Interview with Oliver Swann From Natural Homes.Org

I recently received an e-mail from Oliver Swann, creator of naturalhomes.org regarding the cob houses I have been writing about and reviewing. He offered his natural homes map (iFrame code and all) for me to post and share similar houses with my readers. Of course, I was intrigued so I asked him to elaborate on how he started naturalhomes.org- what it's about and why natural homes inspire him. G: Where did your interest in natural homes begins?

O: My interest began when I moved from the UK to live in Norway where houses are generally much better designed, warmer and smaller than the houses in the UK. Friends there gave me a book about earthships which I read and loved but soon realised there were many other eco-house building methods to explore.

G: Why did you want to start naturalhomes.org?
O: There were several reasons to start naturalhomes, the main ones were:
I wanted to make information about natural building more mainstream and accessible, more magazine like but without moving it too much from the roots of where I started to learn myself. I've been on lots of builds, volunteering to help others build their houses, but never meeting any 'mainstream' type people. Obviously they weren't finding out about natural building, hence naturalhomes.org

I want to develop an audience for naturalhomes.org so I can profile natural builders and help support their efforts to teach new people. That's why I developed the map so that it was easy for people to browse the World and see just how beautiful and affordable natural houses can be. To reach a wider audience I made the map available to any blogger or website. The iFrame code is available here http://naturalhomes.org/naturalhomesmap.htm where you can select from either a map of all natural homes or a map of a particular type, like strawbale or earthship. I also manage portfolio of homes like the houses built by the builders, Amazonails (http://naturalhomes.org/themap.htm?strawbale@amazonails)

My own project is in Poland where I hope to create a small eco-village. I'll post details on naturalhomes.org nearer the time but if anyone wants to contact me about contributing they are welcome to write to house@naturalhomes.org. This year we are running courses on the land with earthhandsandhouses.org

G: To conclude, I have to say that naturalhomes.org is a fantastic resource that I have been waiting find. I've posted here previously about cob houses around the world, but really struggled for content and it didn't seem accessible. Oliver's site is comprehensive including maps, links and photos of natural homes and eco-villages around the world, plus it's filled with a myriad of natural home resources. As Oliver mentioned, for any questions or a natural home you want to feature, e-mail him at house@naturalhomes.org and you can also find him on Twitter, @naturalhomes.

This is one of Oliver's (many) maps featuring natural homes around the United States--fantastic, click through to find out more:

Winter In A Cob House

In this blog I try to mix in the facets of life that interest me such as social media, technology, music, travel and environmentalism. Through environmentalism, I've sort of become a source of information in building, living and maintaining a cob house (this remains one of my top search terms) thanks to my good friend's the Mullenneaux's and their journey in building a cob house.

As many readers stumble here for cob updates (it's very much long tail, very few people blog about cob houses, I've looked) I promised to follow up with them to see how they've dealt with their first Iowa winter in their cob house. Their insights are both helpful and interesting.

What's the latest with your cob house in the winter?

First, the confession. We just returned from two weeks in Florida. It wasn't that the cold forced us out, however. The house has been cozy throughout this harsh winter and a friend stayed there while we were away. Most of the lessons we have learned this winter are not particular to cob, but here they are.

What were some unforeseen challenges you faced?

An entryway that is closed off from the house is important in a cold winter climate. We hung a quilt on a curtain rod inside the front door to block blasts of frigid air coming in when the door is opened. Later we found out that this kind of thermal door curtain is a common practice in England.

If you are using a wood stove as your primary heat, give it a central location and outside air intake. A tight house and a wood stove drawing air from the living space is not a good combo.

Even though this is the most organic house we have ever been in, it is not the same as living outdoors. Moving indoors this winter was a challenge for Lin and I because we had been bathing, working, cooking, and eating outside all spring, summer and fall. The tiny camper where we slept barely separated us from the bugs and rain. To soften this seasonal transition, we are contemplating an attached building that would have a greenhouse on the south wall, an internal water wall for heat storage and solar heat collection on the roof. Hopefully, it will be a winter garden similar to what Anna Edey achieved on Martha's Vineyard: http://www.solviva.com/

What are you grateful for with your cob house?

Driving back from Florida, we listened to Garrison Keillor talk about how nature periodically tries to kill off anyone foolish enough to spend the winter on the northern plains. Native Americans didn't maintain year round communities in this region. They would head to the protected woodland valleys until spring. Eventually, our house will be sheltered by forests. For now, it is a wonderful place to live and dream.

The Mullenneaux's Cob House at Christmas, 2008. Photo Credit: The Mullenneaux's

Here is another great article in Radish Magazine, "Comfort of cob: Fairy tale cottage takes shape with mud, straw" by Linda Egenes who wrote the original article on our home.


For more information here are the rest of my cob house posts:
Building A Cob House
Building A Cob House-Follow Up
Cob Houses Around the World

Cob Houses Around the World

The idea of living in a cob house is still very whimsical to me. It's efficient, inexpensive, cozy and environmentally conscious. From my past two posts on Building A Cob House and the follow-up with the Mullenneaux's I focused on the building of their cob house and then what it was like to be living in one. Today, I thought it would be nice to visually represent a few beautiful cob houses from around the World. Please feel free to share yours if you live in one, know of someone who does, or stumble across a cob house that I haven't.

San Bartolo, Mexico-Photo Credit: Cobworks

Mayne Island, B.C. Canada-Photo Credit: Cobworks

Devon, England-Photo Credit: Cob Cottage

Vancouver-Photo Credit: Flickr neil-san

Orgeon-Photo Credit: Hub Pages

California-Photo Credit: Cob Cottage