Here is our complete 2023 Fast Cob Workshop Schedule:
- May 18-22 - Focus on Finishing; Thursday to Monday over May Long Weekend (5)
- June 15-19 - All the Basics of Building from Thursday to Monday (2)
- June 22-26 - Production Cob (for recent Fast Cob Grads ONLY) from Thursday to Monday (5)
Bonus: Receive a $200 discount if you register for both workshops at the same time.
2022 created more highly skilled and very creative Fast Cobbers for our planet...thanks to all who participated and contributed your amazing energy and ideas in our Natural Building Workshops!
To sign up for a workshop, simply fill in the application form at the bottom of this page...
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Fast Cob is a Revolution in Building
All of our Natural Building Workshops are led and facilitated by the builder of a 900 sq.ft. split level Cob Home. This home was built in 5 months during 2016. About 80% of it was built by one person - your workshop instructor - on his own. He had help putting up the floor and roofing beams as well as the giant windows and skylights, but 90% of the cobbing was done alone and most of it was concentrated into 2 months. That's the power of this technique that we call Fast Cob! Compare that to his first building, built with the traditional West Coast Cob technique: a 64 sq.ft. utility shed that needed 28 people and 2 building seasons to complete. 900 sq.ft built in 550 person-hours with Fast Cob. 64 sq.ft. built in 648 person-hours with the traditional method. The roots of Fast Cob sprouted in that first building when a man born and raised in Korea (Soban) came to a workshop in 2007 but didn't like the mixing technique. He spent a few days incorporating his noodle-making technique and revolutionized our building life! For the past 14 years, that noodle-making technique has been enhanced and tweaked to make Fast Cob at least 10x faster to mix and up to 30x faster to build with. Two different professional carpenters trained to build entire structures are convinced that Fast Cob is at least as fast as building with wood! Only cob lasts at least 5x longer, creates no garbage, is 1/3 or less of the cost, has virtually no maintenance, and insects and vermin can't get in. And you can build it all on your own and without machines! Fast Cob is a serious revolution in Natural Building. And we want to share this gift with you and the world! (Natural) Building has never been so easy... and as of 2021, it just got significantly easier and faster! Come and Learn for Yourself! |
Our Natural Building Workshop Offerings...
Beginning on a Thursday evening for dinner, and ending on Monday with breakfast, we continue our 17 year tradition of hosting Natural Building and Living Workshops...
Every All-the-Basics-of-Building Fast Cob Workshop includes:
Natural Building Design: working with nature to make long lasting, beautiful structures;
Fast Cob: how to mix it and build with it, including windows and doors;
Foundations: how we stack rocks to keep our buildings solid and safe;
Roofs: we'll show you various options and simple, elegant designs;
Plumbing and Electrical: you'll see how easy it is with Fast Cob!
Healthy, Hearty Food: we serve you hot, homemade organic fare.
Every All-the-Basics-of-Building Fast Cob Workshop includes:
Natural Building Design: working with nature to make long lasting, beautiful structures;
Fast Cob: how to mix it and build with it, including windows and doors;
Foundations: how we stack rocks to keep our buildings solid and safe;
Roofs: we'll show you various options and simple, elegant designs;
Plumbing and Electrical: you'll see how easy it is with Fast Cob!
Healthy, Hearty Food: we serve you hot, homemade organic fare.
Depending upon the workshop you choose, you'll take away a different set of skills, but everyone will be encouraged to enjoy every single moment! The pace is always relaxed...
Focusing on FinishingTogether, we'll learn...
We've made finishing not only gorgeous, but very easy. That breakthrough also came in the summer of 2021. Our lime plaster is perfect for areas subjected to water spray (like showers and sinks). The sand plaster is limit-less in its applications and making. Our natural paints are completely non-toxic at every stage and as vibrant as any other pigment, ranging from bright white, to yellows, oranges, reds, greens, blue, purple and black. All from our Mother Earth. Note: we do not do any mixing or building using our revolutionary Fast Cob techniques during the Finishing Workshop. |
All the Basics of Building You'll get a full sense of our Fast Cob technique and if you're keen, develop the muscle memory that will stay with you forever. Everything we use is completely natural and everything you learn can be done anywhere on the planet, with no need for electricity or machines. Of course, this short course is not enough to go off and start building a large-scale home on your own without prior experience, but it is more than enough to start with an oven, shed or other smaller project.
