What a great week. As always, the workshop was really fun and very successful. One of the participants said it perfectly: “I got everything I wanted from the workshop, and more.” I was so grateful to everyone in this workshop for all of their hard work and dedication. We had some issues along the way with finding the right  tools and materials locally, but everyone stuck in there for the long haul and helped get the entire 800 square foot structure plastered inside and out!

What was really helpful was having a vast array of professionals in the group. We had an electrician, a plasterer, a mechanic, and a landscape contractor all on site. Of course we also had folks whose work was outside the job specific arena, and they were super valuable too, but having professionals in the trade, on site, with their tools was super helpful.

We had some crazy weather a couple times during the week, but in general, it was perfect. I’ll tell you one thing for sure, Tennessee rain showers are nothing like Southern Oregon rain showers. Up here, they’re a gentle mist and steady slow falling of rain. Down there, it came down at a 45 degree angle with huge winds and massive thunder and lightening. The locals called it a shower. I was gripping onto the building fearing I might blow away!

We had an amazing helper in the form of a 5 year old boy. He was great at so many tasks on the site from clean up to stuffing to helping with sewing the walls. He also helped make the week fun with his energy and desire to play ball and catch toads and crickets. It was great having him around. We also had a 2 year old birthday party and a guy willing to eat bugs on demand. That’s a long story…! 

In the end, we created a great building and managed to get a lot accomplished. Thanks everyone for a great week and I hope you all stay in touch and share your projects as they come to fruition. If you’re interested in joining me for a workshop this year, you have three options to choose from. New Mexico (coming up fast), Ontario (almost full) and California (still room and time for this one!). I hope to see you there. Click here to sign up.

About the Author

Andrew Morison is a specialist in straw bale and green construction. He has shown thousands of people how to build their own straw bale projects through his comprehensive series of instructional straw bale, concrete foundation, and plastering DVDs. You can check these out at http://www.LearnStrawBale.com.com.

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