permaculture

[Cory Brennan <cory8570@yahoo.com>]

Please forward to anyone you feel would be interested. We want to get a straw 
bale workshop/classroom done by winter and this class is key to making it 
happen!  A very unique way to learn straw bale, help a worthy project on the 
reservation while learning to build your own home very affordably. Your 
course fees will make this course available to tribe members for no charge. 
Straw bale is a very accessible way to build at Pine Ridge and can save lives 
because of the insulation from harsh weather. 

Only three days, 30,31 July and 1 Aug. 

Permacultureguild.us for more info.

****

Sustainable architect Howard Switzer and Permaculture designer Katey Culver 
of Ecoville Architects will teach a straw bale course at Pine Ridge Lakota 
reservation from July 30, 31, and Aug 1, 2010.  Learn how to build with straw 
and finish the structure with earth.

We will be building a large workshop facility at OLCERI, the sustainability 
school at Pine Ridge.  It will be a multi-use facility for classrooms, 
workshop, equipment storage and possibly student housing.  This project will 
greatly enhance our ability to deliver courses and also to execute ongoing 
projects like building high efficiency stoves/heaters (which can save lives 
on Pine Ridge).  It will also serve as a demonstration straw bale building 
for additional projects at Pine Ridge.

Students may stay after the class (and are encouraged) to continue to work on 
the building, and we are also looking for interns/apprentices who can 
continue to work on it until it is finished.  We are targeting to complete it 
this summer!  Tribal members will attend the course on scholarship – your 
course fees help make this happen.

At Pine Ridge, people die every winter inside their homes because of exposure 
to the weather – many of the homes are not weatherized and are poorly 
constructed.  It is estimated that up to 60% of homes in Pine Ridge have 
black mold.  Straw bale is a very viable option for people to build healthy, 
safe and resilient homes. This class is the first in a series of natural 
building classes for Pine Ridge and is part of an overall program to make 
sustainable housing available more broadly on the rez.

Price is $275 before July 10, $325 after.

Camping and healthy meals are included. Vegetarian available.

Experience the unique environment of historical Pine Ridge (home of Wounded 
Knee and many other historical sites), and interact with the culture.  
Contribute to a worthy heart project while learning to build your own straw 
bale home.

Bio for instructors:

Ecoville ArchiTechs is comprised of architect Howard Switzer and Permaculture 
designer Katey Culver.  An architectural design firm formed in 1996, Ecoville 
ArchiTechs focuses on natural building techniques including passive solar, 
straw bale and earthen construction methods with a Permaculture design 
foundation.

Howard Switzer has been designing environmentally friendly buildings for more 
than 40 years.  Living on The Farm in Summertown TN during the seventies he 
developed passive solar technologies for energy efficient homes.   In 1994 he 
started designing straw bale homes and teaching straw bale construction. A 
social activist as well, Howard presents on many aspects of healthy living 
including sound finances, community development and alternative energy 
applications.

After 20 years as an environmental activist Katey came to Permaculture as a 
natural outgrowth of her previous work.  “Saying ‘Don’t do that’ wasn’t 
changing the paradigm and through Permaculture I found the joy of ‘Yes’.  I 
no longer focus on the problem and instead focus on the options for healing.” 
  Katey’s Permaculture work is also expressed through their site Song to Gaia 
Gardens, where she tends a forest garden and teaches workshops on various 
Permaculture and natural building techniques.

Katey and Howard first partnered up doing political satire skits for local 
peace group fundraisers.  They soon discovered they had the same desire to 
implement this style of education – music, storytelling and theater to their 
social change work of natural building and community revitalization.  The 
result was the formation of Ecoville ArchiTechs

Together they have designed and/or facilitated wall raisings for more than 40 
straw bale buildings throughout the Southeast US and Montana.  They teach 
workshops to construction crews and owner-builders on straw bale installation 
and natural plaster application.  They also present these concepts to 
professional organizations and the public.  Through their entertaining style 
they have inspired hundreds of people from around the world to take 
regenerative action to create their place.  Natural Building Instructors who 
have seen these presentations have commented that Ecoville ArchiTechs natural 
building slide shows are among the best they’ve ever seen.

Currently Katey and Howard live/work in a solar-powered straw bale home on 65 
rural acres in Tennessee practicing their craft along with some dogs, cats, 
pigs and chickens.