We are very excited to announce construction started on our new Permasystems shop located in Ramona, CA (San Diego County). This is where we do everything, hand-make our water tanks and other products, build molds, design, create and make beautiful art! Our old shop was pretty small, quite leaky and exposed to the elements. The new space will be huge, allowing us to streamline much of our process to create even better quality and consistency in our products.

Although we are big advocates for natural buildings, such as cob, we decided to use conventional wood framing to build the roof structure because of the shop's massive size. Then, instead of building conventional walls out of wood we will build living walls out of vines, thus saving money, allowing for air flow and being beautiful.

We finally begun mixing cob and building walls. We also added a storage tent which we bought for $10, earthworks, the beginning of a hugel bed (more on hugel beds in a future post), stem walls (see previous post to learn more), trees, and tall vertical posts to string wire between for plants to grow above the house.

We are really hoping to get the roof on before the rainy season hits. That way, with a roof on, we would still be able to work on building cob walls without the rain hitting them directly which is bad. And hopefully there would be time in between storms for the cob to dry out.

Soil is one of the most neglected elements on this planet. We strip it, compact it, pave over it, we throw chemical fertilizers in it, we bury our trash in it, etc. - all without realizing the incredible biological richness that takes place in healthy soil, such as in an old growth forest. Nature is always working towards becoming an old growth forest in a process called succession. Succession happens when a habitat becomes disturbed, this could be from fire, moving soil around (such as building a house or starting a garden), cutting plants down, really any abrupt disturbance. Is is basically a drastic change in composition of the habitat.

An old growth forest represents the most efficient form of nutrient exchange allowing plants and animals to prosper. So, say you clear an area for your new garden and all of a sudden weeds start popping up like, well, weeds. This is the first stage in succession with subsequent stages slowing developing larger and larger plants over time. Every time you cut your weeds down you start the succession process all over! So the best way to build healthy habitat and the most efficient conditions for plants and animals to live is to nudge nature along in the process of succession.

This process starts with healthy soil. Soil is the foundation for all terrestrial life on earth and having soil rich in biological life, like a diverse array of beneficial bacteria and fungi, makes an incredible difference in how much water the soil can absorb and hold, and how much of the water and other nutrients the soil can make available to plants. Did you know that soil at almost any location on earth has enough nutrients to grow healthy plants??? The problem is that the vast majority of the time these nutrients are not in a form that is available to the plant, hence why people throw tons of chemical fertilizers on plants. It is the bacteria and fungi that transform nutrients so plants can suck them up!

This Minisode shows the very beginning stage of earthworks. The goal of earthworks is to shape the soil in such a way that maximizes the infiltration of water but at the same time the soil holds the water like a sponge, allowing plants to utilize it over a longer period of time. Soil building takes time and planning, but it's not hard. We will go into more detail about soil building as we get to those parts in the cob cabin building process.

This Minisode shows the completed rubble trench as well as a separate drainage system to ensure water does not get into the cob cabin no matter how epic the downpour.

An additional benefit of a properly built rubble trench relates to earthquakes. This house, as other structures that use a rubble trench, will not be attached or fastened to the earth in any way. There is no need for this as the house is going to weigh so incredibly much that there is zero chance it could ever be blown over or away. In the event of a significant earthquake, this "floating" action of the house on top of the rocks in the rubble trench allows the house to move as a whole, even if just a tiny bit, thus reducing the amount of stress on the structure and significantly reducing the chance for type of cracks or damage to develop. 

The rubble trench is lined with landscaping cloth to ensure dirt does not move into the cracks of the rocks and inhibit water flow. Landscaping cloth is designed so water can still flow through it.

I used a 2 inch PVC pipe for my drainage. This will be plenty to move water out and away from the structure.