Our building technique has been 30x faster than traditional West Coast Cob for over a decade, and now we've tweaked our mixing speed to go from 10x to at least 20x faster! Anyone can use our technique and build all day, alone or with a group. And it won't take long for you to gain the skills to be able to build faster than any other method known to humans! In between each hands-on Fast Cob session, we'll look at foundations, electrical and plumbing, roofs, and general design. You get everything you need to go off and start building on your own because we design every workshop around you and your specific needs. Whether you're just curious about Fast Cob or ready to start building naturally, this course is definitely for you! Note: we don't do any finishing in this workshop; we gradually build up your mixing and building speed throughout the 12 workshop sessions. |
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Our Workshops begin on a Thursday evening with a welcoming dinner and end with a Farewell breakfast on Monday before you depart on the 11 am ferry.
Food, Food, and more Food! Every workshop day, we start with a hot, hearty breakfast (with a Q&A), after which we start cobbing. Two morning, hands-on learning sessions sandwich a hearty snack break, A hot, hearty lunch (with another Q&A session) precede two afternoon sessions to make sure we have the strength and stamina to absorb all the learning we can. After an hour break to clean-up, a hot dinner accompanies a daily recap on lessons learned and sets the stage for an evening discussion among ourselves or with an invited guest from the Community. |
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Remember, human-powered building is still hard work, no matter how efficient the building technique. But since there are no machines or motors on site, it is a safe and quiet place for anyone, younger or older, and interesting conversation and laughter is common. This building site, and the materials for this building, were selected to make it as easy as possible to build an earthen structure.
The pace is casual and you set your own; the more effort you give, the more learning you will naturally take away. Natural Building is at least 95% experiential learning and you will be expected to self-motivate throughout the 4 daily scheduled sessions. But remember that these are NOT work camps, they are workshops where the primary focus is on your learning of a technique that never existed in all of human history before we developed it. |
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The cost of these 5 day workshops is $1078 which covers all meals (3 hot vegan/vegetarian meals prepared for you for each of the 3 full workshop days, plus a welcoming dinner and a good-bye breakfast on the final day), on-site camping with running, potable water, hot or cool showers, and 6 hours of hands-on instruction every workshop day. We use locally-grown, organic ingredients whenever possible.
We also offer accommodations on a reservation basis only in two cob cottages (one has a single bed, the other a queen) and a guest (prospector) tent with a queen bed. If you're interested, please include this in your application below. Note that there is an extra charge for the cottages or guest tent, and it includes an organic towel set, pillows, fresh sheets, blankets, and a comforter/duvet.
Any two people who apply and register together receive a $200 discount (i.e., $100 each). Any one person who registers for two workshops at the same time receives a $200 discount. Previous participants of workshops prior to 2023 receive $400 off. Discounts can not be combined.
A person is considered registered and a spot in your choice of workshop is held for you ONLY after an application is submitted and a non-refundable deposit of $350 is made.
Although extremely rare, sometimes powers greater than our own prevent us from doing what we planned. If you find yourself unable to attend the workshop you've registered for, here is our cancellation policy: more than a month's notice, 100% refund minus the non-refundable deposit; 1 month to 2 weeks notice, 50% refund; 2 weeks or less notice, no refund.
Obviously, please let us know if you have to cancel, and we'll do everything we can to help you recover the non-refundable costs of the workshop. We run these workshops on a very tight shoestring, so we simply can't give full refunds at the last minute and continue to offer the workshops. We hope you will understand.
Please also note that women and families are especially encouraged to apply. Barters or trades are always considered.
We also offer accommodations on a reservation basis only in two cob cottages (one has a single bed, the other a queen) and a guest (prospector) tent with a queen bed. If you're interested, please include this in your application below. Note that there is an extra charge for the cottages or guest tent, and it includes an organic towel set, pillows, fresh sheets, blankets, and a comforter/duvet.
Any two people who apply and register together receive a $200 discount (i.e., $100 each). Any one person who registers for two workshops at the same time receives a $200 discount. Previous participants of workshops prior to 2023 receive $400 off. Discounts can not be combined.
A person is considered registered and a spot in your choice of workshop is held for you ONLY after an application is submitted and a non-refundable deposit of $350 is made.
Although extremely rare, sometimes powers greater than our own prevent us from doing what we planned. If you find yourself unable to attend the workshop you've registered for, here is our cancellation policy: more than a month's notice, 100% refund minus the non-refundable deposit; 1 month to 2 weeks notice, 50% refund; 2 weeks or less notice, no refund.
Obviously, please let us know if you have to cancel, and we'll do everything we can to help you recover the non-refundable costs of the workshop. We run these workshops on a very tight shoestring, so we simply can't give full refunds at the last minute and continue to offer the workshops. We hope you will understand.
Please also note that women and families are especially encouraged to apply. Barters or trades are always considered.
New for 2023: Production Cob!
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This brand new Workshop will take your skills to the next level! During this 3 day intensive, we'll expand an existing greenhouse and build up to its glass roof outside an existing wall and put a giant window in. But we'll do it with a focus on speed and ease since you've already got All-the-Basics.
The commercial oven to the left was built in two weeks by 2.5 people using Production Cob; it's 9' wide x 8' tall x 7' deep! You can see it in action on the web here or see it firsthand in Cochrane, Alberta. Production Cob allows you to focus on getting the build done. It is based on the Fast Cob technique, but it subtly enhances the technique to increase the speed and ease even more. During this workshop, you will alternate mixing for others and building with what others mix for you. Our discussions will tease out these speed enhancements so you can take them home and make your next build noticeably easier and faster. |
What else makes these courses special?
- You will see firsthand how humans can build with what nature provides, without destroying the beauty that is offered.
- You’ll also have many opportunities to master making cob itself, squatting, kneeling, sitting or using a table, so that you can mix at least 20 times faster than the traditional west coast method (and twice as fast as a machine!) and with much less effort, too!
- Using our "brick” method, you'll learn how we get walls up as much as 30x faster than ever before! Building 4 foot high walls in one day is now possible!
- Not only will you learn how to build naturally and affordably, you’ll learn how to do it efficiently enough to be empowered to build on your own and/or keep your community of builders interested and inspired to keep building with you.
- You can join a growing network of Fast Cobbers to help or get help with existing and future projects around North America, Europe, and Asia!
Here's some feedback that we've received from previous workshop participants:
"The best thing that happened is I really feel able to build my own cob house!!!!" – Christine
"Wonderful, challenging, thought-provoking, exhausting, delicious, green, delightful in every way." – Danielle
"I know what physical effort it would take to build a cob structure, I also know how to build cob structure, and where to find the materials and test them." – Robert
"Overall, my experience at the workshop was empowering and a wonderful learning experience in natural building and collaboration. The workshop is unique in being tailored to individuals, encouraging them to envision their own projects, as well as providing an exercise in cooperation through various cob techniques. It was incredibly inspiring to see the cob walls growing up around us throughout the week, a physical manifestation of our joint efforts and collaboration. The workshop was really interactive, and was not only limited to building with cob, but was also an exercise in healthy lifestyle, from great food to open spaces for questions and discussion and learning about sustainable living in multiple areas of your life. It is unbelievably empowering to think that I can design and build my own house the way I want, and actively do this while building community and not going into debt!" – Libby
"Overall a really amazing week. I didn't expect to learn so much in one week, I really think I would have the confidence to start my own cob building project...really beautiful camp site in the 'burbs'" – Claire
"Instruction was excellent. Dave knows and lives cob and this is evident in his responses to questions posed by workshop attendees. His approach is knowlegable and professional in a gentle, patient and accepting manner. Dave is clear he still learns something new every day he cobs and welcomes new ideas and approaches toward cobbing. He believes we all bring something new to the table and is genuinely excited (in his calm way of course!) when we have a suggestion or idea which makes an aspect of the cob process easier."
– Rick
"You always had thoughtful and insightful answers to any of my questions...I liked how the pace was determined by the participants."–Andrew
“I enjoyed how you let us experiment and fail and learn on the fly.” – Luke
“It was empowering! I really feel like in a short week like I can get going on building my own cob house!” – Jodi
“Transformative and empowering!” – Kate
“Very instructive and hands-on.” – Matt
“You have no idea how excited I am that I now pretty much know how to build a house out of dirt.” – Kate
“Learning what we needed to know as we put it to practical use rather than spending a lot of time on theory was a useful approach for me.” – Terry
Our workshop facilitator - Appa Dave
Dave Olsen completed a cob workshop led by Ianto Evans in 1996 and has had mud (and sourdough) on his hands ever since. He began hosting Natural Building workshops in 2007, began instructing the revolutionary "Fast Cob" mixing and building methods in 2009, and turned 50 in 2013. Based on off-the-grid Lasqueti Island, he also hosts an apprenticeship that goes well beyond Natural Building, helping people develop responsible and environmentally sustainable lifestyles with enjoyment and ease. Dave has been very fortunate to have worked with many of the leading cob builders of our time and to have a dynamic, cob- and bicycle-loving daughter (and dogs!).
How to apply...
To receive an application form, just email Dave: cob at lasqueti dot ca
Here’s hoping you can Experience the Beauty of Natural Building and Fast Cob soon!
