Cob Garden Wall

Now that the treehouses are complete and Hideaway Woods is open to the public, I have more time to post other projects from the year. One highlight was working with the kids at the SEEDS educational garden to build a cob wall at the entry of their new garden plot.

This project was a great combination of so many aspects of natural building that I love. The work was done by wonderful people, for a great cause, and in a public location where the beauty of natural building has the opportunity to inspire many hearts.

We had different volunteers and friends helping every week, and I enjoyed introducing folks to cob and providing their initial natural building experience. The youth gardeners were the impetus behind the project, wanting a beautiful way to accent the gate in the fence of the new garden. It was a joy to build with kids taking pride in their work, and having fun of course.

Hideaway Woods Treehouses

It's been a wonderful season of working on the new exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science, Hideaway Woods. The centerpiece of this unique exhibit is a series of nine treehouses, connected via cable and rope bridges, from six to twenty five feet up in the pines.

Rising Earth is fortunate to have been one of many great partners in the creation of Hideaway Woods, a whimsical, inspirational, and educational woodland playground. We provided local custom carpentry while Pennsylvania treehouse builder Dan Wright and his company Treetop Builders were the treehouse experts on the job.

We're only a few short weeks away from completion, and I'm looking forward to enjoying visiting after the public opening. It's going to be easy to enjoy this project, playing along with excited families, kids, and museum guests.

Natural Building Workshops 2015

2015 Workshops at Mud Dauber School of Natural Building:

Michael is once again collaborating with Greg Allen in instructing natural building workshops in North Carolina. We are offering two week long courses that will provide a thorough introduction to building with earth and straw through the construction of a community kitchen. Participants will learn through hands on experience wood framing, straw bales, cob, slip-straw, earth and lime plaster. Each course is focused on either strawbale or cob, but a wide variety of materials and techniques will be covered in each. Visit muddauberschool.com/workshops for details and registration information.

Natural Building Immersion - Strawbale focus: May 3rd-10th 2015

In our strawbale immersion, we will be stacking bales in a variety of ways: in a stud wall, in a post-and-beam-style wall, and in a “balecob” hybrid wall system. We will also use straw in its loose form to make slip-straw walls. The foundation and some framing will be in place; we will complete the framing, install a metal roof, and then build our natural walls. You will learn how to design around bales, shape them, connect them together, protect them from water, and finish them with plaster. We will integrate doors and windows, as well as sculptural details. We will tour local, permitted strawbale homes, and will have discussion surrounding the permitting process. We will additionally be building with cob and wattle-and-daub. There will be a good amount of time to get comfortable with mixing and applying natural plasters, too!

Natural Building Immersion - Cob focus: May 3rd-10th 2015 is SOLD OUT. 

Rising Earth Natural Building

Michael McDonough and Rising Earth Natural Building welcome a second home on the web:
risingearthbuilding.com will compliment this blog with project portfolio and more detail on myself and work. The site will be updated with more content in time, while this blog remains a great way to share current activities.

 This building features stone, timber and earth sourced on site in Hillsborough, NC. Exterior walls are stud framed, insulated with light straw-clay, and finished with lime plaster. A massive cob wall divides the southern greenhouse and studio, providing thermal mass.

 

The natural walls are made of materials found on site, which means that soil is dug up, mixed with sand, straw, and water. Cob is heavy and dries very strong. It's mostly earth, with some straw mixed in by foot. Light Straw Clay is used as insulation and plaster substrate. It's made of loose straw tossed with watery clay, and packed in wall forms.

Natural building is simple and easy to learn, but lots of work...the kind of job to do with friends. I always enjoy an opportunity to engage the community in a project, so Anu of Hillsborough Permaculture and I hosted a series of work parties to get the job done. People were eager to help out, and learn something new in exchange for good labor. I've found that introducing folks to natural building is rewarding and exciting. Bringing people together provides good company and fresh ideas, and the building benefits by having the contribution of others.

 

 

New York Straw-Bale

I spent a few weeks in my hometown of Cato, NY this summer leading the exciting and transformative process of plastering the straw bale walls at John and Julia Furlong's owner built house. I've been friends with the couple for years and have enjoyed seeing their vision take shape, as they took on the ambitious task of building a house for themselves. I was happy to be invited to participate in the effort, as one of a few contractors brought on board. Family and friends contributed to the labor, and the Furlongs worked with timberframer Sarah Highland on the design that includes a timber and stud hybrid frame, bale walls, and lime plaster finishes.

It's always satisfying to turn the shaggy straw, mesh, lathe wall into a smooth, uniform, graceful surface. We did a three coat application of natural hydraulic lime plaster with the first coat shot on pneumatically with a mortar sprayer and large air compressor. Successive coats were laid on with hawk and trowel. 

Greenhouse and Garden Cabin

This little building is located in a beautiful ridge top garden at Hillsborough Permaculture in Hillsborough, NC. The design includes a greenhouse for starting plants and storing tools, and a cabin to accommodate an overnight guest and serve as a studio for writing, painting, and refuge.

 

 This project has been an exciting opportunity to utilize many materials directly from the site, which really is my ideal natural building scenario. The foundation is built with beautiful stone gathered from outcroppings around the property. The very week I began building I was presented with the material for the timberframe, as a dozen pines fell in an ice storm. The walls are composed of light straw clay and cob infill, with clay soil coming from the site as well. (The walls were just being started in this photo). Lumber came from a sawmill 10 miles down the road.

This photo was taken in July, and I've been working on another project in New York since, but look forward to finishing this building when I return to NC next week, as well as sharing photos and info about the lovely Strawbale and lime plaster house in NY.

Natural Building Summer in Review

It has been a busy spring and summer of natural building and I feel fortunate to have so much to share! I've been trying to come up with an inspirational narrative for this post, but it's been months and I finally realized that waiting for inspiration has clearly turned to procrastination. So lets get on with the update:

Greg Allen and I instructed a series of natural building workshops again. The season began with a natural plaster course at Pickard's Mountain Eco-Institute in Chapel Hill. It's always a joy to return to Meg and Tim's beautiful sustainability learning center where we built our first cob building years ago.

It was exciting to host the inaugural run of courses at Greg's Mud Dauber School of Natural Building with a 7-day cob immersion and a 9-day straw bale and plaster course. The workshops were both very successful in regards of the building accomplished, friendships formed, and learning/teaching happening in all directions. I learn so much from each workshop group, and always leave a workshop so inspired by the energy, ideas, and diverse personalities of the group.

The Oak Tree Collective had another great year building in Planet Roo at the Bonnaroo music festival. Our priority was improving pieces we've built over the years, including finishing the straw bale post office with a natural lime plaster. Lime plaster offers a dramatic visual change from the red clay finish that festival attendees have come to know and love, but will provide superior weather resistance in the sometimes stormy, open festival grounds. We left the lime a natural white color, but will likely tint the building with a pigmented lime wash in the future.

Here is the Oak Tree Collective looking good and happy on one of our last tasks before the festival opening, refreshing the oak shade pergola with new green bamboo.

I'm excited to share more of what I've been up to, including a round timber and straw clay cabin/greenhouse that I built in rural North Carolina. Also my current activity of lime plastering an owner-built strawbale house in upstate NY. Check back soon, it won't be so long again!