Visit some good friends of Blue Rock Station...

The Complete Straw Bale/ Earthship Workshop

(7 Days)

July 3rd-9th, 2010  

When we were looking to learn how to build with straw bales, we were disappointed that our only choices seemed to be to attend very expensive workshops out west somewhere (one-week courses usually start around $750) that assumed I wanted to become a contractor.  

We felt that there were many (like us) who wanted to understand the skills involved and perhaps get our feet wet (or our hands dirty) with smaller projects before getting overwhelmed with the complexities of traditional contracting and project management.

Well, it turns out we were right.  Literally 100’s of folks have made the trek to Blue Rock Station to learn sustainable building and living techniques.

Many straw bale projects are simply conventional buildings (and building techniques) than incorporate straw bales as “fill.”  Our projects focus more on the “green” in green building (or maybe it’s just that we are cheap).   So we will use recycled and recovered materials where ever possible.

This basic project incorporates most of  the skills and techniques that you will need to tackle much bigger things (like building your own Earthship or building that dream mansion out of straw bales).  But the scale of our project is small enough for a beginning “green builder” to learn all the useful techniques for big or small building projects - without being overwhelmed.   

It is a great opportunity to see IF you enjoy the process enough to tackle a larger process - and also gives you the unique opportunity to compare Earthship building techniques with straw bale building techniques (there are advantages and disadvantages in both).

Also the Firefly (which is the name of the small cabin we will be working on) is pretty cool all by itself and makes a great garden shed, play house, guest room or hunting cabin. Its simple yet effective design (a 12’x10’ footprint) minimizes materials - costing only about $700 if you buy all the materials new (but we encourage you to scrounge what you need, so your costs may be even less if you decide to build this project).

This seminar will walk you through the entire process of building a straw bale structure using a pounded tire foundation.   This is the same technique we used when building our Earthship - just using the rammed earth as a foundation rather than completing it to full wall height.

We will begin with site preparation, building a foundation, framing the structure, building walls using straw bales, building walls and free standing structures using cans and bottles, and the various aspects of earth plastering.

As part of this seminar, you will be provided with complete step-by-step design and construction plans to build your own structure (so don’t worry about taking notes).

The Workshop Agenda includes:

• Orientation/ quick tour of Blue Rock Station
• Site selection and preparation
• Tire selection and basic Earthship construction concepts
• The Art and Science of pounding tires
• Water issues and “French” drains
• Concrete “half-tires”
• Installing the sill plates and locking it all together
• more water-proofing
• Framing the structure.
• How to build a “Living Roof”
• Securing the base row of bales to the foundation
• Cutting and retying bales to size.
• Cutting saplings to girdle the bales.
• Lashing the bales to the saplings.
• Theory of straw bale, load bearing versus non-load bearing
• Water issues (keeping the bales dry)
• The theory and practical uses of can/bottle walls (such as pillars, walkway boarders, small garden buildings, etc).
• How to mix the lime plaster (exterior) and mud plaster (interior).
• Forming bottle walls within conventional framing.
• Forming “free floating” bottle/can walls.
• Using cans and bottles as part of a straw bale or tire wall.
• Exterior coating for outdoor walls and structures.
• How to mix the various coats, including cobb, base coat, scratch coat, finish coat and exterior coats (areas exposed to the weather).
• Applying cobb (or adobe).
• Applying the base coat.
• Applying the scratch coat.
• Applying the finish coats.
• Creating shelves or other free-form objects
• Finishing and sealing options.
• Field trips to other area sustainability projects, giving a taste of various approaches taken in living life aware.

Given the size and nature of this project, we can cover the work site in a canopy - so the event will proceed rain or shine (and believe me, after pounding tires for several hours it is the “shine” you are more worried about).

Also, as many of the steps within this project require time to dry - we will work on several projects that demonstrate the skills necessary (in other words, we won’t build one straw bale building start to finish.  We will have to do the final finish application on another project).

Come prepared to work hard, have fun, discuss politics, eat terrific locally grown food (lunches and snacks are provided), make friends, sweat, have a proper cup of tea - then sit in the shade and admire all you have accomplished.

In the evening there are often social events (around the camp fire) so bring your musical instruments if you are so inclined.

Workshop logistics (such as what to bring, where to stay, meals, local attractions, directions, and the like). Options include staying in straw bale cabins at Blue Rock Station, camping on site, camping at a local state park, nearby bed & breakfasts, hotels - you name it.  Give us a call to arrange accommodations.

Class size is limited to 11 students, so please reserve your spot early.  You will also see below that deep discounts are available to those who register early.  

For reservations, call us at (740) 674-4300, e-mail annie@bluerockstation.com  or register instantly and pay by credit card by clicking the little buttons below...

July Workshop:

July Workshop: