From the Ground Up

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You can see why this land attracts MOTHER readers who want to get back to the land. The beautiful canopy of hardwoods encourages a unique neo-tropical ecosystem where dozens of species of plants, insects, and wild animals thrive. The locals revere the chiggers, ticks, and copperheads, for they believe these critters keep Murray Valley from being over-run by ecotourists, nature enthusiasts, and burned-out urbanites seeking a greater quality of life.

We headed down a steep hillside to our building site on the river promptly at nine each morning, after pulling up the flaps on our tents to keep them from becoming saunas. We worked on the building in the morning and had what Becky called "school" in the steamy afternoon. We held school at the building site, sitting around on strawbales in the protection of the trees, asking questions and getting hands-on advice. A lot of what is covered in school is also covered in Becky's book, The Cob Builder's Handbook (Groundworks, 1997).

Picking a Site and Design

After spending the mornings mixing cob and getting a feel for the material we would build with, we spent the first couple afternoons of school backtracking. Ann had chosen this site and planned her design for the hermitage long before we arrived. Of course, these are the first steps in building anything. We talked about criteria for site and design selection and finally built models of different home layouts. From these, questions such as "Which room catches the best midmorning sun?" were quickly answered.

Everything you read about how to place and design a natural, energy-efficient building—like putting the north side into a hill and facing angled windows south for passive solar—are especially important with cob because cob is all about thermal mass. The big earthen walls can do wonders at slowing down changes in temperature. There are, however, quite a few intangibles you may not anticipate when it comes to site selection. Ann explains, "While the location I chose near the little Buffalo River couldn't have been more beautiful or perfect for the purpose of a hermitage, the choice did present many difficulties. One of the main difficulties was driving many, many truckloads of materials down a long steep undeveloped dirt road, accessible only in dry weather. The site had no power, thus we had to bring in a generator for a few days for the foundation and roof building. It required pumping water in from a long distance. I was truly unprepared for the number of trips up and down this steep hill my old 1979 red farm truck would have to make."

Becky's fond of saying, "Remember, if you put your house on your favorite place, your favorite place won't be there anymore." Placing the hermitage at River Spirit by the river is a nice idea because the river is an ideal place to swim, walk by, sit by, and generally be near. But people are forever placing their homes in the very jaws of nature and will never be aware of it until severe weather floods them out. Becky warned us: "Watch how the storms affect your site. Test the wind, and think about what water will do if it arrives in abundance."

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