2024 Workshops
MAKING
Adobe brickS
June 2
This workshop, located in Santa Fe, 20 minutes north of the plaza in Cañoncito. It 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.
Limited space.
this workshop is IN canoncito, near Santa Fe.
To enroll in this workshop,
email us at
Hyper-adobe
with Vets off Grid
July 12, 14, 17, 18
In partnership with our friends at Veterans Off Grid we offer a workshop 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:
Pouring a stable, level foundation
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Laying out a footing
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Digging a footing
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Building a footing form
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Tying steel and laying lath
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Mixing cement properly
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Pouring, leveling and finishing a footing
Building with hyperadobe
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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.
Limited space.
this workshop is in TAOS
To enroll in this workshop,
email us at
off grid oven installation
(IN TAOS)
July 22-26
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
this workshop is sold out
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instructional videos
Available in the fall.
A series of instructional videos based on these workshops
will teach the basic skills needed to create, repair
and maintain an adobe structure.
Adobe bricks
Adobe plaster
Adobe floors
Alisando (natural paint)
Off grid cooking installation
Available 2025
Passive cooling system
Arches, domes and nichos
June
2025
Adobe bricks& plaster
workshop
Limited to 15 attendees.
July
2025
adobe
floors
workshop
Limited to 10 attendees.
August
2025
off grid cooking installation
workshop
Limited to 8 attendees.