In the summer of 2000, eight women of "Women Build Houses" gathered in northern New Mexico at the Lama Foundation to build a new hermitage, the "Bear" hermitage. The Bear is built of straw bales, vaulted over a bamboo and aspen frame, plastered and roofed with other natural and recycled materials. It is a snug and lovely place, and a popular destination for individuals seeking a spiritual retreat. See more on earlier workshops. The Lama community asked the group to return summer 2002 and build two more vaulted straw bale cabins. Two long workshops were held.The first ran May 30-July 24. Participants built the rough structure, learning masonry, straw bale, carpentry, and roofing skills and they attended "Build Here Now," an annual natural building conference. The second course ran August 7-September 3. In the second course, we plastered the walls, finished the floors, and learned other finishing details. Both courses incorporated some mindfullness and meditation into the practice of building. People who completed both courses know how to build their own vaulted cabin, start to finish.

We sought artists, architects, builders, carpenters, draftswomen, engineers, farmers, gardeners, meditators, teachers and others who are likely to use the skills learned in the course in their work.

Vaulted straw bale buildings... require little or no wood, are super-insulated, and have a shape that appeals to many people spiritually, aesthetically, and acoustically. They are especially suitable as mountain cabins, desert retreats, hermitages, sound studios, agricultural sheds for animals or seed storage, as garden follies or backyard guest houses.

The cost of the course was $1650 for the first, and $700 for the second, or $1850 for both. A 10% discount was offered to those who registered before March 25. All meals (3/day plus two snacks) and some other expenses were included in this price. Childcare was provided for an additional sliding scale fee. College credit is available. Fluency in English is not required for our courses. Some translation into French and Spanish may be available. Scholarships are often available. Please inquire about them.

Arrangements can often be made for partners/husbands to stay during the course.

	About Dying Bear Hermitage at the Lama Foundation
	Straw Bale Beginning Page

  See Image Gypsy's site, www.imagegypsy.com for web design.
 Artwork by Sandy Dykman Rice 
Photographs by Karin Swarinbrik, Mary Jane Schumacher, Carolynn Wilson and Helen Rynaski. 
Text by Shay Salomon. 
A full log of Lama construction details is available for $8

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