Patio laid

Ready for the benches.

Garden Cupboard

Time to make something a little bigger.

We set out to make a dome cupboard for Emilie's (Randy's wife) garden.
First came the foundation. The bricks are from a craigslist score. I picked up nearly 1,000 for free.

Mix more cob. Sand cost another $2.20 (raising the total spent to $3)

 Shape. We cut up an old tomato cage and some twigs to be the support for the dome, and used a broken piece of bamboo for the door supports.

 And plaster (not done yet)

First Cob Creation

On June 20th, 2011 the cobfest began. Scott and I have done a ton of research and it was time to get our cob feat 'a going. We're going to take our time building up bigger and bigger structure so that next summer we're ready to build one of the additions on my house.
Step one?
A cob doll bench.
Here's what you need for cob:
Sand, clay (mud), straw, and water

 The straw was free from a feed store, the mud was from my back yard, and the sand was around $0.80.
The cob process is simple: mix all the ingredients together with feet and shape to form. Here's some pictures

Let it sit to harden.

Then plaster

Poor for a Reason

Here's the deal: I'm sort of a cheapskate. Some call it thrifty, frugal, or fiscally conservative--they're all just trying to put a pretty bow on something they're not proud of. I like being a tad miserly. I mean, if you can get something for free, why waste money on it?
This blog is for people who think like I do.
The plan is to take my existing 858 square foot house, and with under $3,000, double its size. I'm going to mostly use cob (the ultimate in cheap building) and craigslist as much as I can. Along the way, we'll see what else I end up doing.