What if I told you that it was possible to build a beautiful house out of the dirt under your feet?  “There’s no way I’m going to start living in some mud hut,” you say.  I’ll bet you think I’m crazy.  But the truth is that people have been building beautiful dwellings out of earth for thousands of years, and they are still doing it.  Many buildings in the middle East are still constructed using the old mud brick method.  England has it’s thatch roofed cob houses.  The Native Americans of New Mexico have their adobe.

Earth building is a time-honored technique that has much to offer modern people.  Earth homes are easy to build.  People often learn the technique during a weekend intensive and immediately afterwards begin work on their own project.  These homes provide a healthier living environment than almost any other type of building.  Earth walls insulate well, but they also breath.  Air quality inside an earth home is excellent because few if any toxic products are used in its construction.  And the aspect I like most about earth homes is that they are often beautiful.  Because earth is moldable like clay, walls in earth homes are often more than walls, they are works of art.

The following slide show demonstrates just how beautiful and versatile earth dwellings can be:

This next video is almost an hour long, but I found it fascinating.  I had been interested in earth homes for a long time, but did not understand how they were built.  This video shows the construction process and includes commentary from builders who learned from experience.