Apr
15
2014

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Straw Bale Workshop

by Going Slowly

For the past week, we've had the privilege of attending a straw bale workshop run by Andrew Morrison at The Healing Co-op in Middletown, Rhode Island. We've come away from the experience feeling changed and blessed. The hands-on lessons Andrew gave were incredibly valuable, and they've definitely helped to prepare us for our house-building project this construction season.

…but the strawbaling itself turned out to be the least important part of the week. What stands out most are the friendships we made, the heartfelt home-building plans everyone shared, the inspiring synchronistic stories that were told, the delicious feasts we ate, and the songs we sang around the campfire. These memories will last a lifetime.

Rather than attempting to document all the gifts our thirty fellow participants bestowed upon us, we offer this video of our week-long, life-changing, life-affirming workshop. We hope it captures some of the magic that filled the experience.

To each and every one of our new strawbale family members: we love you and miss you already! You're always welcome on our homestead in Vermont.

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10 comments

This is WONDERFUL!!!
Thank you so much for sharing this work
Of art. Taylor & Jaime- I enjoyed y'all's sweet
Souls sooo much. I look forward to following
Y'all & celebrating all of your successes.
Cal forwarded this to me- PLEASE add me
To the group email!! Love y'all! PS- I'm upset
That I missed the fire :-( but I'm glad you all
Got to experience it!
Posted by Kim on April 15th, 2014 at 11:33 AM
This is fabulous!! Looks like so much fun and the pics are amazing as always! Cant wait to hear about it in person:)
Posted by Natasha on April 15th, 2014 at 7:58 PM
Love it!!
Posted by KJean on April 17th, 2014 at 11:40 PM
Your observations of the week brought
Back wonderful memories. Thanks for sharing
Your continued journey and how you have
Connected with others,too. Way cool.
Posted by Carol Conrad on April 26th, 2014 at 2:53 AM
Hello Gabriella and Andrew,

Thank you for sending that wonderful video. I noticed that it was filmed during a still cold period, but the happiness and warmth of those working seemed to make the construction site a warm place to build that big straw bale house.

Speaking of cold weather, is Oregon planning to have the sun shine this year? Saludos, Rolando
Posted by ROLANDO ARANGO on April 29th, 2014 at 10:45 AM
Ohhh thanks for sharing this. What a beautiful home!! =) Looks like a great workshop! It makes me want to go on another workshop. =) And it especially makes me want to build my own strawbale home. =)
Posted by Tamra on April 29th, 2014 at 3:44 PM
Great Video I really enjoyed it, brought back fond memories . thank you
Posted by Ian Winduss on April 30th, 2014 at 4:49 AM
Awesome!
Posted by Isis on April 30th, 2014 at 4:00 PM
Great video! The workshops always look like so much fun! Thanks for sharing. By the way, I like the music this was set to.
Posted by Angela on May 5th, 2014 at 7:34 PM
I thought you guys looked familiar when I started reading your journal! I've been getting Andrew Morrison's newsletter for sometime now, including the one with pictures of your workshop. It's a dream of mine, one of many, to build a strawbale home someday, or retrofit an old home with strawbales. I'm kind of addicted to reading people's building logs online, which is how I found goingslowly.com - looking for pictures of frost protected shallow foundations.

Anyway, may I just say I'm incredibly envious of you guys life, as challenging as it is. I would probably dive into a big project myself, if I could just convince my wife. But even more than the homesteading, you're beyond blessed to have such a supportive community of people around you. I can tell, reading your writings that you genuinely love people, and I find myself uplifted every time.
Posted by Nathan on May 8th, 2014 at 2:36 PM