Upcoming Workshops
Firefly Gathering: Passive Solar Design & Natural Building Materials
When: June 20 – 23, 2013 
Where: Firefly Gathering
Click here for details.
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Complete Cob & Remodeling
When: July 12, 2013 – July 21, 2013 
Where: The Cob Cottage Company; Bandon/Coquille, OR
I will be co-teaching with Max & Eva Edleson of Firespeaking at this 10 day workshop; click here for details
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***ALL WORKSHOPS BELOW THIS POINT HAVE ALREADY PASSED***
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Clay Plasters & Paints on a Cob Oven & Bench
When: Saturday May 11, 2013 10am – 6pm 
Where: Growing Spirit Kids Camp; 3941 Mary Anne Point Rd. John’s Island, SC
What: Come out for a fun-filled day and help us to complete this little mud project at Willis’s Homestead. This is a Cob Oven & integrated Cob Benches made from all local, salvaged, and natural building materials. This project is for the Growing Spirit children’s camp.
This project has been built with volunteer labor and lots of love! Come out and help us finish up the project on Saturday May 11th from 10am – 6pm. Come for an hour or all day.
I will be teaching Clay Plasters, Clay Paints, Mosaics, and Finish…ing techniques using all local clay. These methods can be applied to conventional building as well (drywall, brick cinder block, etc.)
This is really fun, artistic work and very easy!
All of the hard, ‘grunt work’ is done and now it’s time to let your artistic side shine!
The cost is FREE!
We will end the day with an Oven Demonstration and cooking of personal size wood-fired pizzas! Please bring $10 if you plan to eat pizza.
Cool off & clean off in the fresh water pond at the end of the day!
Please RSVP and comment if you will be joining us for pizzas or not so that we know how many to plan for.
I hope to see you there!!!
All are welcome, please spread the word!
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Earthen Plasters, Paints, & Mosaics: Finishing Techniques for a Natural Wall
When: Sat April 27, 2013; 10am – 6pm & Sun April 28, 2013; 10am – 2pm
Adobe and Cob Wall Completed at 1st Workshop
Where: Brenda Starwalker’s Sukavah Bodeh
853 Farm Rd. St George. Ga. 31562
What: This is Part 2 of the Skillful Living Workshop listed below. In part 1 we constructed an Adobe and Cob Garden Wall. In this workshop, learn how to make ALL NATURAL plasters and paints from local clay, learn sculpting techniques, mosaics, and proper techniques for finishing and protecting a naturally built wall! Let your creativity shine!!!
Spring Equinox Natural Building Workshop, John’s Island, SC: March 23 – 24, 2013
Permaculture & Natural Building
North Florida’s first ever Permaculture and Natural Building event will take place from February 15th to the 18th at Brenda Starwalker’s Yurt Village AKA Yurt Ananda!
Brenda Starwalker’s Sukova Bodeh 853 Farm Rd., St. George, GA
Class cost is $75 for the weekend, per person. One class on Saturday and a repeat class on Sunday (if you attend the Saturday class, you are welcome to attend the Sunday class at no further cost.
This natural garden wall will serve as the entry way into Sukova Bodeh, a future yoga and meditation space.
The wall will be an arched, 16′ wide x 8′ tall, curvy & organic structure with integrated benches and art.
Day 1 – Project Adobe: Saturday 16th 10:00am – 5 pm
In a hand’s-on approach to learning, learn how to:
- design and construct an Adobe wall made from all local & natural materials
- proper foundation techniques and the best building methods for the local climate
- construct buttresses and other stabilizing techniques for hurricane & seismic design
- integrate rough cut round wood into the wall as a structural element
- create arched openings
- integrate windows, colored bottles, and more!
Day 2 – Project Cob: Sunday 17th 9am – 4pm
In a hand’s-on approach to learning, learn how to:
- design and build with Cob using all local & natural materials
- use Cob as a sculpting material over the Adobe wall to create soft curves, shapes, seats, and more!
- sculpt profile and relief work into the Cob to create interesting ‘wall art’
- integrate mosaics into the Cob
- finishing techniques to smooth and fine tune
- protection techniques for long-lasting Cob in the local climate
Bonus Stuff!!!: Get a Yoga-ssage when you feel stiff. On-site there will be a trained natural healer ready to help work out the kinks. A reasonable price will be set at the site.
