We'll build a house around her! (image heavy)

[kazzandco]

This is great.I love it! I want one

[orangeponcho]

Since a lot of people are curious about snow, I feel like I should add - cob really doesn't do well if it gets wet, so the place to definitely not build with it is in a flood plain.  Otherwise, to protect from rain, it's good to build a nice stem wall (the part of the foundation that you can see) for the rain to splash on and have a roof with good, overhanging eaves.

I was thinking about whether snow melting and being wet would be a problem - I think in a place with driving rain or lots of slushy snow that would worry me, I'd use a lime plaster for the exterior instead of an earthen one.  Lime plaster eventually turns back into limestone on the side of your building!  I haven't really used it, but I'd love to play around with it more.

Retro_Rose: It's pretty easy to learn!  Check out the sites I posted above for nearby workshops. But also, if you're at all close to Vermont, there's a lot of natural building there - one place is a building/design school called Yestermorrow (I'll be there this summer!). Here are some more builders in the northeast: http://www.nbne.org/

Thanks for all the kind words everyone!

[TansysMaySigh]

I love how it looks like it just melted itself onto the rocks
Its really quite amazing

[twobluestripes]

I am so excited to see this! Building a cob house is one of my life's goals (along with sailing a tall ship, learning to play the banjo, being a an excellent bartender, and working as a pyrotechnical, all COMPLETELY unrelated to anything I'm doing or studying right now). I love reading about it all, and I explain it to my friends and art professors. I'm always surprised about how many people have never heard of cob or other natural building... the techniques have been around for 1000s of years, and some structures in Europe are hundreds of years old! It's amazing.

It's really a lovely little room you've built, perfect for guests. I want to take some workshops on natural building like you did, especially with Cob Cottage Company, because I've read a bit about them and they seem to be at the head of the game! I live (well, not currently, but my hometown is in) Northern California, where I hope to return to permanently someday. We have a lot of hippies around, and possibly some natural buildings and people who participate in it, but only one place that teaches workshops and classes that I know of. Oregon's not too far, maybe I could make up there to really learn about it. Unfortunately, down here in SoCal it's almost impossible to find this kind of stuff... we have very little rural areas, and too many cities with stupid building codes that don't account for natural building!

[orangeponcho]

twoblue:  Haha, your life goals sound awesome.  I'd love to learn the banjo myself.. Yeah, out on the east coast, people really haven't heard of cob!  I didn't realize how unclear I was being in describing what I was doing until two friends independently mentioned to me how you could build houses out of corn.  I thought, "Hmm, corn, I haven't heard about this technique, interesting... oh, COB!!!!!" 

I know pretty much nothing about California, being an east coaster, myself, but I'm heading down to Santa Barbara to do some work trade at a place that offers workshops...  And I have indeed heard that northern California is full of cob wielding hippies. 

[Kaiasmommy]

ok, I didn't read all the responses but, this is totally unique and amazing.  Depending on what property this was built on, this could totally work as a uniqe Bed and Breakfast!  It's so cute!

[keeperrox]

This is too funny!  I've spent the weekend looking at cob and natural building (it all started out with a fascination with cob ovens and progressed from there), and I thought I'd see if anyone posted anything on Craftster.  I just talked to a friend and I think we are going to take the Cob Oven workshop from Down to Earth Designs, Inc. in Bethlehem, PA this August, as we're only about an hour southwest of there.  If I can handle a project the size of an oven, I'll be ready to tackle something larger.  I also want to make sure I get to the PA Energy Fest this year, which is only maybe 20 minutes north of here.

Hubby and I own some land in northern PA that we would like to build a cottage/cabin/weekend home on, and we are both very interested using some kind of cob-construction.  Obviously, we would have to do something about to account for the rain and snow, so I think both the workshop and the Energy Fest will be a good way to make some connections.

[Javalita]

I love it - so inspiring and beautiful! 

[audreytherese]

That's amazing!! Very, very impressive!
I also think that the 3rd photo down is an amazing photograph in itself! It has such wonderful light and colors.

[sarasaurus]

love it!