Page Title

   Cate Buck, along with her husband Warren and many helpers, conceived, designed, and built this
earthen home, literally with their own hands. In her own words, the process is explained ...

   We are taught to think of houses as boxes where we put our stuff, yes? Think now of a glove with lovely
fabric inside and out that nicely, and snugly, fits your hand. That is what the spaces inside earthen homes
feel like.   They are warm in the winter, cool in the summer and have the most wonderful nourishing subtle
smell.   I live with my husband in a very large 560 square foot earthen home which is full of sculpture,
curves, arcs and circles. The comfort and beauty extends to a larger life in many ways, thanks to the
benefits of having a small or nonexistent mortgage.
   There are many kinds of earthen homes. Ours is a hybrid using post and beam framing, urbanite
discontinuous foundation and cob and straw bale walls. Cob is a Welch word meaning “loaf” and describes
how the earthen mixture is shaped to apply to the walls. The closest example for the reader to envision cob
may be to think of adobe, only instead of making bricks we sculpt and build monolithic walls.
Cob is an earthen combination of soil, clay, sand and long straw. Typically the soil from digging the
foundation is tested and any amendments for clay or sand can be made inexpensively. The cob is made
on a tarp and the mixture is pressed together by folks dancing and stepping on the ingredients so that every
part is coated with clay and is then shaped into a loaf. The loaves are applied to the wall and pressed into
the layer underneath. The long (2’ strands) of straw are pressed into the layer underneath with a “cobbers
thumb” and an entire wall is made into a textile of strength and durability. It is then sealed with an earthen
plaster, usually containing lime, that seals the cob from the elements but allows it to breath. Long eaves
also protect the cob and a good solid French curtain drain for drainage around the building.
   Over half the world lives in earthen homes, and ordinary people can build their own. Under the
International Residential Code, earthen homes may be permitted in any part of the world that uses the
building code.
   Small houses are conducive to large lives. We can have more time for friends, family, passions and
community participation if we are not giving away 40-60 hours a week to house ourselves and to pay for our
ever increasing energy costs.
   As we build spaces that delight us and contain us in fulfilling ways without demanding our life energies to
pay for them, there exists flexibility to allow for the life affirming questions, such as: “What do I want to do
with my time and energies? What calls to me? How may my gifts and talents be expressed?” My
experience has convinced me that these are the questions that will best serve our own lives as well as those
around us.
                                                              -- Cate Buck --