"Solving the problems of providing decent living standards for
everyone on earth can begin with simple, accessible solutions that everyone can learn and participate in."
• Earthbag Dome BuildingJanuary 21-25
• Wattle and Daub ConstructionFebruary 5-15
• Adobe Brick Vault ConstructionFebruary 19-29
• Adobe Brick Dome ConstructionMarch 8-16
• Natural Building PrimerApril 14-20
• Earthen Paints - distance learningAnytime
To Register, or get more information, Email us at: workshops@earthenhand.com
Get a 10% discount for bringing a friend, groups of 4 or more get %20 off, AND get 10% off on your second course.
All courses are designed to be accessible to all skill levels. Students will learn cumulatively if they attend several workshops.
Online courses are HERE! starting with Earthen Paints.
Apprenticeship information
Take a look at the Earthen Hand You Tube Channel and our Facebookpage
This page is the best place to get our up to date workshop schedule. Also, please join our mailing list via the home page.
Learn the basics of dry stack rock work, gabions for stream restoration, wood-fired cob oven building and earth bag construction during this six day workshop. Jan 12-13 Build rock stairs, and create the foundation for the cob oven using dry-stack techniques. Jan 14-15 Build a clay oven out of cob. Jan 16-17 Use Gabions and Earthbags to divert stream water to garden beds. This intro will leave students with the ability to begin planning and building their first rockwork, cob, or earthbag project. Register right away at hipagriculture.org.
$150 for all or $30/dayArtfully create your home with the soil beneath your feet. This earthbag dome class will leave you with the skills to begin planning and creating any earthbag project. In this session we will build a 7 foot dome with earthbags. This technique represents the future of woodless construction. Camping and meals included.
$600A local association called FIMARA is building a small clinic in a rural area west of the town of Ranomafana. Participants of this workshop will assist in the creation of this facility that will allow local healers to help the sick. Students will learn Cob building techniques including wattle and daub (application of earth over a stick frame), as well as some basic dry stack rock building technique. Like many of our workshops, this is going to be an amazing cultural experience in addition to a quality natural building skill-builder.
$1000$1200
Cultural / language guidance, Greet at airport (Bamako), Camping and meals included. Register by Jan 15.
$1000
Culture / language guidance, Greet at airport, Camping and meals included. Register by Feb 6.
Join us for this wonderful 1-week earth building experience. The course will cover the basics of building with earth and offer students a hands-on opportunity to immerse themselves in a number of earth building techniques. During the weeklong workshop participants will learn about and work with cob, wattle and daub, lime plasters and washes, earth renders and earthen floors. The workshop will be held at the Rancho Mastatal Sustainable Living Center. Students will stay at the amazing facilities there, and in addition to learning about earth building they will be exposed to a host of other sustainable living projects including a methane digester, composting toilets, Permaculture designed gardens and orchards, animal husbandry, fermented food products and much more. It promises to a fun-filled, productive and instructional week for everyone involved.
$1000
Camping and meals included. Register by March 14.
$50
Includes email support. Registration is anytime and ongoing. Email us at workshops@earthenhand.com to begin.
About Earthen Hand Workshops
A growing number of people are interested in natural building, earthen building, and permaculture techniques. Our workshops seek to empower people with information and hands-on instruction for a self-reliant, ecological lifestyle.
We are dedicated to educating people about the possibilities of empowerment through ecological building. Workshops offered focus on skills and intuition that allow a builder to create within a natural harmony. Each day of a workshop includes hands-on training, discussion, and lecture. We hope that anyone who attends our workshops will continue to learn and teach technologies of global self-empowerment.
Potential workshop hosts can contact us by email at: workshops@earthenhand.com. Our ideal workshop is cooperatively organized, delivering quality education while completing a useful structure at an affordable price for everyone.
Our local workshops provide:
- Hands-on learning in earthen building techniques
- Useful and beautiful structures that cooperate with their surrounding landscape
- Opportunities to learn skills for free—Public workshops offered annually through Portland's Village Building Convergence event
Our international workshops:
- Create a positive cross-cultural exchange
- Train participants in earthen building techniques
- Provide international communities with needed structures that cooperate with their surroundings
- Draw funds and human energy to places where the resources are more needed
Testimonials
"Scott was an excellent teacher, and super patient with all of us newbies. Totally worth the flight from Charlotte, and I recommend this style
of learning very highly!"
— Luke
"I loved creating a structure by hand with our class. It was fun to get dirty and work hard with our amazing crew and teachers.
We learned a specific method of natural building, but were also introduced to many ways of sculpting earthen materials and living in harmony with nature."
— Skylark
"Thanks for the great cob workshop! It was great to meet other people who are into cob and take the first step towards making my own cob house a reality."
— Katie