Complete Cabin Build in Hawaii

Number of Students: up to 13 (One spot left!)

Cost: $3000 $2700

A note regarding the Maui Fires: The farm is located in the central plateau so the devastating fires which destroyed Lahaina have not physically affected our host’s location. We hope our workshop will have a positive impact in sharing how to construct naturally fire-resistant buildings. I’m sure the fires and subsequent rebuilding efforts will inform what we teach, build, and discuss.

We’ve reduced the price of the workshop because we really want it to fill so we can share our knowledge with the most people, including locals.​

The Building Project

During this five week workshop we will build a beautiful 200 square foot cabin and an earthen bread/pizza oven. Starting with a rubble trench foundation and earth bag stem wall we will build a complete cabin with windows, doors, shelves, basic electric and plumbing, arches, niches, artwork, and roof. It will be a combination of cob, straw bale, adobe, bale-cob, wood-cob, and more!

Participants will leave with the knowledge and hands-on experience to build their own small cabin and oven and even teach a basic cob course.

About the Site

From the Maui Majesty website:

The Farm at Maui Majesty is a 24+ acre farm in the heart of Maui, on the slopes of the Haleakalā volcano, in lower Kula on the island of Maui in Hawaii, USA. Our location is incredibly beautiful with bi-coastal ocean views as well as views to the top of Haleakela. While we are in the middle of farm country here, we are only 12 minutes to the major town of Kahului which hosts the main harbor/port, airport, and the main industry of the island. We are just up the road from several other of Maui's famous farms including Surfing Goat Dairy and Ocean Vodka.

Maui Majesty promotes education around living WITH the land, more than living off the land. As a professor at several universities and as a licensed therapist, Dr. Holstein, owner/founder of Maui Majesty, is supremely passionate about this work and works hard to live in harmony with nature. We have facilitated work-groups in medicine making, growing food and medicine, and regenerative sustainability. Our courses address topics such as earth batteries, atmospheric water generation, composting toilets, biogas, cob building, passive solar, and other regenerative systems that allow humans to enjoy modern conveniences in a way that is "off-grid". Most importantly we are working on systems that do not use up natural resources faster than the earth can regenerate them, systems that do not cause harm to other living creatures or the environment and hopefully even enhance them.

Overview

This is one of the most comprehensive natural building workshops you can find. Together, VersaTerra instructors have decades of experience on four different continents. This has helped us design rich learning experiences giving students the tools they need to become confident earthen builders.

Earth is the mother of all building materials. For millennia, and all over the world, people have used earth to build beautiful, simple, efficient and inexpensive homes. It's plentiful, ecological, and non-toxic. Plus, it can't burn, won't rot and is much simpler to build with than conventional construction.

We will teach you how to use clay-soil to build just about everything: from strong structural walls (cob and adobe) to beautiful floors, plasters and light-straw-clay walls. Because the materials are fireproof, they are ideally suited to sculpt ovens, fireplaces and cook stoves.

The essence of your learning experience will revolve around developing a deep understanding of how to process and combine a few simple materials: clay-soil, sand, and straw. How you apply that in your building adventures is then up to you, but you will find the possibilities endless and exciting. 

What you will learn

After this workshop, you will feel confident that you can

• Design and build yourself a cottage our of earth (cob) and other natural materials

• Remodel or renovate an existing home, using natural materials

• Build and use an earthen oven

• Use natural materials to create garden walls and hot tubs

• Teach a one-day natural building event yourself!

Specifically, you will get hands-on experience and skill development in the following areas:

• Foundation systems, rubble trench, stem walls, earthbag construction (as a stem wall)

• Identifying the right materials, screening, processing, testing, costs, amount calculations

• Mixing cob efficiently

• Making adobe bricks and using straw bales (“balecob”) and cordwood cob

• Building with cob: strong sculptural walls, arches, windows and doors, niches, and sculptural artwork 

• Electricity and plumbing, how to install wires and pipes in the walls

• Roof attachment and roof design

• Light-straw-clay: this is an infill technique perfect for code-approved buildings and natural renovations of existing homes

• Natural plasters, tools, making your own plasters and paints, colors, applications, how to apply it on earthen and bale walls, drywall, wood, concrete

• Tamped floors, finish earthen floors in natural buildings, earthen floors in existing homes on plywood, oriented strand board, and concrete

• Earthen ovens: from start to finish and how to use them (we’ll finish with a pizza party!)

• Different design strategies, natural design essentials, passive solar, using cob to make models

• Building codes, how they work, how to work with and around them

During every workshop we make time for specific issues related to individual situations. This usually includes a careful look at different climates and regions, living with families or in communities, dealing with the building code, physical and financial challenges, appropriate technologies and more.

Kyle’s book, “Build it with Earth: the Cob Pizza Oven” and Conrad’s, “House of Earth” are both included with the workshop and will be mailed before we begin. They will serve as guidebooks for the workshop.

Lodging

There are tent spaces (bring your own tent), parking areas for RVs and camper vans, and a couple rustic cabins which are reserved for couples and families on a first come/first served basis. Composting toilets, outdoor covered sinks and showers are also provided.

Local Attractions

When in Hawaii one might as well take some time to enjoy the natural beauty. Our workshop schedule has half days on Saturdays with Sundays off.

Nearby is Haleakala volcano, the Road to Hana, whale watching, beaches for snorkeling & surfing, waterfalls, hikes, farms, resorts, and so much more. There are tons of websites that go into more detail with lots of info on tourist attractions. We’ll likely plan some optional group outings once we’re together.

Pickup and Dropoff

Airport pickup and drop off is available from the Kahului Airport the Friday evening and Saturday morning before the workshop starts (12:00 start time on Saturday the 2nd) and on Saturday afternoon after the workshop ends.

Registration, Payment, & Refunds

This workshop requires a $700 deposit to hold your space. When a deposit is made, Kyle will reach out to you, welcome you to the course, and get you in the email loop with all the details.

Go here to make a Venmo deposit or send a check for $700 made out to Cobitat and mailed to 2055 McCloud Avenue, Reno, NV 89512. Full payments are also gladly accepted.

Deposit is refundable (minus $50 for books and mailing cost if they’ve already been shipped to you) until 6 weeks before the start of the class. If you cancel with less than six weeks before the start of the class and your spot can be filled, we will issue a refund minus book costs. If it can’t be filled, your deposit will not be refunded.

Full payment is requested by two weeks before the start of the class.