small-scale: life in an ecovillage

I haven’t been reading quite as much these past couple of weeks, but one book I have been picking up regularly is The Hand-Sculpted House. It’s all about cob building, design, and philosophy, and it’s extremely well-written and informative. Very inspiring, too.

It’s been really interesting to read about cob and its history and to learn what people are capable of doing with just a little bit of sand, clay, water, and straw. Cob is a very accessible building medium, and the book is very encouraging because it doesn’t assume you have any building experience of any sort. There are stories of cob cottages built with only $500 and homes constructed by complete novices over the course of a single season.

I’m enjoying the book quite a bit and it’s been increasing my interest in cob as I continue to work with Ironweed in their own cob kitchen. I’ve been mulling over all of the different possibilities of cob - one of the great things about it is its elasticity and shaping abilities. The authors stress that cob homes need not be limited to squares, in fact, they argue against it in favor of more organic, rounded, and free-flowing forms. I love the idea of living in a curvy house with nooks and spaces and benches built into the walls, and the little cob home design sketches and photos in the book are really attractive. Living in the lower grain bin, I’ve come to appreciate the lack of corners in my living space.

Anyway, it’s been a great read thus far.

Note: Please find all of my cob building related content at my new blog, The Year of Mud: Building a cob house. Thanks! See you there!

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