Cob Ape Theory...If Clay could talk

If Clay could talk, what would it say? What stories would it share? What secrets would be revealed if we were able to tune in and hear its voice. As a cob builder and clay plasterer I have spent 1000's of hours mixing mud, staring into the spiraling vortex of a drill blending together clay and sand, or my bare feet pressing and twisting clay soils from around the country to mix cob (a mixture of clay, sand and straw). The aim at which began as a process to create beautiful structures made of the earth. To showcase this fundamental element as a superior alternative in the construction world, to construct pizza ovens, to entire wall systems for homes, to create fine finish plasters and Art. My journey was to rebrand clay as a remedy for our deleterious building culture. An industry using building materials that are toxic to the environment; toxic in harvest and production, toxic for the builders using the materials, and toxic for the inhabitants living in the spaces these materials create. As a cob building apprentice 10 years ago, I could feel the healing power of clay, I felt its medicine run through me, and that energy has inspired me to preach to its power, and build...

Clay is much more than dirt, clay holds the story of our planet’s entire history, in each lump of mud. You can find clay in most subsoils around the globe, and if you dig some up, and listen closely enough, you’ll begin to understand the power that lies beneath our feet.  Like any artist, Clay had a vision, to give birth to Art and Beauty latent in its composition. Whispering influence into evolutions grand plan to help engineer human beings to unleash this gift to the world. When clay particles get wet they become sculptable, and it is that spectacular quality which quickly invited our primate ancestors to play and to tap into the creative spirit; unleashing this power to create outside of the realm of function and into the realm of Beauty. Like magic, this process is how human art was born and our prefrontal cortex exploded in growth! Clay was the driver for our transition from Monkey to Human in the story of evolution. Clay started to shape our imagination and our emotional intelligence, showing us how to turn ideas and feelings into physical forms giving us permission to test the structural boundaries of what was possible. With this stretching human beings discovered the infinite realm to DREAM. It was the clay that whispered into our subconscious "Anything is possible." And it's because we have learned to dream that every invention, from airplanes to submarines, came to life. Clay is the enchanter, the magician, and without, there would be no dreams, no creative spirit, and no art. The ground with which we walk on, has a story to tell, its magic, and if you dig some up, you can feel the history of the entire planet within the palms of your hands…

Strip off your socks and find a patch of mud to stand on. Listen to clay’s voice. What does it sound like? What does it feel like? Look closely and see if you can find what insects might be living in the clay, or what colors it holds and what this tells you about the nutrients and minerals in the soil. What story can you piece together about the place where you’re standing?

Art is Natural Building

Kiko Denzer, a huge influence of mine, was interviewed on a the Podcast “Building Sustainably,” and I was so inspired that I wanted to share.  I paraphrased some of his words and added my own to give voice to what it is that I am trying to accomplish in 2020...I hope you join me in my adventure :)
To make Art is an activity fundamental to being human. Natural building traditionally was, and had to be, a communal experience, one where people used all their skills and talents to ONE end.

Natural Building is ART! 
The word ART actually means, “to fit together,” and natural building is a beautiful representation of this human expression. The human need to create art, and the human need to exist in community go hand in hand.  If you can’t contribute to the making of the community-- the natural building or the cob oven, for example--you’re not really living, you don’t “fit” in with your fellow humanity. I recognize that our current economic culture has entrained my subconscious programming to live by unsustainable and undesirable ideals:  Separation over Connection, Best price over Craftsmanship and Art, Consumption over Contribution, Mine versus Ours...In order to reverse some of these deep seated beliefs that are not leading me where I want to go, I work to offer myself and others opportunities to relearn what I believe is innate to our humanness. 

This is what I try to do when leading a workshop such as building an earthen oven:  bring together a unique variety of inspired people, create ART together, feel what community building is actually like in a short timespan, and share PIZZA together in the END; and dream up ways to create Art, aka Community,  in the long term. My goal is to take what I learn from these experiences and build it into the reality of my actual day- to- day living experience. Can we achieve this? Can I achieve this?

