[Scpg] Please forward - straw bale class at Pine Ridge reservation

[Cory Brennan]

Please forward to anyone you feel would be interested. We want to get a straw bale workshop/classroom done by winter and this class is key to making it happen!  A very unique way to learn straw bale, help a worthy project on the reservation while learning to build your own home very affordably. Your course fees will make this course available to tribe members for no charge. Straw bale is a very accessible way to build at Pine Ridge and can save lives because of the insulation from harsh weather. 

Only three days, 30,31 July and 1 Aug. 

Permacultureguild.us for more info.

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Sustainable architect Howard Switzer and Permaculture designer Katey Culver of Ecoville Architects will teach a straw bale course at Pine Ridge Lakota reservation from July 30, 31, and Aug 1, 2010.  Learn how to build with straw and finish the structure with earth.

We will be building a large workshop facility at OLCERI, the sustainability school at Pine Ridge.  It will be a multi-use facility for classrooms, workshop, equipment storage and possibly student housing.  This project will greatly enhance our ability to deliver courses and also to execute ongoing projects like building high efficiency stoves/heaters (which can save lives on Pine Ridge).  It will also serve as a demonstration straw bale building for additional projects at Pine Ridge.

Students may stay after the class (and are encouraged) to continue to work on the building, and we are also looking for interns/apprentices who can continue to work on it until it is finished.  We are targeting to complete it this summer!  Tribal members will attend the course on scholarship – your course fees help make this happen.

At Pine Ridge, people die every winter inside their homes because of exposure to the weather – many of the homes are not weatherized and are poorly constructed.  It is estimated that up to 60% of homes in Pine Ridge have black mold.  Straw bale is a very viable option for people to build healthy, safe and resilient homes. This class is the first in a series of natural building classes for Pine Ridge and is part of an overall program to make sustainable housing available more broadly on the rez.

Price is $275 before July 10, $325 after.

Camping and healthy meals are included. Vegetarian available.

Experience the unique environment of historical Pine Ridge (home of Wounded Knee and many other historical sites), and interact with the culture.  Contribute to a worthy heart project while learning to build your own straw bale home.

Bio for instructors:

Ecoville ArchiTechs is comprised of architect Howard Switzer and Permaculture designer Katey Culver.  An architectural design firm formed in 1996, Ecoville ArchiTechs focuses on natural building techniques including passive solar, straw bale and earthen construction methods with a Permaculture design foundation.

Howard Switzer has been designing environmentally friendly buildings for more than 40 years.  Living on The Farm in Summertown TN during the seventies he developed passive solar technologies for energy efficient homes.   In 1994 he started designing straw bale homes and teaching straw bale construction. A social activist as well, Howard presents on many aspects of healthy living including sound finances, community development and alternative energy applications.

After 20 years as an environmental activist Katey came to Permaculture as a natural outgrowth of her previous work.  “Saying ‘Don’t do that’ wasn’t changing the paradigm and through Permaculture I found the joy of ‘Yes’.  I no longer focus on the problem and instead focus on the options for healing.”   Katey’s Permaculture work is also expressed through their site Song to Gaia Gardens, where she tends a forest garden and teaches workshops on various Permaculture and natural building techniques.

Katey and Howard first partnered up doing political satire skits for local peace group fundraisers.  They soon discovered they had the same desire to implement this style of education – music, storytelling and theater to their social change work of natural building and community revitalization.  The result was the formation of Ecoville ArchiTechs

Together they have designed and/or facilitated wall raisings for more than 40 straw bale buildings throughout the Southeast US and Montana.  They teach workshops to construction crews and owner-builders on straw bale installation and natural plaster application.  They also present these concepts to professional organizations and the public.  Through their entertaining style they have inspired hundreds of people from around the world to take regenerative action to create their place.  Natural Building Instructors who have seen these presentations have commented that Ecoville ArchiTechs natural building slide shows are among the best they’ve ever seen.

Currently Katey and Howard live/work in a solar-powered straw bale home on 65 rural acres in Tennessee practicing their craft along with some dogs, cats, pigs and chickens.