ardilla Deneys

Howdy Howdy!
I am new to Virginia and happy to be here. In Tennessee I was part of the upstart for Feral Feet Community, where we were planning many natural buildings, and started the cob community house. I have also worked on a somewhat hush hush cob house in Virginia and now I want to bring cob and natural building to the public eye. It is so discouraging to troll the internet for cob in virginia! The closest I found is one staw bale article. I want to change this. Even though my time in Tennessee didn't last as long as I had planned on, I was able to live in the woods and learn so much about my ideas of design and nature and how to start incorporating them into the rest of society. My long term goal is to bring natural building to Richmond in both the public and private realms in hopes of spreading an understanding of what sustainable design can offer.

So how can we get these projects going?!

Next week I am starting a new internship with Tricycle Gardens, a community garden non-profit organization here in Richmond. If the opportunity arises, and they need my knowledge with some natural building, we might be able to do a small workshop for a bench, or a wall, or an oven, or maaaaybe something bigger?
I am starving for cob. One friend of mine has been wanting a cob oven and we might be starting with that in the spring.
These projects are small to start. But over time I want them to be bigger and bigger. I am going back to school for interior design and I plan on combining that degree with natural building, and hopefully I will become a contractor too. Slowly, this will help our struggle with inspectors.

Let's keep each other updated and I would love to meet with any of you to get cob to virginia!

Our community is going through a....hiatus this fall and winter. I am going to be traveling all over to see friends but I want to be able to visit new people doing wonderful things too!
Any suggestions?
I'd love to go to workshops and the such, but I do not have the money to do so.
Thanks!
ardilla

Well that half living/half wood roof is brilliant. I love it esthetically and practically because one could still collect rainwater.
How would one go about doing a half and half roof?

We are almost done digging the trench for our community house rubble trench foundation. But there is something we just don't understand....

Philip said

Philip Freddolino wrote:
place a perferated drainpipe at a gradual slope to daylight,

What does "to daylight" mean? Our trench is sloping, but we just don't know exactly what to do with the perforated pipe. Does it go in around the trench in a closed loop? or do we have to dig an exit trench for the pipe?
Ianto's book has been great in explaining all other areas.

Have people with a rubble trench foundation in a temperate climate found that enough water flows out of the pipe to sustain a wetland? Or should we only hope for enough to periodically moisten our garden?

Once we understand this, we will be well on our way to struggling with indoor plumbing!

Also, the other term for used concrete and urban recycling is "urbanite". Hope that helps in the searching!

We are also looking for winter housemates!!

The house is on the beautiful Hidden Springs Nursery property.  Fruit trees, gardens, waterfalls, creeks, and two knobs surround the house. That hollow is often called "hippie hollow" by the locals because of the great residents.
It has 4 real size bedrooms and 2 smaller ones. Dustin and I recently moved onto property 1/2 a mile from the house to start an intentional community.  There is no house on our property so we wanted some place warm for the winter while still being close enough to work on our own house.  We want to start renting Oct 15th til March or April.
The rent is $450 a month for the whole house which includes water.  We'd have to get a phone line put in and subscribe to internet.  There is wood heat and an electric stove.  Town is about 25-30 minutes from the house.
Call or email
561-801-0598
plantseeds@soon.com
ardilla

The house is on the beautiful Hidden Springs Nursery property.  Fruit trees, gardens, waterfalls, creeks, and two knobs surround the house. That hollow is often called "hippie hollow" by the locals because of the great residents.
It has 4 real size bedrooms and 2 smaller ones. Dustin and I recently moved onto property 1/2 a mile from the house to start an intentional community.  There is no house on our property so we wanted some place warm for the winter while still being close enough to work on our own house.  We want to start renting Oct 15th til March or April.
The rent is $450 a month for the whole house which includes water.  We'd have to get a phone line put in and subscribe to internet.  There is wood heat and an electric stove.  Town is about 25-30 minutes from the house.
Call or email
561-801-0598
plantseeds@soon.com
ardilla

Hello!
We are building an intentional community in Cookeville, TN.
Right now there are no structures on the land.  We have about 10 acres of hay field and 10 acres on part of a knob (otherwise known as a knoll). Little Tater Knob to be exact.
We are very close to being done with the fondation of the community house and are now considering the roof.
We would love the company and the help of anyone who would like to come and help.  People with any amount of experience are welcome. We are not experts in any of the things that we are planning to do, so if you have some experience, that's great!
Besides the roof and foundation, we also need to work on a permanent tool shed, permanent outdoor kitchen (water catchment, cob oven, rocket stove cooking set up and or seating), and building the door way and door to the house.
If you are planning to pass through the area and would like to come help for a couple of days we will gladly feed you!
Check out our website at feralfeet.org for more info.
Our access to the internet is limited, so if we don't respond right away to any emails, sorry!
<3 ardilla

Does anyone have experience with code enforcement in Virginia? Do you know of any counties that are allowing cob houses or naturally built houses? Or of any counties that don't have building codes? I'm under the impression that if the property is zoned for agriculture you can get away with more, but I don't know if that is true.

Does anyone have any insight on getting bank loans?
Who gives the best loans?
What one should look for in a loan? In particular I'm interested in a loan for a cob house and maybe a loan for farming tools and seeds/trees.
I've seen ads for a Permaculture bank...has anyone done business with them?

Thanks for everyones input!
We are going back to the property in a couple weeks and I plan on asking the neighbors what the recent flood was like, and maybe some other questions about the locale. I'm hoping we find a different piece of property that catches our eye. Everything I've read says do not risk building on a flood plain.
There are no building restrictions.
...
What do you cut straw bales with to make them round?
Could I make my own double pane windows using two glass table tops?