Bernhard Masterson Natural Building
Natural Building Workshops and Volunteer Opportunities
The process of building my own cob and bale house was empowering and a tremendous growth experience. While not everyone desires to build their own home, there is great benefit from learning a skill that allows you to improve any living space. Plastering the walls of a bedroom, tearing out the carpet and installing an earthen floor, or building an earthen oven, all can have profound benefits. I encourage you to explore.
All workshops are hands-on, since I believe we learn best by doing. They are physical by nature and encourage each person to work at a sustainable pace. By seeking feedback and tailoring each workshop for the participants, I strive to meet the needs of each person. Courses are supportive, fun, and open to people of all ages, abilities, and orientations. By developing new friendships and exploring issues of sustainability and community, I aim to make each workshop a meaningful experience. I look forward to learning and playing with you.
All workshops are hands-on, since I believe we learn best by doing. They are physical by nature and encourage each person to work at a sustainable pace. By seeking feedback and tailoring each workshop for the participants, I strive to meet the needs of each person. Courses are supportive, fun, and open to people of all ages, abilities, and orientations. By developing new friendships and exploring issues of sustainability and community, I aim to make each workshop a meaningful experience. I look forward to learning and playing with you.
This last couple pandemic years have been pretty quiet on the workshop and community build fronts. Most of my work has been contracting, design, and teaching art at Pacific University. I have a limited number of volunteer and workshop offerings this year. If you would like to be notified of new additions, send me a note, or friend me on Facebook. Please note your natural building interest in the friend request. In the meantime, I wish you health and balance.
Plaster Party - volunteer opportunity June 13-17 Estacada, OR
I'll be doing plaster maintenance on the first house I built. We'll be working with both clay and lime plasters in base and finish coats. There is camping available on site. Some meals will be provided. For details please contact me.
Cob Cottage - Cob, Balecob, & Straw-Clay! July 22-31 Coquille, OR
Renown as pioneers in the cob and natural building movement, the folks at Cob Cottage have much to offer. I'll be teaching a ten-day owner builder workshop utilizing several wall systems. Learn about materials and construction methods, and structural/thermal characteristics of each. We will also provide instruction on foundations, roofing, and plasters. It is a full ten days, and graduates from this course have gone on to build their own homes. Register through Cob Cottage. We just added this course, so the Cob Co. website has not yet been updated. (5/20/22)
Garden shed - volunteer opportunity September Oak Grove, OR
I'll be building a straw-clay garden shed at my own place. This is an excellent insulating wall system that can be used to upgrade existing structures and for new construction. One benefit is that the framing is similar to conventional construction, so finding contractors to help with straw-clay builds is much easier. There is camping available on site. Lunches will be provided. For details, please contact me.
