Workshops 2000 An invitation to come play in ecovillage mud!

Courses will touch on: assessing a good plaster mix; applying scratch, infill, and finish coats of plaster; mixing plaster (by foot!!!); as well as an overview of the benefits and challenges of earth plasters in natural building.

Briefly, earth plastering is one excellent way to seal strawbale walls. It can be used for both interior and exterior walls, and is aesthetically quite flexible and pleasing as a technique. Structurally, earthen and lime plasters are preferable to cement stucco on strawbale, as they allow the walls to breathe moisture out as well as in, reducing the risks of mold and rot in the walls. Earth plasters are exciting ecologically, too, as all ingredients have low embodied energy and can usually be found close to the building site (the clay we use is the same stuff we dug out of our house foundations). Earth plastering is labor-intensive, very fulfilling work. And, it's lots of fun!

Workshops will be three days (please try to arrive the evening before they start), and will take place on the following dates: June 30-July 2, August 4-6 (women only), September 2-4, and September 22-24.

Organic, ecovillage-cooked food and camping space will be provided.

Cost for three days is a sliding scale of $150 to $60. Please pay as much as you can in this range, so that those who need to can pay less.

All workshops will be led by Timothy Jean Rabbit, who has apprenticed in various forms of earth building with Keely Meagan, one of the leaders of Dancing Rabbit's Women's Building Workshop last year. Timothy is currently working at Dancing Rabbit at developing eco-friendly plaster systems that work for our climate. See her bio on page 6 for more Timothy details.

For more information:
Phone: 660-883-5511 (ask for Timothy)
Email: njeanha@hotmail.com
Mail: Dancing Rabbit Workshops
attn: Timothy Jean Rabbit
1 Dancing Rabbit Lane
Rutledge, MO 63563