—a good, clay-y soil, and sand. Cob, however, also has a significant amount of straw crushed into it and is put on quite wet in cobs, or loaves. Compressed earth blocks are made without additional water or straw, and often a small amount (ten percent) of Portland cement is used in the mix.

The other big difference is that the neat rectangular blocks are made by a big machine requiring mechanical power, and are set in place with an earthen mortar, whereas cob can be made by a pair of folks and a tarp (although it can also be mixed several other ways) and requires no mortar at all.

Since cob is a basically seamless material, the way the molecules adhere to each other depends especially on the water and the straw in the mix. Ideally, the soil is soaked in water ahead of time to allow the molecules to fully absorb the water and become as sticky as possible. The straw acts like a crisscross of fibrous “nails” that interweave the cob mix and make it the most solid of natural building materials. Another similar earthen material is adobe brick, which is a hand-made version that is pressed wet into forms. Adobe brick thus takes significant drying time to use and is probably in its best setting in dry climates.

At this year’s Natural Building Camp, participants will be working on a cob and block tower for the new Village Arts Building at Earthaven. The recently built rubble trench foundation with its two-foot stacked stone base wall will take a couple of rounds of cob and then be continued with the earth blocks.

The Camp will begin with a comprehensive tour of natural and green buildings at Earthaven, featuring a wide variety of traditional and experimental techniques. Our experienced staff and natural building interns will be on hand to demonstrate, teach and guide participants through the basics of hands-on natural building. There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion, plus all the good things about summer camp—group meals, walks in the woods, dips in the creek, and starry nights around the campfire.

As the famous cob builder, Becky Bee, explains in the documentary First Earth, there’s nothing like natural building to bring people of all skill levels together, creating the very sense of community we seek by the process we use to do it. We’re very excited to be reintroducing this delightful approach to housing ourselves and our activities to the public. Folks are welcome to sign up for the entire six day camp or to come just for the weekend. More information is available at www.culturesedge.net.

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Culture’s Edge

We have also become the umbrella organization for independent educational projects, including the Forest Children Program, Camp Katuah, The Natural Building School, Patricia Allison and Friends’ Sustainable Living Skills internships and classes, and a program we simply call Earthaven Ecovillage, our volunteers who host tours and facilitate long-term on-site work study opportunities.

This year we are planning to sponsor workshops in Qigong, The Power of Manifestation, Homeopathy, and Plant Wisdom.  See www.earthaven.org for a listing of current classes.  Tax-deductible donations of any size can be earmarked for any of these programs.  You can support scholarships for education, or tell us that you want us to use your donation wherever it’s most needed for education and outreach.

Culture’s Edge was established as a not-for-profit company in 1996, shortly after Earthaven was formed. Culture’s Edge was a way to focus our passion for education and create opportunities for livelihood.  At first we offered courses in the three areas central to our own development: permaculture, natural building, and consensus decision making.  Over time, training in the agricultural arts, building arts, communication arts, and healing arts were added, filling almost every weekend from May through October for several years running.

While focusing on internal reorganization in 2006, we slowed down and most of the classes held that year were privately organized.  This past year, the introduction of Health Dept. requirements into Earthaven’s midst (see article, Are You Hep?) cut short our educational calendar for the season, which, though hard on the village economy, did give us the opportunity to consider how our future plans might branch out.  In particular, we feel excited about expanding longer-term internship programs, in which the opportunities for life changing experiences are the greatest.

This year, Culture’s Edge is offering the courses and programs that nurture a healthy & sustainable world and offer you practical solutions.  Our programs are taught by a dynamic team of instructors and contribute to Earthaven’s village economy.

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