Learn how to use lime plaster to finish interior and exterior walls and install an earthen floor. Both of these techniques are suitable for natural buildings such as straw bale and cob, but can also be used to “naturalize” your existing conventional home to make it more healthy, efficient, beautiful, comfortable and fire safe. Master natural builders and teachers Michael G. Smith and Massey Burke are coming back to Mendocino County to share their decades of experience. 

The workshops will be held at Emerald Earth Sanctuary, an intentional community, educational hub and a model for alternative practices in the hills above Anderson Valley, traditional lands of the Tabuteh Pomo people. The land we call Emerald Earth is set on 189 acres of coniferous forest and oak woodland. Each year we offer a variety of scheduled tours, workshops, work parties, internship positions, and farm stays. Our purpose is to honor the sacredness of the Earth and the interconnectedness of all things, to celebrate the rhythms and cycles of the natural world, and to live in a creative and engaged community.

You can check out our website at emeraldearth.org

Emerald Earth may be the most complete Natural Building demonstration site in the USA. It has 6 small homes, a large common house, and many utility structures that were built as part of natural building workshops, work parties, and internships. The buildings use passive solar principles for heating and cooling; they feature off-grid solar electricity; composting toilets and greywater recycling; many construction materials were harvested on site. Tours will be incorporated into both workshops, showing the use of round pole timber framing; walls of cob, straw bale, light straw-clay, wattle-and daub, and other natural infill systems; foundations of earthbags, rammed tires, stone and local wood; living green roofs (some insulated with shredded local redwood bark); earthen floors; many kinds of natural plasters and home-made paints.

Below you can find details for both workshops.

For info on instructors click on the black buttons adjacent to photos above.

The workshops can be taken independently or together.

Prices are listed below. 

Earthen Floor Workshop with Michael G. Smith $230

September 8-9, 2021

2 full days of instruction and building practice

On-site camping 

In this workshop you will learn to install a “poured adobe” earthen floor from start to finish from master natural builder Michael G. Smith. These floors are beautiful, durable, inexpensive, and health-enhancing. They are easy to maintain and feel great underfoot. Their thermal mass makes them an ideal component of a passive solar design. You can even incorporate hydronic heating! This technique is suitable for natural buildings such as straw bale and cob, but can also be used to “naturalize” your existing conventional home to make it more healthy, energy-efficient, beautiful, comfortable and fire safe.

Day one of the workshop will start with an analysis of several earthen floors on site, some of which were installed over 20 years ago, to determine what factors lead to long-term success. We will discuss the steps from raw ground to finished floor and practice mixing and installing the various layers on a small scale. On the second day, we will install the finish layer of earthen floor in the community house. All levels of experience are welcome.

Lime Plastering Workshop with Massey Burke $460

September 10-13, 2021

4 full days of instruction and building practice

On-site camping

11 Organic meals

In this hands-on workshop, participants will be introduced to the basic principles and best practices of designing for and using lime plasters on a range of common substrates. Students will plaster a variety of interior and exterior walls with different types of lime plaster and will experience how to prepare work areas for plastering. Additional discussion topics will include the do’s and don’ts of lime, the different kinds of lime and pre-made lime plasters, considerations for base and finish coats, and the basics of plastering and plastering tools. Experience level: beginner to intermediate. This course is accessible for beginner plasterers, but will be more rewarding if participants already have some familiarity with using a hawk and trowel for applying plaster.

Sign up for Both workshops for $620 ($70 off full price)

Family and Friends discounts available (see registration form for details)

BIPOC price available ( see registration form for details)

We acknowledge that many techniques of earthen building have been learned and adapted from cultures around the world that have been marginalized and even destroyed. May this be a way to include people who have been systemically isolated from ancestral knowledge and hereditary wealth.

1 Economic Hardship/Full Work trade available for each workshop (arrive before workshop to set up and stay after to clean up)

Partial work trade for partial enrollment discount is available (please inquire)

Enrollment is limited so please register early

40% deposit required to reserve your spot. The remaining balance is due upon arrival.

EARLY BIRD Discount: pay in full by August 1st, you will receive an additional 10% discount. 

For registration forms and inquiries please contact Sandy,

You can reach him at (707) 235-9080 or (707) 972-3096  and at sandy@emeraldearth.org