Cobitat Natural Building

Rocinante coming together. Sooo close to being ready to sail. Building the mast, varnishing, attaching hardware...

My cob oven article was just published in Mother Earth News magazine! Check it out.

https://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/buildings/build-outdoor-pizza-oven-step-by-step-zm0z24aszols/

Also...got a tour of this concrete hobbity house under construction on San Juan Island. Round windows, rooftop deck, vaulted ceiling, and surrounded and buried by lots of earth. Can't wait to see it finished!

Just back from a two week trip through the Pacific NW. Got to stay in a caboose, on a boat, and in Conrad Rogue's (housealive.org) cob house. Tiny spaces, alternative living, creative people putting lots of love into how they live.

Staying at our friend Ron's caboose outside W**d, California. Lots of love and labor put in to transforming this old, steel, 50,000 lb hunk of charisma into a charming tiny.
It lives at the Black Butte Center for Railroad Culture where, among other things, they host the annual Hobolympics for tramps. Yeah, who knew?!?

Plaster with clay paint on our bedroom walls. Change of color with different light is lovely.

New natural builders making adobe blocks for an art piece at our house. They were stomping cob until almost 10pm to last night! Love it and can't wait to see what they build.

Katy leading an impromptu all-women intro to natural building. Lots of artists in attendance! Can't wait to see what they create. Sculpting and plasters tomorrow.

Just rescued this little kestrel from a group of angry robins. Seems exhausted, maybe injured. Anyone know a Reno bird rehab person?

Boat build resumes after a few weeks off. Shaping out nicely.

Lovely group of 14 natural building enthusiasts took our 1-day intro to natural building class last Saturday. Cob, adobe, plasters, slipstraw... followed by a pizza party with the cob oven, of course.

Big plaster job. 20' high, 40' long

So many good things today - lime/clay plaster, clay plaster, PRC plaster, replastering the big oven, wheat paste washes, bucket brigade! - finishing with a thunderstorm and double rainbow. Tomorrow is the final day of the workshop.

Clay paints using flour paste, pigments, and light colored clays.

Day 2 with Athena Steen. Major repair on the banged up and weather beaten outhouse using a base coat of clay soils and chopped straw.

Day 1 of our 6-day plastering workshop with Athena and Oso Steen at Rosewater ranch. Off to a great start!!!

The boat build continues. Clamps! Lots of clamps for the first outwale stick.

Cardboard for outsulation. This is my latest home improvement effort at the Be the Change Project - salvaged boards as siding over a couple layers of salvaged cardboard for added insulation. Note the nailer strips between the cardboard. New windows replacing old single panes. Poco a poco!

Urban Roots oven got a base coat of finish plaster today along with a decorative entry arch. Maybe some colors for the next plaster layer...

Good morning of muddy work at Urban Roots. Oven is looking fine! Sculpting, arch and door, and finish plasters on deck this week.

Cleaned out the rest of the sand, pulled out cardboard form, built part of tunnel on Urban Roots oven. Slipstraw insulation and base plaster tomorrow. Contact Urban Roots if you're interested.

Glassing the hull of our sailboat with my eldest son. It's coming together beautifully!

We built the first half of an earthen pizza oven yesterday at Urban Roots. Gonna be awesome when the kids can pick veggies and herbs and then cook their own pizzas.

The boat build progresses well. Old salvaged foam from Burning Man added to seat wells for flotation, nifty storage nook using an old bucket bottom (caps to come). Super fun!

Earthen Pizza Oven build coming up in May with Urban Roots here in Reno. Two Saturdays: May 11 and May 18 from 8:30-12:30
Bargain price of $125!
Learn how to build an oven from the ground up. Then, come back later in the season for a pizza party!

Workshops | Urban Roots We believe anyone can garden! The Dead Plant Society offers seasonal workshops to get you growing. You can expect to get your hands dirty practicing garden skills like composting, transplanting and seed saving. Workshops are offered February through November each year and suited for adult-learners.

We completed the last part of our nonprofit's latest mural and art project with today. Friends and neighbors came out to mount over 60 panels along hundreds of feet of retaining wall. Finished by 11:00! Swing by Wedekind Rd if you're in Reno to check it out. It's pretty fantastic!

More Maui build shots

Completed cabin and oven on Maui after a five week build. Great group of students and so much learning and fun had by all. The first cob cabin on Maui!

Just two spots left for our Complete Cabin workshop in Maui in March and April!
Cabin pictured is one we built in NV in 2021 during a 5-week workshop.
Visit our website www.cobitat.org for all the information.