When I was a kid, I lived by Galveston Bay. Our beach sand was made up of unusual dark brown, very tiny pebbles (surf-worn petrochemical by-products, perhaps?). A few inches beneath this sand was a wonderful supply of clay. My sister and I spent most of our formative years digging up this tan clay and fashioning trolls and an entire line of troll accessories — troll furniture, troll pets, troll cars, and troll houses — which we decorated with garfish scales, poptops, shells, and bones that washed on shore. We made the houses in the style of gingerbread houses, rolling the clay into slabs, cutting out four walls and two rectangles for the roof. Then we would set our masterpieces on the pier to dry. They would break apart as soon as we touched them after they reached this fragile state, but they sure were cute while they lasted.
Fortunately, there are those who didn’t abandon the mud and clay houses of their youth. Instead, they improved them and enlarged them to adult tastes, and called them cob construction. And they’re still cute. At least the cottage I saw at Rainbow Ranch outside Buda was. Its undulating walls, free-form windows, and earth-hugging profile cried out to the little troll who still lives inside of me. (Hey, maybe I’ve hit on a new pop-psych bestseller, Freeing Your Inner Troll.) The names and number of collaborators in this particular project read like a grant proposal: the Cob Cottage Company; Frank Meyer, Gayle Borst, and Yvonne Hansen, members of the Sustainable Building Coalition; Peggy and George Yonge, the owners of Rainbow Ranch; and Casa Verde Builders, a program under the American Institute of Learning. That’s a lot of palms out there slinging mud — a mix of local soil, construction sand, straw, and water which is built up layer by layer and finished with lime adobe plaster. The floor is compacted earth, smooth and resilient. Rafters were once bleacher seats. The ridge beam is made from a gnarled oak found drifting in Onion Creek. Window sills are made from the one juniper tree which was cleared off the site.
You and your troll can learn more about cob construction at one of the following workshops:
* A two-day cob oven workshop will be held in the Dripping Springs area on September 13-14, and another on September 18-19 in the Oak Hill Area. For $50 tuition, they’ll teach you about material selection, mixing and cobbing techniques, and designing and building a cob oven. Earth materials, tools, info packet, water, and snacks will be supplied. Contact Yvonne Hansen at 447-0459.
* A Natural Building Workshop will be held November 3-9 in Blanco County. In addition to learning advanced cobbing techniques, you’ll find out about foundations, earth floors, natural plasters, and more. The project will be a small residence on a 14-acre site on the Blanco River. Fee for the seven-day workshop is $495 ($450 before Sept. 15) and includes all meals and camping sites. For information contact Yvonne Hansen (yvonne_hansen@greenbuilder.com) or Gayle Borst (478-9033 or gayle_borst@greenbuilder.com).
Sling some mud my way at Suzebe@aol.com
This article appears in August 22 • 1997 and August 22 • 1997 (Cover).