Hands-on Natural Building
3-Day Workshop August 7-9, 2026
Taught by Greg Allen of Mud Dauber School of Natural Building
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
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8:30am Site Open
9am-noon Morning Session
noon-1pm Break for lunch. Participants bring their own lunch
1-4pm Afternoon Session
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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
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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
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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!
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Tools/Equipment (all optional, but may come in handy):
work gloves
ear and eye protection
notebook
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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.
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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.