Owner-Builder Training (condensed) - Bastrop (near Austin), Texas
November 7 - November 14, 2008   $650.00 if paid in full by September 5 - $795.00 Full Price
Workshop fee includes meals and camping from dinner November 6 to breakfast November 15. If you fly in, we offer free transportation from the Austin Airport the day before and the day after the workshop!
This workshop will be a hands-on building intensive designed specifically to prepare you for building your own cob home. You will have the chance to learn and practice all of the skills you’ll need to build a cob house. We will cover foundations, walls, windows, doors, roofs, plasters, sculptural work, electricity and plumbing.  This is an ideal workshop to take if you are considering building your own cob home.The workshop will take place in the beautiful and secluded 'Lost Pines' area of Bastrop on a heavily wooded 2 acres lot. The shady forest floor has a thick layer of pine needles to cushion your tent! A two acre lake is borders one side of the property and is visible from the building site. Electricity will be available for your tent for a minimal charge (bring your own cord).  
A $250.00 deposit will reserve your space. Please make your deposit payable to:
Craig Sommers and mail it to, PO Box 2122, Bastrop, TX 78602
Or use the paypal button below for the earlybird discount.

Cob Fireplace - Bastrop, TX
November 16, 2008 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm   $65.00 if paid in full by September 5 - $75.00 Full Price
This one day workshop includes a whole foods luch and snacks.

Natural Plasters, How to make and apply earthen wall finishes - Bastrop, TX
November 22th & 23, 2008   $105.00 if paid in full by September 5 - $125.00 Full Price
This two day workshop includes 2 lunches, one dinner, one breakfst, snacks and one night of camping.
Learn to make and apply many types of natural non-toxic paints and plasters to a variety of surfaces. Applying a natural paint or plaster is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to transform your conventional home or finish your natural home. While conventional paints are based on toxic synthetic chemicals and can outgas for years, natural paints are made from materials like clay, milk, and lime. Natural paints and plasters are very fun to make and use and they can be made in virtually any color.

To get more information or register for a workshop you can contact us by email or phone, although we generally able to respond with more detailed information by email.

Contact:
Christina Ott
(615) 563-9117

Christina Ott
178 Birdsong Trail
Woodbury, TN 37190

Letters from Past Workshop Participants

Dear Christina,

Here it is a month after the workshop and I'm finally sending you the thank you letter that I meant to send three weeks ago. It actually works out well that it was delayed because I will be able to tell you of some recent developments in my quest to build my own cob home.

I gained so much from attending your cob basics workshop. Not only was the hands-on experience beneficial, the lectures and side conversations gave me some invaluable information.

For example, the flat area we had talked about that I was planning on building on did indeed end up being a water run off. As a result of the instruction on picking a building site, not only did I not build on that specific site, I decided against buying that property altogether. Furthermore, due to a tip you gave me, I found the land of my dreams; and for under $1,500 an acre!

I will be able to use just about every bit of knowledge I've gained from this experience; I intend to set up the "natural air conditioning" system, I redesigned my home using your functions and living spaces instead of rooms idea, and I now feel confident that I can put in an earthen floor, establish flooring for a second floor and am not as intimidated about electricity and setting up a solar system.Holly and I have been gathering rock from the creek for the stem wall for Holly's playhouse, I have talked to our neighbor about camping on her adjoining property, and I would feel very fortunate to be able to host a workshop by Barefoot Builders to raise it!

Sincerest Regards,
Diane Jennings - LaFayette, GA

Hey Guys:

I have been covered up since I got home from the courtyard walls workshop but wanted to thank you all for a wonderful experience. We touched on so many aspects of living on our planet within our world views during my stay. I apologize for not getting back sooner. My stay with your family has rejuvenated my commitment to my world, our generations to come and the absolute necessity of acting on my commitment rather than preaching it. You walk the walk and it is inspiring. May the force be with you.

- Gretchen Torrence

Dear Christina,

Our whole family had such a magnificent time at the workshop this past weekend. Huge thanks to you for so much patient and interesting instruction, to Nature for all the delicious salads & wisdoms thereabout & the stretchy-happy yoga -- and to your fabulous Mom for her cooking and gracious hostessing. It was really a special and stimulating time for us. I had thought that this workshop would be enough to get us going -- and it is -- but since we've been home, Stephen & I have been talking about cobbing nonstop. I now have a real hankering to do the longer workshop not next year but this one. The realization that your longer workshop in August happens too late for us (since Stephen'll already be teaching by then and tied down to the college) lead me to look up your earlier workshop -- and I see it's THIS WEEKEND! It would entail some intensive travelling on my part (I take Robin to the airport in Cincinnati for his flight on Thursday early evening), I would like very much to come to this workshop. I think I had an inkling of the significance of my discovery when I pulled that first book about cobbing off the library shelf, but now Stephen & I both have a strong sense --I say this entirely seriously & without exaggeration-- that we will look back & recognize our first encounter with cobbing as a life-changing experience. Thanks so much!

-Lynne

Dear Christina,

Hello! I had such a wonderful time at both workshops with you &Nature. Thank you so very much. You're of a good-energy influence onus that you can probably not imagine. We have all been talking coband natural building and raw foods almost non-stop since I returned.I think our friends are beginning to get bored with me, except for theone fabulous mom of Raphael's friend Justice who turns out to knowwhere to get gorgeous flat creekstones. Whether or not they're bored,though, we're all pretty enthused & getting planning. We found a construction site with a couple of huge piles of "filldirt" today which we promptly sampled, and we think it's prettyclay-ey. Dione and Raphael insisted as soon as we arrived home onmixing it with the sand from the sandbox (wrong sand, I know, but...)and demanded a tarp. A picture of the wee cobbers is attached.

muddily,
affectionately,
Lynne MM in IN

DEAR CHRINSTINA AND CRAIG,

JEFF AND I WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU FOR A GREAT SATURDAY. I HAVE BEEN INTERESTED IN COB CONSTRUCTION FOR QUITE SOME TIME, BUT JEFF HAS NOT. I SIGNED US UP FOR YOUR CLASS AND THEN TALKED HIM INTO GOING. ( NOT THAT IT TOOK THAT MUCH ) BUT NOW JEFF IS VERY INTERESTED. SEEING AND DOING IS BELIEVING, I GUESS. WE ARE GOING TO BUILD AN OUTDOOR OVEN OR FIREPLACE THIS SUMMER.
WE ENJOYED THE LUNCH THAT YOU PROVIDED. SALADS ARE LWAYS BETTER WHEN THEY ARE HOME GROWN!!! YOU MUST LET ME KNOW HOW YOU SEASONED THAT VEGGIE SOUP TOO! IT SMELLED SO GOOD WHEN IT WAS COOKING. AND TASTED GREAT TOO.
I HAVE BEEN READING THE BOOK THAT CRAIG WROTE. IT IS WELL WRITTEN AND I'M ENJOYING IT.
ANYHOO, I JUST WANTED TO DROP A LINE AND SAY IT WAS GREAT MEETING YOU ALL, (SORRY I DIDNT DO IT SOONER) AND THAT I HOPE WE MEET AGAIN. WE ARE INTERESTED IN TAKING THE WEEK LONG COB COTTAGE CLASS.

BEST WISHES,
LEEANN DAVIS