Earthville Stories
Reflections on Touching Earth 2023
Following up on the success of last-year’s 27-day Natural Building and Inner Exploration Workshop Series, we opened the doors again this year to make the ongoing construction of our Colorado eco-campus available as a learning opportunity for anyone wishing to explore earthen building and our relationship with nature.
Straw-bale Buildings Rising!
We’re delighted to report that our 27-day Natural Building and Inner Exploration Workshop Series has wrapped up with results that surpassed even our lofty aspirations. Over the month, around 100 people joined us from across the US and beyond for learning, building, reflecting, and connecting.
Traditional Timber Framing
In preparation for Earthville Institute’s inaugural 27-day Natural Building and Inner Exploration Workshop Series in 2022, Earthville’s cofounders set out on a mission to add traditional mortise-and-tenon timber framing to their natural building repertoire, embarking on a grand adventure with Robert Laporte of EcoNest.
How to Make Himalayan-style Adobe Bricks
Dharmalaya Institute’s localized recipe for Kangra-style Himalayan mud bricks. Building an adobe structure that will stand the test of time begins with using best practices for each individual brick. As the saying goes, “a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.” The same is true, to an extent, for buildings.
Introduction to Earthen Building
There are as many techniques for building with locally available natural materials as there are traditional cultural groups. Throughout human history, each culture has used materials differently depending on their context and its particular challenges, and on the relative strengths and differing properties of the materials available on or near their sites. But one thing most of them have in common is the use of soil — the earth beneath our feet.
Designing an Outdoor Seating Area with Earth and Upcycled Waste
The latest addition to Dharmalaya Institute’s dormitory building is an outdoor seating area for al fresco classes and discussions. Dharmalaya architecture intern Anushka Joshi breaks down the process as part of our How-To series.
Make Your Own: Encaustic Tiles
Dig clay, make tiles, dance. Sourabh Phadke shows us how it’s done.
The Thatch Micromanual
A scruffy treatise on straw roofs — the combed wheat reed thatch micromanual, from Sourabh Phadke.
How to Make Chappals
Multivitamin supplement for soleful peeps — a how-to on making your own Indian-style sandals, from Sourabh Phadke
Didi Contractor Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award
Didi Contractor, co-founding Professor Emeritus of the Internship in Vernacular Eco-Architecture at Dharmalaya Institute, was honoured with WADe Asia’s Lifetime Achievement Award for her work in natural building in the Himalayas.
Making an Organic Square-Foot Veggie Garden
A crash course in high-input, high-output organic square-foot gardening, from Sourabh Phadke
What is Vernacular Eco-Architecture?
Around the globe, we are witnessing a renaissance of vernacular eco-architecture. A rising tide of people of all ages and backgrounds are awakening to both the urgent socio-ecological crises of our time and the potential for us to find solutions in our own rural traditions.
Organic Food: What & Why?
Organic food is completely natural, without any harmful chemicals. Growing food organically is much better than chemical-based agriculture for many reasons, including health, taste, cost, ecology, and more.
How to Thatch
A quick how-to on thatching as practiced in parts of India, from Sourabh Phadke