See an evening concert in the Yurt! There will be a concert and supper at the yurt after the day’s events! Talk to like-minded people around the roaring campfire.
This is the first of it’s kind in our area. Please consider supporting the efforts of those coordinating this event and consider coming.
THERE IS A LIMIT OF 20 PASSES DUE TO A CAPACITY CONSTRAINT.
YOUR SPACE IS SAVED ONCE YOU HAVE PAID FOR THE CLASS, SO PLEASE PAY IN ADVANCE TO BE SURE YOU CAN ATTEND. Please inquire about work-trade options 904-537-9876 Thank you!
To Pay: Please go to PayPal and send your payment to alexojeda@mac.com.
Cost: $75 each class
In your Paypal screen, please let us know what you are intending to attend so that we can mark you down, or you can get payment to us by emailing us alexojeda@mac.com and arranging a mailed check or a meeting.
If you are interested in camping or staying in one of the buildings (Yurt and Yome) on the property, please call Brenda Starwalker (her real name 
904-699-5172
Spread the word!
Natural Building: Outdoor Kitchen!!! CobOven,Wood-Fired Stoves, Cob Countertops & More!!!
When: Saturday 10:00 am - Sunday 2:00 pm; November 3-4, 2012
Where: Jacksonville, FL; Tim Armstrong’s 40 acre farm http://eatyouryardjax.com/
What: Come and join us as we build an outdoor kitchen for Tim’s farm! There will be a cob pizza oven, several other kinds of wood-fired stoves, cob countertops & shelving, wine bottle work and more! We will not finish the job all in 1 weekend, but we will have a variety of tasks happening all at once.
Cost: $75
Other details: Primitive camping available at Tim’s farm; dinner provided Saturday night. Come and experience Tim’s farm which includes great Permaculture examples as well as Aquaponics! Get muddy, sit around a camp fire, and learn how to build with natural materials with your own two hands!!!
Email me if interested: akatmagill@gmail.com
outdoor kitchen at the hostel in the forest
Natural Building: Earthen Plasters & More! September 15th
Come and join us for a fun (and muddy!) Saturday at The Hostel in the Forest in Brunswick, GA (3 hrs from Charleston)!!!!!!
April Magill, founder of Root Down Desgns, will be leading the group as we work to complete the massage studio started during the MUDDY WEEKEND RETREAT in July (view photos here). In the July workshop we built with Cob, Wattle-n-Daub, Wine Bottle work, and several other methods.
Come and join us on September 15th as we finish out the Earth work, transform, and beautify this structure through various Natural Building methods; learn how to:
earthen plaster
~ Bas Relief work
~ prep and prepare earthen walls for finish plasters
~ Earthen Plaster (clay plaster)
~ Earthen Paints (clay paint)
~……..and much more!!!
Participants will learn how to turn local soil and sand into building materials! We will sculpt, design, and create together! All participants will gain the knowledge and confidence to return home and begin their own Natural Building projects!
Make a weekend of it and enjoy the pristine, beautiful, vast forests….hiking trails, swimming lakes, tree houses, and so much
sculpting/bas relief
more @ The Hostel in the Forest!
Schedule:
MUD WORK! – 9:30am – 6pm (bring a lunch and enjoy it while sitting next to the pool or lake)
Dinner & a tree house (lodging) provided by The Hostel in the Forest Saturday night
Cost:
mosaic work
$75/person for Workshop which includes accommodation and dinner for Saturday night, all materials and instructions for the workshop
What else???
When you’re not building with mud, enjoy hiking through 133 acres of forested land, swimming in a fresh water lake, kayaking and canoeing, camping in a tree house, walking through the labyrinth, sitting next to the camp fire, and cooking in a cob kitchen!!! And much much more!!!
I hope to see you there!!!
To learn more about The Hostel in the Forest and to sign up for the workshop, visit http://www.foresthostel.com/
Natural Building: Muddy Weekend Retreat, July 13-15th
Come and join us for a fun (and muddy!) weekend at The Hostel in the Forest in Brunswick, GA (3 hrs from Charleston)! April Magill founder of Root Down Desgns will be leading the group through an exploration of how we can build using local & natural materials! April will teach a hand’s on building practice using several different Natural Building methods. Techniques such as Cob, Wattle-n-Daub, Bamboo Wall/Cob Infill, Mosaic and Bottle Work, Earthen Plaster, and more will be taught and discussed. Participants will learn how to turn local soil and sand into building materials and how to harvest and use resources from the site such as Bamboo! We will sculpt, design, and create together! All participants will gain the knowledge and confidence to return home and begin their own Natural Building projects!
