Cob in the Village

Remember that tune: "It's a cool , cool summer...." ? Ok...it's not cool but cruel in the original version but everybody got the tune anyway, right?
Well it still comes up in my head when I think about last week's "Cob in the Village" workshop.
A joyful bunch of people got together and learned to build with cob.
With Summer being hesitant to say the least (thus the tune) we spent the week creating the Bath house at the Art Studio: a two room building that will have a bucket compost toilet in one space and a shower and sink in the other. On the exterior is another sink serving the toilet and anyone needing a handwash.
All Waste water will be directed by underground piping to the berry bushes on the slope below the building. A solar water heater will provide hot water in summer and a propane heater serves in colder months.
During our time together we talked about tips and techniques around cob, foundations, roofs, finishing and design ideas.
I watched how everyone gained such confidence in working with the material in just a few days and feel reassured about the empowering quality of this way of building.
And then there was another altered disco tune: "It's raining cob, haleluja, it's raining cob..."
With that I invite you to have a look at the slideshow: