Join CASBA members from all over on April 17th -19th in Nevada City for the West Coast Natural Building Conference!  Our theme this year is "Launching a Decade of Resilience", and we are featuring an organic vegetarian menu. Read more

You are invited to help plaster the Chapel at Seeds of Life:

Location: Seeds of Life Spirituality Center, Tracy
Date: March 7-8, 2020, 8:30am Breakfast, 9am Plastering
Contact: Seeds of Life: (209) 637-3404
Email: sanfrancisco@verbumdeiusa.org
CASBA workshop coordinator, Allison, (301) 357-0582

Here we are just after Lunar New Year and we are still welcoming what is new in 2020. The strawbale round sacred space at Seeds of Life, Tracy California that we have been building under the leadership of Skillfull Means, with much of all of your help has survived the storms and rains of December and January after we all learned how to apply the scratch and structurally necessary coats on the outside. Now we need to repeat the same process on the inside, including the beautiful coves for the windows and the various niches. So lots of opportunity to be artistic or to be simply helpful - or both. We feel that this year really is the final stretch in a long process. So if you can afford the time we would be enormously grateful if you could come to our free WORK PARTY on MARCH 7 and 8, 2020. And it is exactly what the word means, lots of very interesting work and surprises of good companionship and great food.

The property is very conveniently located in the triangle between the Interstate 5 and freeway 580 on Highway 33 - at a flashing stop sign. Seeds of Life Spirituality Center, 33148 Highway 33, Tracy, CA 94103. We have place for camping and also a few rooms single or double occupancy for $30.

The team and religious sisters on the property are great fun to work with, we offer wonderful breakfast, lunch and dinner with home cooked meals. If you have dietary restrictions, please let us know in advance. We will also provide snacks. Please bring a refillable water bottle. 

Bring work clothes, any protective gear like gloves and masks and hawks and trowels if you have them. 

Hope to see you there!! Ready to begin the finishing stretch of 2020.

Seeds of Life

CASBA's annual West Coast Natural Building Conference is scheduled for April 17-19 at Shady Creek Conference Center in Nevada City. We hope you'll plan on joining us for another amazing weekend of learning, sharing, and fun!

Straw Bale Building Details - An Illustrated Guide for Design and Construction is now in publication! Read about it, listen to author radio interviews, check for a publicity event near you, or buy it, by following this link to our book page and publicity events calendar!

Mark your calendars and save the date! CASBA's annual Spring conference will be April 5th-7th at the beautiful Westerbeke Ranch in Sonoma. We're working on the details now, so check back for further details soon.

Read about here: https://www.strawbuilding.org/Straw-Bale-Building-Details/

3 day workshop on Sept 7-9 at a site in Big Pine, CA.

Come learn about green building and straw bale building at this 3 day workshop hosted by the Big Pine Tribal Environmental Department. Presentation topics will cover alternative building materials, heating and cooling, interiors (lights, walls, flooring), landscaping, and how to conserve water and electricity. Participants will also have the opportunity to get hands-on experience in the construction of a straw bale garden shed. We will install straw bales and plaster with natural plaster. A mix of instruction time, hands on experience will provide you with the basic knowledge of green building to plan your own project.

Instructors are long time straw bale and plaster experts, Athena and Bill Steen from The Canelo Project, David Eisenberg from the DCAT (Development Center for Appropriate Technology), and Art Ludwig from Oasis Design!

Space is limited. Register here! https://www.strawbuilding.org/event-3046449

3 day workshop on Sept 14-16 at Soul Food Farm in Vacaville, CA.

Come learn about Clay Plaster at this 3 day workshop where we will apply clay plasters on a small straw bale farm building under construction at Soul Food Farm.  In this workshop, we will be using the native clay soil as a base material for the plaster. Participants will get hands on experience through all stages of the plastering on the building. We will mix and apply the scratch coat, the brown coat and the finish coat. We will also have the opportunity to try relief plaster and ornamentation. Sign up here!

See 6 great examples of straw bale homes in Nevada & Placer counties! Details here

Registration is open! Join us April 13-15 at Camp Ocean Pines in Cambria (near San Luis Obispo and Hearst Castle) for our annual Spring Conference, with a particular focus on fire-safe construction. This year we also celebrate women in natural building and invite all who thrive on earth & straw to join us for CASBA's West Coast Natural Building Conference. Sleeping cabins are of strawbale construction!