Schedule:
Arrive Friday afternoon/evening, July 13th
Dinner followed by a Presentation by April on Natural Building; Question & Answer session; Discussions about Building Codes and other Issues
Saturday work day 9am – 6pm (with lunch break)
Sunday partial work day 9am – 2pm (mid-morning snack)
Cost:
$100/person for Workshop which includes accommodation, brunch and dinner during your stay, and all materials for the workshop
What else???
When you’re not building with mud, enjoy hiking through 133 acres of forested land, swimming in a fresh water lake, kayaking and canoeing, camping in a tree house, and cooking in a cob kitchen!!! And much much more!!!
I hope to see you there!!!
To learn more about The Hostel in the Forest and to sign up for the workshop, visit http://www.foresthostel.com/
AWENDAW GREEN!!! Wood-Fired Pizza Oven ~ Community-Build Workshop!!!
What is an Earthen Oven?
An ‘Earthen Oven’ is an oven which cooks from retained heat (fueled by small kindling) and is made from a mixture of clay, sand, and staw. The foundation is composed of all recycled/salvaged materials (all local to the region). This style of cooking is indigenous to many cultures all over the world and still used by many cultures today. Being that these ovens are made of clay; they ‘breathe’….creating the most delicious, crispy outside-moist inside, kind of food you can taste! From 3 minute pizzas, to Thanksgiving Turkeys…the Earth Oven can cook anything your conventional oven will….just better!!!
Check out Michael Pollan’s New York Times article about his Earth Oven Experience!
Why Awendaw Green???
Well, we all know Eddie White, right? Eddie has created Awendaw Green and the Wednesday night Barn Jams; community-events, donations only…bring your lawn chair and a cooler, kick back and listen to live music. Eddie wants us to have happy stomachs, so 3 minute pizzas sound like the way to go! Community Ovens also mean….if you have something to cook, throw it in! Wood-fired and tasty!
Check out my blog, as well as this page, for more info on this awesome oven we will be constructing, as well as recipes from my own back yard oven!
“The Earth Oven just makes cooking fun again!” ~ Anne Pugh Jones
What You Will Get By Attending This Workshop
~ An introduction into Natural Building, the materials, and techniques
~ Learn how to build one of these ovens in your own backyard!
~ A small-scale, hand’s-on, learning opportunity for what can be done at much larger scales
~ An opportunity to build, side-by-side, with other members of our community
~ Feel good about supporting such a good cause, and help make it possible for more Community-Built Project to happen around Charleston!
What to Expect
- Be prepared to get MUDDY!!!
- Show up between 9am – 10am; enjoy some coffee and meet your fellow mud builders. We’ll get started at 10am and keep going until 6pm, or until we’re and tired and feel like stopping
- we’ll get the first two layers of the oven built as well as a roof structure; it will take another 1 or 2 sessions to complete the whole oven.
- Directions: http://www.awendawgreen.com/contact-and-directions/ pull into the Sewee Outpost and then head right, across the field. You’ll see a shady area with an old barn, this is us!
- Food: bring a cooler with whatever food and beverages you’d like
- $$$: Suggested $20 Donation ~ Kids are free!
As much as I’d like to work for free, the real world will not allow me to do so. Past workshops have allowed me to see that it takes 80+ hours of my time to coordinate, promote, plan, gather materials, teach, clean up, etc. + gas back and forth from the site + any last minute materials we cannot find salvaged. My intention and goal is to provide this service FREE and OPEN to the public!!! Your generous donation will allow me to create more events like this in the future.
- Come for the day, come for a short time… just come! Bring the kids, make a day out of it, have fun!
please shoot me a quick email…just so I can have a GENERAL idea of how many people we will have. Be sure to check out the links I posted up above for pictures from past workshops and more info on these ovens.I hope to see you there! Happy Muddin’!!!
Sponsors
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to the following generous sponsors who are helping to make this event a reality. Please be sure to support these folks when you can!
The Gullah Geechee Angel Network
Thank you BUCK LUMBER for our oven roof supplies!!!
…and Thank you Rebecca at the SUSTAINABLE WAREHOUSE for the roof metal!!!
