Hand Me Downs

Dear Clare, my cobbing yoda,

I made a little cob today.

Last week, I bought two bales of straw and 100 pounds of sand.  Kenny looked at me funny.  Today, I decided it was time.  I’ve looked at books about cob houses, read blogs about cob houses, fantasized about living in a house that I built with my own two hands, like Meka’s cottage.  Like your house.  But all of this is useless if I try it and find out that I don’t actually enjoy DOING it.  So today was the day.

I dug up and weedwhacked down the pit where we used to compost- a good out of the way spot in the backyard where I can dig holes without too many people wondering what the crazy girl who grows pumpkins in her yard in the city  is doing.  I dug up some clay.  It’s not that gorgeous red Georgia clay like you have, but it was pretty clay-ish.  I found an old tarp under some junk in the garage, and dumped some clay and sand and straw and a little water on it.  And I squished it between my toes.

And I made cob, Clare!  I made real cob, that  rolled up in a ball like the cob on your tarp in Georgia.  Hopefully, when it cures, I’ll find that it holds together.

I LIKE cobbing.  Now I need a foundation…

Thanks for the inspiration and pictures and time and showing me that an actual real woman (granted, you’re not an ordinary woman!) can make a house with their own two hands.  Maybe I will too, one of these days, now that I know I LIKE it.