Living Off the Land 2

On Monday we ventured up to the Magruder Ranch in Potter Valley. I believe I have written about the ranch before. Each time the place becomes even more amazing. The 2400 acres are breathtaking. You feel like you are at Walden Pond walking around the site contemplating life. Not that we had a lot of time for that because Massey put us to work right away. We put in 9-11 hour days stomping and slinging cobb, filling earthbags and earth plastering. Each day we started off with 4 hours of work then we would break for lunch, have an afternoon classroom session on natural building procedures, soil composition or plasters and finishes. In the heat of the afternoon we would venture down to the Russian River and take a swim before we got back to work for 4-5 more hours.

The project was a seat wall bench for their yard. Massey was great because she incorporated several different techniques into it to give us a more well-rounded education. The foundation was earthbags where we filled recycled "feed bags" with a screened gravel from the river. Yes, we had to hand screen all the gravel and remove the large ones which do not work well in making a flat base. The procedure to fill the bag is tricky. You get a really good shoulder and upper back workout though!


Once the base was completed which took almost two days, we began making the upper lift seat out of cobb. We once again had to screen the sand but to an even finer level and prepare the clay. Once we got all the elements together we had to knead it with our feet. You heard a lot of oohs and awes from the class because the rocks were jabbing your toes and arches.
Once it was mixed you molded it on the earthbags. Amazing how sturdy and tough the material is. We allowed it to dry for a day before we applied the lime plaster to the base.
This plaster is made of lime and sand and keeps the structure protected from the elements. It is permeable to help prevent mold. Our last section was building the back for the bench. We used a technique called waddle and dab which is a cob mixture but adheres to the bamboo in a layering fashion. Five days and 12 people later we had a completed bench except for the final plaster. The best part is the bench was made from all local materials from the Magruder Ranch and Solarliving Institute. We did not have to purchase anything. Natural Building is the wave of the future. Roby and I are going to build one as soon as we figure out where we are going to live!

Because the was for a week everyone camped on the site. They have an outdoor kitchen so we did most of our cooking there. The best part is the pigs wonder the site and we could just throw our food scrapes over the fence and feed them. The Magruders also offered a meal package with the workshop and several people took them up on it. The meals were amazing but dinners were mostly meat so we only took them up on their offer one night. In fact everyone participated and we had a group dinner. They raise only grass-fed cattle and pig. All organic.

It was a perfect week-made some new friends, learned a new skill and slept with the pigs!