When you mix art with dirt you get earthen building.
Our cob bench has been a process, slowly coming to life as we have had visitors and volunteers come and work with us. Cob is a mixture of clay (straight from the ground), sand and straw. It is like adobe, but unlike adobe, that is typically formed into bricks, then dried, and mortared together when building, moist cob is formed into oblong balls and applied directly unto the structure. Traditionally the mix is done with bare feet. Many cob buildings have existed for hundreds of years. They just need to be protected from persistent rains.
It was by chance traveling in Guatemala that Brett met Liz Johndrow, a natural building expert with a project in Nicaragua that empowers women to build (http://earthenendeavors.com). She has visited ViVerde a number of times since and taught us how to make structural adjustments to our bench that strengthened the overhanging lip. We made with “corbels”, using straw as the the cob building equivalent of rebar.
During raining season, our elegant bench was hidden by a large plastic tarp; high time to build a serious roof. We brought in a team of experts from Leon who brought the timber and thatch palms they grow locally. Never doing the simple thing, Gerard designed and worked with the builders to tip the roof up so we can take advantage of the great view of the property. The guys camped out on our property for part of a week and when they left, we had our beautiful “palapa” thatch roof.
Check out the video to see how quickly they tie on the palms; such skill!
