Mutualismo
Over the past few summers CASA has delivered workshops on mud floors, alisando, adobe making, laying a foundation, adobe masonry, hyper adobe, mud plaster, and the building of both traditional and double-chamber hornos.
In 2025 we have decided to shift gears, and invite you to join us.
Workshops are an important part of CASA. But sharing wisdom, culture and tradition is equally important, and there are so many threads of wisdom woven into our architectural traditions. One of those threads is a practice that became an overarching tenant of local culture. It was born of necessity, at a time when people depended on their neighbors for survival. It has been practiced in Taos for more than five hundred years. Today, it is the backbone of any strong community. The tradition of...
Mutualismo, or mutual help. It means that, regardless of differences or disagreements, you will always help your neighbors and your neighbors will always help you.
In the spirit of mutualismo, for 2025 we are turning our efforts towards building relationships.
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We are focusing on Listening Sessions by visiting and learning from area projects.
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We are engaging past workshop attendees in live construction projects.
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We are strengthening our operational capacity.
Email us your flyer. We'll post your event.
Send to AdobeCasaTaos@gmail.com
We hope to help you all get to know each other. We envision a way for you to share your projects, events, requests and announcements, so you can support each other, organize work parties, share materials, and together, create Mutualismo.
2025
listening sessions
2025
community networks
2025
Become
a 501c3
2024
Thank you to the 2024 participants!
TESTIMONIALS
Thank you Anita, the CASA Team, and everyone involved in this beautiful workshop. It took me a few days to muster up the words to express my gratitude, my love, and my heartfelt appreciation for your time and energy. I have always relayed mud, adobe, plaster, ovens, to my relationship with my grandmother, not fully understanding why. She did this work fluidly, without second guessing, and I never asked questions, just watched in awe. These ladies were next level hardcore. The CASA Team, Angela, blasted me back in time. Made me think of our special soil, and my relationship with my past. Helped me figure solutions, answered questions, and build confidence in the way of mud and my traditional family home. Not only reminding myself but so I can teach my family of girls, to reclaim a centuries old tradition of community and love. I can't wait to teach. I can't wait to learn more. Thank you. Thank you Anita for pushing this into possibility and Creator bless all your helpers, movers and shakers, those adobe makers.. thank you, for this beautiful week of sisterhood, friendship, compassion, and most of all, connection." Sheryl
"So fulfilling to learn from all the CASA team and each one of you. Acknowledge our cultures have so much in common and that we can all work together building earth bonds to keep our traditions alive for a better future.Saludos y abrazos fraternales" Jessica
"I’m so grateful to be connected with you all. If anyone has a project they’re working on and want some extra hands, please reach out. I’d love to work together again." Stephanie
We delivered three workshops in 2024
HYPERADOBE
In partnership with our friends at Veterans Off Grid we offer workshops in a contemporary earth building technology, Hyperadobe. Hyperadobe uses mesh bags or tubes filled with earth, instead of adobe bricks. The bags are often layered in a circular shape. Hyperadobe can be appropriate for larger structures. You will learn:
Understanding the equipment
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Filling the tubing
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Stabilizing the courses
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Aligning the courses
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Tamping the courses
The physical demands of these workshops are significant. They involve heavy lifting, bending, kneeling and hours in the hot New Mexico sun. Bring gloves, a long sleeve shirt, hat, sunglasses and shoes for construction. No sandals or flip flops.
off grid oven installation
This workshop teaches how to construct an off grid cooking: the traditional horno (or oven), a firebrick lined fire pit, or an Egyptian horno (with a separate firebox). This workshop includes:
Project planning
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Tools and equipment
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Safety on the job site
Laying bricks
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Understanding masonry tools
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How to handle adobes
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Mixing adobe mortar
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Laying adobes
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Laying firebrick
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Building an arch
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Building a dome
How to plaster
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Preparing plaster materials
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Mixing the plaster
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Applying the plaster
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Maintaining the plaster
To be notified when the next workshop is scheduled, use the form at the bottom of this page to join our mailing list.
This workshop, is the perfect foundation for your adobe practice. It includes demonstrations about custom form building so that your adobes always suit your project.
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You will learn soil testing to ensure your adobes are strong and long lasting
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You will learn different methods of mixing mud
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the old way of dancing in a pit
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using a tarp to mix
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using a hoe and a wheelbarrow
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using a cement mixer.
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You will learn about how to use and care for the tools and how important even a bucket is.
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You will take turns at the different stations
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sifting the soil
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mixing the mud
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filling the forms
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cleaning station
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Working as a team brings harmony and lots of adobes, so each station is important to the whole.
The physical demands of these workshops are significant. They involve heavy lifting, bending, kneeling and hours in the hot New Mexico sun. Bring gloves, a long sleeve shirt, hat, sunglasses and shoes for construction. No sandals or flip flops.
