The Cob Mob, Karyn Stillwell Temple and Jason Temple, retrofitted their little cottage’s sheet metal fireplace with a Rocket Stove thermal mass heater.
The stove features a heated day bed/sitting platform and utilizes the existing chimney flue.
“The heated day bed/seat coming out into the room works well for this space; it gently partitions the room into two spaces. At the end of a hard day’s work the day bed is THE place to find me sprawled out on my back, healing my sore muscles. Our heat seeking Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy also covets the stove and spent every winter evening laying on it when we weren’t. In this photo he is forgoing the soft pillows in favor of the serious heat coming through the blanket (necessary after 4 hours of firing). This picture was actually taken the morning after a firing, everything is still hot.” - Jason Temple
Karyn and Jason live in Australia, where they share their knowledge and passion for cob. They offer design consultation and assistance to those involved with natural building projects, and work with schools and community groups to develop cob projects that improve their local environment, get people working together and having fun.
Brian, a.k.a Ziggy, has asked me to publish his Cob House Work Exchange at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, in Rutledge, Missouri for the fall of 2008. The house you’ll help build, if you so choose, is a spiral-shaped structure composed entirely of cob (a mix of sand, clay, and straw), complete with a reclaimed urbanite foundation and a living reciprocal roof. Good Luck Ziggy!
I’ve been enjoying the latest newsletter articles by Coenraad Rogmans over at House Alive!. In the article, Building with Sand, Straw and Clay, Coenraad talks about the many variations of the magical mixture of these ingredients. There is a spectrum of ratios that create different variations of these base materials. Including cob, light clay, wattle and daub, bale walls, bale cob, earthen floors, plasters, renders, and paints . Within each application one would use a different ratio for a particular result. Say for instance you are working on a cob wall with built in niches. Ianto Evans teaches about corbel cobs. Cob with long stocks of straw for added tensile strength. Another is light clay, a mixture of straw tossed like a salad with the dressing being clay slip, or watered down clay. Or for an earthen oven a sand clay mixture. You can see how versatile it can be! Continue…
Path to Freedom is a very inspiring website, and cast of characters. The Dervaes turned their urban 1/5 acre lot in to a organic micro-farm; producing 55 to 85% of there own food. They are leading by example. Challenging us to become local, to connect with nature, think about our lifestyle and what is happening with our food supply.
It is our responsibility to know how to feed ourselves. Instead of marching down to the local mega-chain market, seek out local farmers, farmers markets or plant seeds in your kitchen window sill. No lawns left behind… start to mulch your yard; preparing the soil for a new life as a food producing garden. Learn about permaculture and plants that will grow in your bioregion. There are few things we really need. If our bellies are full all else is possible.
If you want to be a revolutionary - grow your own food!
Radon is a naturally occurring, colorless, odorless gas that comes from the soil of the earth. It’s a radioactive noble gas that is formed from the decay of radium. Homes can have high concentrations of Radon, creating a unhealthy air quality. In fact it’s the the number 2 cause of lung cancer in the U.S. If your thinking about new construction plan in installing a Radon mitigation system. It’s relatively inexpensive and easy to do. I’ve discovered a great resource on the EPA website about Building Radon Out [ PDF 5.5 MB], a how-to for contractors or DIY’s. Though I didn’t see a section on earthen floors and radon mitigation it does cover other types of flooring systems. Continue…
