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Building Straw Houses
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Building Straw Houses the Homemaker's Way
by Robert Augman
Many
Vermonters take pride in the unique lifestyle our state offers, typified
by an environmentally conscious culture. Small towns and villages foster
engagement and participation. The self-sufficient lifestyle of many farmers
and others who find innovative solutions to problems represents an empowered
and sustainable lifestyle.
According to one native Vermonter, Amber
Wiggett, it's difficult to separate the many different parts of sustainable
living. For her it's not just the foods you eat, or the things you stand
for. For Wigget, it also includes the way you work.
The former co-director of Spiralworks, a project
that develops "sustainable community living solutions," Wiggett
founded Homemakers Ecological Construction in 2003 to "create healthy,
sustainable projects for owners, workers, communities, and the environment;
prioritizing education, accessibility, affordability, and quality; and
blending the best of Vermont traditions with the innovations of natural
building."
Homemakers stands out among other construction
companies in a variety of ways. Against the stereotype of construction
as "men's work," the Homemakers crew is made up of women and
transgendered people. Rather than specialization of skills, it strives
to empower each crewmember and others who work with them on collaborative
projects by sharing knowledge and skills. And rather than being solely
profit-oriented, Homemakers also participates in community projects that
they find socially meaningful or progressive.
As an ecological construction company,
Homemakers employs a "natural building" practice. Natural building
integrates sustainability into construction work. Aimed at low-impact
living, natural building relies on local, natural, and recycled materials.
Their most recent project is a beautiful
timberframe house with strawbale wall systems in Tunbridge. Materials
came from the local or regional area: wood from local sawmills, bales
from New York state, clay from the site itself, and so forth. "The
reliance on local resources reduces the energy to manufacture or move
them, and strengthens local networks who work and buy locally," says
Wiggett. And it cuts down on the amount of toxins involved in the manufacturing
process.
The timber frame provides the structural,
load-bearing element of the home; while the strawbale wall systems offer
excellent insulation (with R-values of 35-40). The clay for the walls,
plaster, and adobe floor was harvested during the excavation of the foundation.
The roof is shingled with Ecoshakes, an alternative to asphalt shingles
made from recycled tires compressed with sawdust. The walls are painted
with milk-paint, custom-made by Homemakers, as a non-toxic alternative
to traditional latex and oil-based paints.
"We built some of our own windows using
locally salvaged barn beams," says Ace McArleton, one of the workers
on the crew. All aspects of the house took into account the available
resources, especially whatever could be reused. "My dream was to
build homes for people that are beautiful, unique, energy-efficient, and
ecological," Wiggett explains.
The craftsmanship of the house may make
one assume that these experts are long-time, experienced natural builders.
Wiggett has solid credentials and experience, but rather than hiring seasoned
specialists for her crew, she wanted "to empower people who feel
disempowered when faced with a hammer or the idea of building a house."
Homemakers 2004 included a young mother
with a toddler, young women excited to learn to build, and a transperson
new to natural building. Not only did Wiggett want to build wonderful
homes. She wanted to contribute something socially as well.
Wiggett herself learned to build by her
own initiative. She bought a book, participated in intensive workshops,
and shortly after, began building her own home, a small cob house in the
Northeast Kingdom. For her it came naturally. "I wanted to offer
other women the opportunity to do something they usually are excluded
from," Wiggett explains.
Homemakers makes inclusiveness a priority
in their projects: "Women, mothers, trans and gay people, low-income
people, young people, small people, building is for anyone with desire
to do so."
Each crewmember has gained a broad
knowledge and skill level through on-the-job training and the sharing
and rotation of tasks. Every worker can give detailed explanations of
how they built the walls or what the environmental quality of the adobe
floors with radiant heating below.
Empowerment includes the crew's attention
to communication. "It's important for us to create a safe and supportive
environment," Wiggett says. "We check in about how each of us
are doing, to be honest about our insecurities on that particular day,
so as to support and care for each other when we need it, and to be able
to work more effectively."
Homemakers includes people from the communities
they work in, to help raise strawbale and cob walls. Community members
sew, shape, and place bales, learning a natural building technique while
making connections with new people.
Homemakers supported the newly opened
Langdon Street Cafe in Montpelier by painting the place with three types
of custom-mixed natural paints. The Cafe, a worker-owned collective, has
become a significant social hub, hosting live music and political discussions,
and offering organic teas and locally baked foods. It was an obvious partner
for the kind of connections Homemakers works to build.
Homemakers has found a way to incorporate
a variety of sustainable and progressive values into their company, making
an enriching experience for both their workers and the communities they
are part of. They have integrated the best of Vermont traditions with
some of the newest ideas in natural building.
Robert Augman is an independent journalist currently living in New
York City. He spends summers in central Vermont studying at the Institute
for Social Ecology. You can reach him at rob@riseup.net