Emerald Earth’s Natural Building Apprenticeship

After four years of running our very successful two-month natural building apprenticeship, we will be taking 2008 off. We are beginning the construction of our new community house which will be our most ambitious natural building project to date, and will include many opportunities for trainings and volunteer helpers. Expect to see expanded apprenticeship and work trade programs offered in 2009 and beyond! Although the details of these programs are not yet decided, it's not too early to let us know that you're interested.

Close to 75% of our time together is structured for learning by doing. Each year the community agrees on a project, typically a new dwelling for one of our members. The apprenticeship schedule is designed around the actual construction of the buildings, thus offering a direct and real experience to learn from, and take with you as skills to apply out in the world.

Each week, classroom type discussions are held, in which we explore the principles behind natural building and the materials involved, their availability, how to know and located them, and the many different techniques of construction. This is one of the exceptional qualities our apprenticeship offers, the integration of key principles and the knowledge of practical building skills, allowing one to approach a balance between natural environments and the buildings we create.

Our apprenticeship program has been very popular and many of our past students have gone on to find ways to bring natural building into their lives, including both professional building work and instruction.

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Another exceptional quality of our apprenticeship is the local community of Mendocino county offers many different examples of Natural building. We take advantage of this by scheduling a couple of field trips. We often visit completed projects, or buildings in construction, allowing apprentices to ask the owner-builder, or sometimes a contractor, many in depth questions, and even getting to help out on the project.

We call our apprenticeship, Natural building in Community for a reason. Community helps achieve the change we want to create. The way we build together, share our dreams, our knowledge as people, and pay attention to each other, is vitally important.

Our built environment is in need of attention. We must not continue to be wasteful, destroy habitats, and use toxic materials, in the construction of our dwellings. Emerald Earth’s natural building apprenticeship is a rare opportunity to learn in an environment that is nourishing, stimulating, and engaging us in the critical path of trying to solve the set of challenges our world faces.

For applications and more info:workshops@emeraldearth.org