Over the last two months I’ve watched the walls of my home grow taller each day, inching closer to the sky with each handful of earth. As the house unfurls it’s personality is beginning to take shape, given life by all the individuals who’ve spent time here. Working through the peak summer temperatures, so many people have already put their love and energy into this building. Its something you can feel now when you step inside.
Once again my mind returns to the differences there can be between natural building and conventional construction. Is it the method itself? Its slow and intimate, with each cob worked into the wall by hand, no barriers between clay and skin, a free flow of energy from body to earth. Maybe its the relaxed atmosphere of the work site, no loud machinery, just conversation and laughter… or sometimes no voices at all, just the birds and the bugs and the wind. A house built that way has to end up feeling like a home, comforting and nurturing.
Whatever the reason, whenever I walk over to the house site now, I feel everyone’s personalities there. I have been so lucky to have so many amazing people here to build with. I miss everyone so much when they leave, but am comforted knowing that a little piece of each person stays with me here in this house. What a gift!
liz and tanya
tanya, alli and liz on the balecob wall
joe
tanya and joe
max
steve and joe
With everyone’s help, the first floor is pretty much finished. The windows and lintels are all in, and the walls are up to the final height. Once the sawmill down the road cuts the lumber we ordered (which was supposed to be here a week ago) we’ll be laying the floor. And then the second story begins…
Here’s some recent photos:
the first lintel
down the path...
windows
earthen acres 