Cob Construction and Permaculture

[canid]

today i attended an open house at a company here in oregon who builds cob homes and trains others. i'm applying for an apprenticship program for the summer to learn the skills.

in addition, another group located next door was holding tours for their homesteading and forest permaculture projects that was informative and introduced me to a few people i would like to speak with at length.

this is a lot of hippie stuff, which is of course right up my street, but that aside, these are people with a lot more building and food production experience than i've ever had and i'm looking forward to the opportunity to learn.

it looks like this may be what i'm doing this summer:

http://i602.photobucket.com/albums/tt106/canid/cob%20cottage%20and%20mountain%20homestead/th_mthomestd001.jpg (http://s602.photobucket.com/albums/tt106/canid/cob%20cottage%20and%20mountain%20homestead/?action=view&current=mthomestd001.jpg)
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i truly hope this works out, and if not, i think i'll take any opportunity to even volunteer with them just to sneak what learning i can home with me ;)

[Rick]

Great subject. You don't have to want to live in that type of house to appreciate the principles of design they offer. I'm certain you'll gain a lot of information from them (that you'll in turn share with us. Sort of an apprenticeship by proxy).

Good stuff. Go for it!

[crashdive123]

Very interesting stuff. I watched a program on building cob homes a while back, and it is not a bad skill to possess. Good luck.

[gryffynklm]

Cob construction is very old there are homes in England cobbed with flint and have stood for 400 years. Fascinating construction, I hope they accept your application.