Slowly and consciously, natural building has been the conduit where I can envision this reality being REAL.  As I learn more, and teach more about how to build simply, with natural materials, if I am willing to take risks and build things I’ve never built, take on projects that don’t have easy answers, inspire others to build too... then I feel like I am closing in on this human need burning within me: the need for art and community.  

I live by art and my ART varies: from parenting to wild foraging, to gardening. Teaching and mentoring. Writing. Building...  

Join me on this adventure..."The Cob Therapy Project" will aim this year of 2020 to build community in a radically transparent way. To connect more people to a deeper relationship with nature through the ART of natural building...Our first workshop posted for 2020 is on June 6th and June 7th building a Cob Pizza Oven in Dryden NY. Sign up and learn more by clicking on this link...

Born to Build

Human Evolution. Why are we here?? How have we survived?

The US military survival guide says you can only survive 3 hours without shelter, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food. 3 hours without SHELTER!?  We modern humans, otherwise known as "Homo sapiens sapiens" are 200,000 years old, and the number one reason why we have existed into the present day is because we know how to build shelter. Seriously.

I imagine our collective genetic lineage strung heavy with codes that enable each of us to construct a shelter that protects us from the elements.  You wouldn't be reading this, you couldn't be here without it. 3 hours is all we got! However our culture has outsourced this primitive skill, disconnecting all of us from what we have been born to know. We no longer have relationships with the structures we inhabit.  The contemporary woman and man now believe we are incapable of this most basic human skill. We have come to accept that only highly specialized humans can participate in a craft that without, we have yet 3 hours to survive? I can not accept this. I won't. I started this building craft 5 years ago with very little building skills and along my journey I feel this connection deepening with my "wild self." The earth can be used as a building material, of course! Its abundant, a material that I don't need a store to get, free of charge as long as I work hard enough to get it, a way of building that doesn't require big machines but instead my bare hands, a way of building that is intimate and requires a real relationship with the materials being used, using a material that actually promoted health. What if general contractors around the world united to create regenerative, healthy and beautiful structures, and homes that actually are healthier, stronger, last longer and more exciting all by using MUD!

One major goal I have is to expose the ill effects of a conventional building world that creates incredible amounts of waste and has such a huge negative impact on the environment.  Living in the monotony of studded wall systems, dry wall, square rooms, and forced air circulation systems has made us sicker and deadened our imaginations and our creativity. Buildings that are "sick" leave its inhabitants more stressed and less likely to feel satisfied and optimistic. Cob Building has the potential to help create the space to heal the cultural and societal wounds that has distanced us from the most important of our human needs, shelter building, and to re-build our relationship with the spaces we occupy.

My experience as a mental health therapist helped me recognize how interwoven our well being is with the shelter we spend our whole lives living in. I have noticed how important it is for my clients to "Build," to feel connected to space.  Cob Therapy helps connect people with their nature, building community with muddy hands, understanding the story of each of the building materials used, and unleashing our inner child to tap into the wisdom of our wild human ancestry.

Let it be known that we are "Born to Build"

Why square doesn't work in architecture?

How do I go about designing the home of my dreams? I have begun by diving deep into the principals of natural design that roots itself in a philosophy where we must include the whole environment when considering construction of any kind.

Eugene Tsui, Evolutionary Architect is one inspiring character who simply and poetically explains the inadequacies of the square box in an interview with "First Earth" Why has the square become the standard template for where home construction begins? Eugene breaks down the box! 

"One of the assumptions of human made architecture is that it has to be rectilinear. And I think that is probably the most lethal odious assumption. Because the square box is one of the worst structures you could ever invent. You notice that nature never has anything square -- there's a reason for that! If there was anything square, ever, in the 5-billion-years history of nature, it lasted maybe a minute. Because the square box is probably, from my research, the most inefficient, ineffective shape in the universe. And I'll tell you why. 

