My First Structure In order to satisfy my need to build an actual structure, we began constructing an outhouse. First thing was to make level ground: We collected from the many rocks in the area and built up a small retaining wall on the downslope side, shoveled the soil against it from the upslope side, and tamped it down. Given the materials available on site, we choose to do something similar to the wattle-and-daub method, digging in and supporting upright posts, weaving the abundant vines between them for the wattle, and filling the space with daub (a wetter cob). Choose posts (branches) thick, tall, and straight enough. Ideally, these would be cut so that there’s a “Y” at the top to support the roof stucture, and left long enough initially to bury them DEEP into the ground. The strongest posts are placed in the four corners and on either side of the door. We could’ve added more posts and weaved the vines closer than you see here (with Elric -from the states - and Gino) in order to provide more form for the daub. We presumed the soil had about 5-10% clay already, and so needed another 15-20%. Since none was to be had, we used what was available to us: dry manure (leave the wet stuff to the critters still doing their thing :). Chop this finer than you see here as it is too tough to smush easily with your feet. Instead of straw, also not to be had, we used leaf litter: adding it afterwards with our hands so that we could be careful of the many thorns. Water -brought up pail by pail up the mountain - was also added as needed. We chose to build the wall only halfway up to provide needed privacy while providing both a view and a breeze from the ocean. Bit by bit, we filled in the wattle with the daub, weaving in shorter and smaller “posts” as we went to keep it tight and provide more key to grab onto. We would have continued filling in both the spaces and faces of the walls until the wattle could no longer be seen, then added both a rough and a finish plaster. We had also planned to dig a small ditch around the uphill side to provide a path away from the structure in the wet season. However, this is as far as we got before grazing cows had their way with it. Since the house won’t be built until November, and there will be no protection built until then, We decided it was useless to finish.  However, I got a lot from this experience: working on my first structure and learning where more strength and support needs to be built in,certainly; but even more, creating a shelter from the earth materials available at hand. I know that the combination of cows and my inexperience helped it to collapse, through no fault of the materials. Also, there’s something else: though my intention here is to practice natural building, and though I “know” better, my head keeps saying that this should involve cutting and nailing wood. Sure, it could, but this project helped me to see and experience that this prevalent-yet-too-often-unsustainable-method of building does not lie at the very heart of the definition Building afterall. No matter what the Story of this day and age is telling us from inside our own heads. Natural Building: Abroad Friday, February 22, 2008