Work Party at Cambia

Cambia has been hard at work at building its new barn. The following photos are from a work party day in which the first layer of the cob floor was mixed and laid. The party drew lots a crowd of participants from the nearby communes, most of whom had never worked with cob before but had an inkling of how much fun it would be. They were not disappointed. Here are a few pictures from the event.  Hopefully there will be more soon.  (All pictures courtesy of Rejoice.)

For those who don’t know about cob, it’s an ancient building material made by mixing sand, clay, and chopped up straw. It’s cheap and requires not equipment or skill to make, and has the great advantage of holding heat or cool incredibly well. It’s also a very sculptural building material. Just try a Google search of ‘cob house’ and you’ll see what we mean!

Davi from The Mothership rakes gravel for the base layer

Trevor Acorn supervises the cob mixing

Telos Oaks and Gryphon Acorn get into the mix

Ella and Gil discuss world politics surrounded by workers

Getting cob right is all about the dance – Gil Cambia, Gryphon Acorn, and Taiga get into the groove, while Telos Oaks is poised for a flying leap

Mac Acorn and Telos Oaks lift the tarp to help with mixing, while Kai in the barn smooths the parts of the floor already laid