Cobalicious

The interns are in the middle of their first natural building project - COB!  We have a structure on-site called the Hops Teepee, though if you look closely, you won't find any hops growing.  Once upon a time it did contain hops vines, however now Olive trees reign over the teepee.

View from the outside: Interns already hard at work

The Hops Teepee is basically a circular bench made from concrete.  Growing out of the top the bench are olive trees.  The bench itself is quite worn, falling apart, and in desperate need of repair.  In a situation as dire as this, who you gonna call??!

Backside of the bench wearing away

Miguel from Living Earth Structures!!  Miguel arrived to repair the bench and teach us all about cobbing.  It's a somewhat time-sensitive project as SLI is hosting a wedding this coming Saturday.  Fingers crossed we can finish it in time!  (The rainy weather is not helping one bit.)

So ... a little bit about cob.  Cob is a mixture of earthen matter: clay, sand and straw:

Cutting up straw to mix in with our clay &sand

You mix all of these ingredients together and literally mold your structure from it. If you've ever taken ceramics in school, it's kinda like that.  (Kinda.)  Cob structures provide a lot of thermal mass, which makes homes built from this material incredibly energy efficient.  It will keep your house cool in the summer and warm in the winter.  We have a few cob buildings on site and it still amazes me how they can stay warm/cold exactly when you'd want them to be without the help of a heater or AC.  (Kinda makes you wonder why more buildings aren't built using earth.)  OK now I'm going on a tangent ... back to the Hops Teepee.

Here's David covering up some of the gnarly holes in the bench.  As you can see, it really needs to be repaired.  Definitely not fit for a wedding!

David: In the Zone

Looking better by the minute.

Here are a few shots of the bench from the inside:  Cassie working hard repairing the seat....

  .... And Miguel smoothing out the rough patches.  Looking good!  

After we finished repairing the damaged areas, we put a layer of lime plaster to smooth out the surface and is the first step in sealing the bench.  After that's done, we'll add one final layer of sealant which we can tint and use as a natural stain.  Pretty cool.  Right now, thought, we're waiting for the rain to stop so we can forge ahead.  Stay tuned!