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Hands On Natural Building.png
MDSdesignbuildLOGO.jpg

Natural Building

$650.00

Aug. 7-9
with Greg Allen of Mud Dauber School of Natural Building

Aug. 7-9
with Greg Allen of Mud Dauber School of Natural Building

Hands On Natural Building
3-Day Workshop Aug 7-9, 2026

In this 3-day Introduction to Natural Building workshop, you will get a hands-on experience with earth and straw-based wall systems. We'll be installing Light Straw Clay (AKA Slip-straw), Wattle and Daub, a Straw Bale wall, and Clay Plasters. These traditional building methods have been used in various forms throughout history, and remain relevant today. They are all great options for using local, minimally-processed materials to create beautiful, long lasting, non-toxic structures.

Hands-on experience is the best way to learn these techniques, so at least half of each day will be spent working on site, where we'll be installing natural walls in a small post-and-beam shed. To supplement our hands-on work sessions, there will be time allotted for a tour of some natural buildings on the property, plus discussions/presentations on essential topics. We will also provide informational handouts to take home with you.

Expect to leave the workshop with an understanding of which techniques are most appealing to you and most applicable to your future natural building projects!

Discussions/talks:

  • What is Natural Building?

  • The benefits and shortcomings of natural building

  • A comparison of some common natural building techniques - why use one versus the other?

  • Brief discussion around codes/permitting

  • Thermal mass vs. thermal insulation

Demonstrations:

  • mixing plaster w/ drill + wheelbarrow

  • installing a wattle framework

  • trimming a bale with chainsaw

  • an outlet in a strawbale wall

  • mixing clay slip

Group Hands-on activities:

  • Mixing cob

  • Mixing and Installing slip-straw in a stud-frame

  • Mixing and installing daub (of the wattle and daub wall)

  • installing a basic strawbale wall

  • mixing plaster by foot

  • applying plaster on either strawbale, or the CEB guest house, or both

    • 8:30am Site Open

    • 9am-noon Morning Session

    • noon-1pm Break for lunch. Participants bring their own lunch

    • 1-4pm Afternoon Session

  • AM: 

    • Discussion: What is Natural Building?

    • Demo: installing a wattle

    • Mixing a batch of cob, and some batches of daub

    • Starting to install daub

    PM:

    • Finishing daub installation

    • Demo: installing free-form cob

    • Demo: making clay slip

    • Mixing base coat plaster

  • AM: 

    • Discuss Straw bale + slip-straw wall systems

    • Demo: slip-straw

    • Mixing and installing slip-straw

    PM:

    • Demo: re-tying a bale, cutting a bale with chainsaw

    • Installing a straw bale wall as a group

    • Discuss: thermal mass vs. insulation

  • AM: 

    • Discussion: broad overview of natural plasters

    • Apply plaster to strawbale and/or CEB blocks

    PM:

    • Finish plaster session, if needed.

    • Demo: sculpting with plaster

    • Review: comparing natural building techniques

    • Discussion: brief intro to codes/permitting

    • FINAL Q+A!

  • Tools/Equipment (all optional, but may come in handy):

    • work gloves

    • ear and eye protection

    • notebook

    • This workshop is an introduction to Natural Building. We will adjust the schedule based on participants interests, weather, and time and energy constraints. The workshop introduces the topic and gives attendees hands-on experience with various Natural Building options. Attendees are encouraged to find additional opportunities to both practice these Natural Building methods and get additional instruction and experience.  

    • Workshop happens regardless of weather. If weather is very warm, we will do the more physical parts of the workshop in the mornings when it is cooler, so the schedule each day will remain flexible to adjust to weather conditions.

    • Overnight Camping available at $10/night

    • The workshops cover knowledge and hands-on experience.

    • Number of Participants capped at 12.

    • This workshop is not eligible for use with a season pass.

    • Youth, under 18, may not attend free with an adult. Instead, they should be registered independently.

    • No refund policy

  • If you need to make incremental payments, we can coordinate that with you. Please email Morgan at deepriverfolkschool@gmail.com to request a partial payment schedule.

    We are limited in our ability to offer work-trade and scholarship for this program, but please email Harvey if you would like to pursue that possibility. harvey.harman@gmail.com

Lead Instructor: Greg Allen, Co-Founder of Mud Dauber School of Natural Building

Greg apprenticed at the Cob Cottage Company (with Ianto Evans and Linda Smiley) in 2008, and left that experience feeling passionate about spreading the knowledge and joy of natural building to others. He began teaching workshops in central North Carolina in 2009, and then bought rural land and started a homestead with Danielle in 2014. This is when we officially began teaching under the Mud Dauber School name, and at our current campus.

Greg was born and raised in Syracuse, NY. Favorite childhood memories involve camping in the Adirondack Mountains, cross-country road trips with his family, drawing/designing tiny living spaces, building with Legos, and endlessly making art. He formally studied Industrial Design at Syracuse University. While there, he fell in love with the process of design, enjoyed pottery classes, and interned at a small organic farm. All of these things were formative in leading him to natural building.

In addition to instructing workshops, Greg has been involved in contract work in the Central NC area since 2010. He has had his NC General Contractor’s license since 2017. In addition to conventional work, he has built a handful of straw bale residences, many naturally-built backyard studio spaces, and a variety of other custom design/build projects. His work is featured at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, Sanctuary Farm, and at many local private residences. He also regularly presents on natural building at local libraries and events.