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One important rule when beginning: Do not be afraid of getting dirty.
So a little about me. I hate sitting around doing nothing as I’ve been an extremely active person. However I’m now disabled from an accident that happened when I was a firefighter but, I refuse to let it stop me. My family tells me all the time that I do too much but, I just have to keep trying to do things. It’s in my nature. Above everything else nothing is more important to me than my family.
I want to leave this world a better place than I found it for my children and future generations. I just love this quote, “Sitting around a fire together for hundreds of thousands of years is a big part of what makes us human.” ~Unknown Author.
So that being said, everything that I have documented in this site is doable by anyone. If I can be disabled and do this and my children can all learn to do this, then just about anyone who is willing to try can make this happen.
.We chose to build with earth initially due to the cost. Since I was disabled and unable to work due to my injuries we had limited funds. This made building with earth a good choice since all of the earth was free, as it was all dug from our own yard. We had a great deal of natural clay in the soil which made using the soil perfect to build with.
The next reason we found to build with earth was that it was something that just felt really good to work with and was easy for myself and my children develop skills working with it very quickly and easily. It just felt right to work with earth.
Once the oven was completed to the point to begin using it we found that cooking in what we had built was just amazing. There is something so natural and tasty when cooking in an earthen oven with wood that you just can’t get when cooking in any other kind of oven. A true connection between us and the earth.
Only you can determine your success when building with earth. This is because when working with earth you develop a connection with your work as you are forming, molding, smoothing and sculpting the earth. That connection is your measure of success because, once you develop that connection with your project you begin to understand what you are trying to make the earth do and you learn to work with the earth making your vision come true. Once you create something like this and you develop the connection to your work and the earth you made it out of there is such an amazing feeling when you begin using your creation that lasts from then on. This is your true measure.
This type of building does not require years of experience and training. Building with earth has been been passed down over the centuries and although a new technique or two may be introduced once in a while all of the basics are still the same and readily available for all. If my children and I can build an amazing oven and other things with no previous experience at all then anyone can do it. Just think of what we could accomplish by teaching people to go out and play in the mud again and reconnect with what is truly possible.
I hope that documenting all of our experiences in this blog will have given you some information, ideas and inspiration to tackle your own project. My children and I found inspiration and information by searching online for building with earth, as well as searching the library for ancient and traditional building with earth. We were amazed at the scale and intricacies of traditional earthen building found all over the world. Even though the journey began with just a single oven it has evolved into a desire to build and entire house out of earth for me. I will likely document that process once it begins as well to share. This adventure is out there and is available to all. You just have to be willing to play in the mud.