When you try to put pressure on a box, there's 2 places it'll break apart, the flat planes and the corners. The flat planes are very difficult to reinforce, so you have to put more material there to resist stress (take the standard 2x4 framing for example). So that means utilizing material in a very poor fashion (cutting down swaths of forest just to make a shape stronger than it inherently is), and the entire construction world assumes we have to do that. Another very weak point in a square are the corners. When you put pressure on the planes the corners will start to skew and break open. Which then require mores material for more reinforcement.  

A box is defenseless when you have a fire, especially because most fires are carried by wind, and if you blow fire against the side of a box, a flat surface, it'll actually create a suction, and the surface will create a target for fire, there's no place for it to go, because it's flat, so it burns, and burns. And in an earthquake or tsunami or in any kind of stressful situation, the box just doesn't hold up.

When you try to heat a box or cool it down, the hot or cold air will rise, and stay there at the top. So where you are, at the floor level, it's not getting to you. And so we wonder, Okay, we're paying all these heating bills, but where's the heat? It's up in the ceiling! So are solution is try to make energy cheaper but in reality we really need to make architecture smarter! 

Now the impact of living in a square can be quite detrimental.  Think about how we move in spaces? We move usually in arcs and curves. You never see anybody walking straight, and then a 90-degree angle turn, and then turn again 90 degrees, to get where we are going. The box doesn't accommodate our natural physical way of movement. So when you combine all of these inadequate features of this square, or this cube, you come up with an anti-solution. It's not a solution at all. The box forces us to buy more materials, consequently creating industries insatiable thirst to mine more materials from our environment, cut more trees, mine more limestone, more dredging of our oceans for sand, all to reinforce an inferior shape."  

Lets start talking triangles and circles!

Cob Building Hoop Dream

"You can fail at what you don't want, so you might as well take a chance in doing what you love" - Jim Carrey

Our culture creates an extremely rigid division between work and play.  You are supposed to work, so you can earn enough money, to give you sufficient leisure time, for something entirely different called "having fun" or "play." But really? Are we seriously wanting to adopt this way of being as the standard choice? To laugh and say "you better do these things you love while you're still young because when you get older you won't have that luxury." What kind of wisdom is that and why do people insist on keeping this idea alive?...To read more click here

Clay in Cob produces Negative Ions!

Have you ever noticed how sitting by the ocean or walking through a forest produces a sense of calm and peacefulness? People spend their weekends, their vacations, any free time they have, traveling to have these experiences, to be “out in nature,” to “recharge” before entering back into the daily grind. What if we could design our home and the spaces we occupy most to produce that same sense of calm and peacefulness?  Introducing clay into our home’s interior with plasters, or better yet, building entire wall systems from the earth, is one way we can make that happen. Clay filled houses just “feel” better than others and it turns out, this isn’t as subjective as you may think it to be. 

Here’s the science: Air is filled with either negative or positive charges called ions. It's the negative charges that benefit us humans, while positive ions also known as “free radicals” are comprised of toxins, impurities, viruses and pollutants. Fresh air in places like the ocean, the mountains, forests, cob homes and clay plastered rooms contain beneficial negative ions that promote a universal feeling of well being that enhances our immune defenses and reduces our susceptibility to disease. Why is this so? “Negative ions are oxygen atoms charged with an extra electron which allows them to attract and attach to positive ions in our living space, clearing the air of dust, mold spores, pollen, pet dander, odors, cigarette smoke, bacteria and viruses. They do this by attaching to these positively charged particles in large numbers. This causes the pollen, mold, bacteria, etc to become too heavy to stay airborne, thus removing it from the air you breathe and preventing it from causing respiratory problems and other health issues" (www.earthslivingclay.com).

In today's environment there are more positive ions than ever, including things like positive ion-producing air conditioning, electrical equipment like televisions and clothes dryers, and even carpet and upholstery, “our homes have become what has been described as ‘positive ion prisons’ which “create an electrical imbalance in the atmosphere and in our bodies.” If you live in a busy town or city (which most of us humans do) the concentration of negative ions in the air may only be a tenth of that found in country environments. 

