[Scpg] House Alive News, January 2008

Sat Jan 19 19:09:10 PST 2008

House Alive News, January 2008

Greetings!

The days are already getting longer, and even 
though it still feels like the last building 
season just ended we're busily planning for the 
next one.  We've got a few new workshops this 
year, and some of the old classics too... information is below.

It has been a pleasant and relaxing fall.  Both 
James and Coenraad presented at the Natural 
Building Colloquium in Texas.  James gave a 
presentation about his experience building a cob 
library in Zipolite, Mexcio, and Coenraad talked 
about the difference between "House" and "Home," 
and how to make your house feel more alive (and thus become a "Home").

In other news, you can see us on TV! It seems 
that the Discovery channel is still showing 
re-runs of the filming of one of our workshop on 
the show "Dirty Jobs." It will show again on 
February 8th at 5 p.m.  If you haven't seen it 
already, don't miss it!   Also, the upcoming 
issue of the CobWeb (a quarterly cob newsletter 
produced by Michael Smith) will feature an 
article and pictures by James about natural building in Mexico.

2008 Workshop Information:

This year Coenraad will be working with Mira 
Costa College in San Diego to teach a 5 day cob 
course.  This is the first time that we've teamed 
up with an "Official" academic organization, and 
it looks to be a great project. The workshop will 
go from 8.30 a.m. until 4.30 p.m. and will focus 
on building an outdoor cob courtyard with help 
from the art department students and community 
members. The aim is for it to be a permanent fixture on the campus.

Also for the first time, James will be teaching 
the 6-week apprenticeship not on the House Alive 
homestead, but rather at nearby Full Bloom Farm. 
He will be building a cob cottage for one of the 
families at this new community. There is still space for a few applicants.

Here are the rest of our workshops:

April 21 - 25  All About Cob, at the campus of 
Mira Costa college in Southern California. $250

May 14 - 24  Incredible cob! Complete shelter. 
Jacksonville, OR. $850 (waiting list for this one already!)

June 15 - July 26  Natural Building Apprenticeship.  Jacksonville, OR.  $2,000.

July 16 - 20  All About Cob. Jacksonville, OR. $425

July 23 - 27  Earthen plasters, earthen floors.   Jacksonville, OR.  $425

August 13 - 23  Incredible Cob! Complete shelter , Jacksonville, OR. $850

To find out more about these workshops, go to 
www.housealive.org and click on "workshops". Our 
"Incredible Cob! Complete Shelter" workshop in 
May is already full, so don't wait too long to sign up.

The Grose family, Eric, Janet, Alexis and Conner 
have moved in at the homestead.  They are looking 
forward to a year of learning about natural 
building and helping us enlarge our food 
production. Eric and Janet will help with the 
workshops that take place on the land. We don't 
see our kids much anymore as they are mostly 
hanging out with Alexis and Conner, building 
forts, writing secret letters and dreaming about "High School Musical 2."

Within 6 months we hope to open our "Cob-inn," 2 
cob cottages each with a queen sized bed and a 
fire place.  Guests will also have access to 
another cottage that has a natural building 
library and a small kitchen, our straw bale sauna 
and soak tub, food from the garden, and unlimited 
petting of our dogs and cats. We hope to be able 
to provide a comfortable retreat place displaying 
simple forms of appropriate technology and 
natural building. We will update you with more information soon!

Right before I was going to send out this 
newsletter I got some tragic news from my friend 
Dominique in Nicaragua. She is an old student of 
House Alive (Mexico, 2004) and works with the 
poor. She is planning to build a cob library with 
the help from one of our apprentices, Carey Lien, 
but ran into some funding difficulties. I suggest 
that the people from this newsletter send her a 
few dollars in cash in order to help her out with 
the project. As she wrote, $5 or $10 will go a 
long way. You can read her email at the bottom of this newsletter.

Best wishes for the New Year,
Coenraad and James

Here is the introduction to this issues' article. 
You can read the whole article by visiting
<http://www.housealive.org/news/current-article.html>http://www.housealive.org/news/current-article.html

Soft Materials

It is important to consider the characteristics 
of the materials you bring into your house. By 
understanding how they effect you, you can then 
choose to use materials that will make your 
living condition more pleasant, harmonious, 
functional, and healthy. These very important 
considerations are mostly overlooked in the conventional building industry.

Hello everybody,
  As many of you know I was preparing a 
fund-raising evening event on the 7th of December 
for the building of the little library for the 
children of Jicaro, Nicaragua. On 3d December the 
phone rang at the Blue Cottage and I learned that 
my father was in a critical state. Matt and Emma 
had left just a few minutes before the call, 
having finalised the last of the details for the 
fundraising evening. We have always had a gift 
for ironical timing in the family

  My dad died on the 4th and my beautiful little 
mum a few days later. Fundraising ideas 
evaporated out of my life. It felt really strange 
to gaze at my diary, week beginning 7th of 
January: on one page is jotted what had to do be 
done just before closing the door on my parents 
house, on the other what would be done in the 
weeks preceding the building of the little Jicarillo library.
  One thing is certain
 The non-happening of the 
fundraising event means we’ll have to work on an 
impossible budget. That will not stop us starting 
to build and in Nicaragua the impossible always 
turns into some amazing experience

It would of course be great if we could get a 
little more money to help with materials, food 
etc
 For example, If ten of you who were going to 
come and support us on that night, sent a cheque 
for five pounds we could pay a lad to help on the 
site for a month.  Any amount would be gratefully 
accepted. Please send any donation at the following address:

Mrs Dominique Olney,

c/o Leatside, Lake Lane, Dousland, Yelverton, Devon, PL20 6 NH

  Cheques should be made to:  Peace and Hope Trust/Jicaro
   The Peace and Hope Trust is a registered 
charity who is very active in 
Nicaragua.  Although they have no involvement 
with the Jicaro project, they kindly allow me to bank with their organisation.

Please can you forward this email to all those 
who were going to come and participate and whose emails I do not have.

I attach the letter I sent around several months 
ago explaining the project as some of you may not 
have received it. An up to date newsletter will 
soon follow: the foundations are being dug at the 
moment and the cob team will start raising the 
walls at the very beginning of February...

Thank you in advance, Dominique

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