Join the Mud Dauber School of Natural Building for a new course offering that will introduce students to the experience of taking on a permitted cob project. Since cob is considered an alternative building material (even though it’s been used for thousands of years!), there are more steps to go through in obtaining a permit, as compared to a conventionally-framed home.

The planned a schedule that allows for a good balance of hands-on work, versus presentations and discussions. We will mix cob by foot and by machine, explore a variety of cob recipes and their compression test results, and build a part of a cob wall using a forming system.

The co-instructor for this course, Stephen Hren, has completed two permitted cob projects in North Carolina – in two different counties – and will share his experience with his most recent project, which was finished in 2023. Stephen will give a slideshow presentation after lunch to discuss his process and answer questions. You’ll also enjoy a partial tour of our Mud Dauber Campus, to discuss some of our demonstration buildings here.

Register HERE!

About the Mud Dauber School of Natural Building:

Our mission is to empower people by teaching them the skills of natural building. We believe in the effectiveness of hands-on learning, and we make that our focus. We also recognize the importance of community, and weave this belief into our workshop format through shared meals, cob oven pizza parties, and emphasizing a team approach on the worksite.

The Mud Dauber School campus shares land with the homestead of the owners Greg & Danielle.  We began running natural building workshops here in 2014, and have co-created with our students a series of natural demonstration cottages, garden walls, and community spaces. With each new season, we continue to work on our campus, building new spaces and finishing old ones.