Making some simple adjustments can totally shift the scales to create healthy and nurturing indoor environments! 

Instead of painting or putting wallpaper on your walls, you can choose instead a beautiful and functional clay plaster which can generate negative ions everyday. This has not only proven to help people sleep better, but as Web MD points out, negative ions have been scientifically linked to increased serotonin production in the human body.  This mood-altering chemical can help to boost energy levels and alleviate depression, while simultaneously lowering stress levels.

Let's use the earth to make our homes more alive and to help us feel better!

Wood Fired Earthen Pizza Ovens

Wood fired cooking is being celebrated all across our country.  Enjoying what some would call a revival, more and more we are seeing wood fired ovens at restaurants in posh urban settings, at farmers markets, and on mobile food trucks at all types of events; all tapping into what seems to be an insatiable market. As much as indoor wood ovens may seem like a fad in the world of fine dining, there is a deeper genetic reason why we gravitate towards the fire. 

Open fired cooking has been woven into the fabric of human existence where stories have been passed down through the generations around the hearth, communing with meals; all with the smell of fire somewhere in the background.  This smell continues to influence us modern humans triggering our biological memory that associates the smell with food, warmth and community. When we see a chef tending to nature's most transformative element, we unconsciously become hypnotized by the crackle of the fire while we yearn for the community connection the flames have always epitomized; the food takes on the fire's allure and while we taste the raw elements in each delicious bite, we unconsciously connect to our wild human ancestry. 

Our culture has been on a fast track towards distancing us from the elements that make up our natural physical world. We are becoming more and more domesticated, technologically reliant, and disconnected from nature living a life indoors.  Yet every time I am at a market with a wood-fired pizza oven and I see that long line of people waiting, waiting not only for a pizza but for that sacred connection that is typically missing from our lives, a sense of connection around that hearth and being nourished by much more than the calories we consume. 

However, all wood-fired ovens are not created equally.  Now, I am not trying to burst the bubble of romanticism into which I have just inserted these fire-powered culinary experiences--but ovens seen at these markets and restaurants are often mistaken to be earthen ovens because of their stucco finishes, when in fact they are masonry ovens built with cement and steel reinforcement.  Sadly, it's rare to find an earthen oven (clay) being used commercially to cook food for the masses. I think the major reason behind this is because clay is a highly dynamic earth element that is hard to standardize.  The organic nature of clay requires that the chef create a real relationship with the oven. If you want an oven to respond the same way, every time you fire it (or "turn it on"), then your best bet is an insulated steel box with heat controlled by natural gas. "Building and baking in a wood fired earthen oven restores beauty, savor, and real bread and pizza by restoring the essentials: earth, water, air, and fire. And it requires you to participate. In most modern kitchens, you don't have to feel the heat, watch the fire, or grow the ingredients. Similarly, bread machines and commercial yeast require little or no attention. They take care of themselves. But if you don't have to pay attention, you can't participate, and if you don't participate, you can't know." (Kiko Denzer).

I want to know. And its this reason why both Peaches and I love building and cooking in earthen ovens.  Earthen ovens use all three kinds of heat transfer: conduction, convection and radiation.  Conduction being the direct contact the food has with the hot oven floor; convection being the natural air movement that is created by oxygen cycling in to feed the fire.  Lastly, and perhaps most worthy of mysticism,  radiant heat--sun energy that traveled the vast distance to Earth, to grow the trees that made the fire that heat the clay chamber of the oven, until it radiates back into the food placed inside.  Imagine now the space and time that this radiant energy travelled to cook the food within your oven's earthen walls-- that particular heat is so specific to the moment you are using it that it can never be exactly duplicated, and the resulting flavor is rich, complex, and uniquely timeless.  

"Radiant heat is fundamental to our very existence- from it we have sun and seasons, photosynthesis and weather, food and shelter, and of course, wheat and bread."