On Sunday, Biolithic Builds hosted the inaugural (Greater) Boston Natural Building Party! Not a work-party but a party party, with food, drinks, books, and most importantly, lovely people.
A great variety of folks joined, from fields including architecture, engineering, education, healthcare, tech, and of course, natural building. This is no surprise, since natural building speaks to such fundamental desires of humans: to be able to take care of ourselves, to express ourselves in our built environments, and to create a better future together.
We had a display table of fun things to peruse, including blocks of cob and light straw-clay, clay paint samples (more on that coming soon!), and a gorgeous dorodango made from Boston Blue Clay by Carl of Embodied Build & Plaster.
A pooled collection of relevant books were also available, featuring: The latest edition of The Last Straw Magazine (I wrote an article!), several books from the invaluable Sustainable Building Essentials series, my very beat up copy of Alex Sumerall‘s workshop exclusive cob book, and classics such as The Art of Natural Building. But to no surprise, most people where too engrossed in conversation to read. Is a book club in our future?
I cooked up a storm, and folks generously brought dishes as well. Safe to say, we were more than prepared on food.
(Just a few things we ate 🙂 )
It was so nice to meet so many people and talk about our common interests in sustainability, buildings, and craft. In the deep of winter, working alone mostly, in a small field, it can feel very isolated at times. But, it only takes reaching out to find a world of support. A huge thank you to everyone for coming: I, for one, am so full of fresh inspiration, ideas, and connections. I can’t wait to keep building community with you all!
Huge thanks as well to the residents of the co-op for welcoming us into their home.
What’s next?
The shed is still under progress and I’m exploring and scouting collaborations for 2025! My goal is to bring many more natural building workshops, volunteering opportunities, and public demonstrations to the area. I have a few things in the works for spring, but summer and fall are still to be decided.
You can help me make this happen! Know any locals who might like a cob oven, adobe mail box, creative garden wall, shed, clay plastered wall, etc? Orgs looking for engaging sustainability education programming? Please share my About page and drop me a line to connect.
If you know people who might like to participate in our activities, please share my page.
For my current project, I’m looking for skilled volunteers to advise and/or assist. If you’re handy with carpentry, window restoration, or construction in general, I would love to learn from you.
I also want to hear what you want! What kinds of experiences and information you would like to see from Biolithic Builds in 2025? Email or comment below.
Make sure you’re subscribed to my mailing list to stay posted on events and offerings. I also have an Instagram.
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