Fall Workshops Recap and What I’m Building

Finally, we have a rainy day after weeks and weeks of drought. It’s time to sit down and give you an update on what Biolithic Builds has been up to!

Early November was very exciting, with my weekend of back-to-back natural building workshops. Thanks to all the lovely people who shared and signed up, we sold out both Saturday and Sunday workshops! Attendance was capped at 12 people per workshop to give the best experience to the participants.

It was a lightly chilly weekend, but the sun was shining and the sky was clear. I had a great time sharing the magic of natural building with both groups of awesome people.

I started with a lecture on the context of natural building. We discussed the the history of buildings in the Northeast from pre-Columbian times to the modern natural building movement, and what makes different materials succeed in this climate. I passed around sample materials to provide a sensory experience of how the different formulations affect a material’s properties.

“Emily did a good job of explaining as we practiced reasoning behind building [methods].” – Grace, workshop participant

Based on participant interest, I also touched on the basic thermodynamics behind “insulation” and “thermal mass”, permitting of natural buildings, sustainable heating, my own path to natural building, and the geology of our local mineral resources.

“It really opened my eyes to building in the natural world and how humans have lived for thousands of years.” – Alexa, workshop participant

Then we toured my small but mighty building project: the shed!

I’ve been working for the past few months on converting this 8×11 backyard shed from a simple storage space into a “tiny-house”-like accessory building. The vision is a comfortable, beautiful space that can be used by the main house’s residents as a private retreat for relaxing, hanging out, or getting work done.

There’s many steps to that transformation. So far, I’ll rebuilt the floor and foundation, and am about 60% done renovating the walls, which includes removing the exterior sheathing, framing an inner wall to increase the wall thickness, and installing light-straw clay in the wall cavities to insulate them. If you’re interested in the details of these processes, let me know in the comments.

After briefly explaining the project, we got started on the hands-on fun: learning to make light straw-clay and fill a wall with it!

We gathered around the mixing table and got our hands dirty tossing straw with clay slip. It’s very simple, and at the same time, there are lots of little details that you pick up along the way to do it more effectively! This was a crowd favorite part of the experience.

“[It was a] fun hands-on experience that taught me that natural building is easier than I thought! Emily was great at addressing questions and also keeping class moving along.” – Meghan, workshop participant

“I liked playing with the clay – it felt like a pottery class sometimes! It was cool to see the whole process come together.” – S, workshop participant

All too soon, we were at the end of the workshop. People reluctantly put down their tampers and rinsed their hands as we gathered for a wrap-up. I loved to see all the grains of community-building being planted throughout the workshop: when contact information is being swapped, I’m celebrating!

Several workshoppers came back over the next few weeks as volunteers to lend a hand for more light straw-claying. Thank you to everyone for bringing your energy and enthusiasm!

I’ll be continuing to work on the building over the winter. There’s finishing the light straw-clay, installing roof insulation, windows and door (singular) to go. I don’t have any more work parties planned for the year, but if you want to lend a hand, just reach out via my Contact page and we’ll find a way to plug you in.

In the coming weeks and months, I’ll also be working on starting up some new natural building projects for 2025. If you know anyone in the Boston area who might enjoy having a small structure like a garden shed, bike shelter, earthen oven, or shade structure built with natural materials, I’d love to be connected.

Finally, I’ll be continuing my efforts to grow the local natural building community, year-round. This winter, I’m considering convening a casual social gathering of natural building-interested folks in the Boston area. If that sounds interesting to you, be sure to stay tuned. You can subscribe to this website, follow on Instagram, and do share with friends!