2 APR 2024 · In our twenty-fourth Mud Talks podcast, we speak to future adobe owner builders Jaimus & Kim about the steps they have taken to get their property ready for an upcoming off-grid adobe home build in Eastern Arizona.

29 NOV 2023 · In our twenty-third Mud Talks podcast, we speak to owner builder Rex Edhlund about his adobe blockmaking operation and plans to build his own adobe home in Pioneertown, CA.

18 JUL 2023 · In our twenty-second Mud Talks podcast, we speak to Dan Krause about his owner builder adobe experience in the Taos, New Mexico area. Dan has participated in all 8 of our online courses at Adobe in Action and also gave a podium presentation about his project at Earth USA 2022. You can download his full paper about the project https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a6afcc3b078693423db26ad/t/632bd740b5f4197b6f1d792d/1663817540441/Slot17_029_Daniel-Krause_2022.pdf. Dan recently became a https://www.adobeinaction.org/board-of-directors at Adobe in Action. Listen as he walks you through his personal owner builder adobe journey.

20 MAY 2023 · In our twenty-first Mud Talks podcast, we listen to Stephen Hren deliver his podium presentation "Experiments in Modernizing Cob Construction" at the Earth USA 2022 Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Download his accompanying PDF research paper https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a6afcc3b078693423db26ad/t/632b8883954bf13767386347/1663797396341/Slot1_006_Stephen-Hren_2022.pdf. Stephen Hren is a general contractor, writer, and home inspector living in Durham, North Carolina. He has been building with cob for over two decades. Earth USA 2022 was the 11th International Conference on Earthen Architecture & Construction hosted by https://www.adobeinaction.org/. More information about the conference can be found at https://www.earthusa.org/.

5 APR 2023 · In our twentieth Mud Talks podcast, we listen to Lola Ben-Alon deliver her podium presentation "Pedagogical and Research Frameworks for Earth Architecture" at the Earth USA 2022 Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Download her accompanying PDF research paper https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a6afcc3b078693423db26ad/t/632b8f3b1130da1606ba2faf/1663799103843/Slot9_047_Zackary-Bryson_2022.pdf. Lola Ben-Alon is an Assistant Professor at Columbia GSAPP, where she directs the https://www.arch.columbia.edu/research/labs/17-natural-materials-lab and the Building Tech curriculum. She specializes in socially and environmentally sustainable building materials, construction practices, and engineering-architecture collaborations. Her current work focuses on natural earth- and bio-based building materials, their manual and digital fabrication, life cycle, supply chains, and policy. She uses quantitative and qualitative methods to evaluate the embodied and operational impacts of low-carbon assemblies such as cob, rammed earth, and light straw clay. Earth USA 2022 was the 11th International Conference on Earthen Architecture & Construction hosted by https://www.adobeinaction.org/. More information about the conference can be found at https://www.earthusa.org/.

1 MAR 2023 · In our nineteenth Mud Talks podcast, we listen to Scarlett Lee deliver her podium presentation "Flood-Resilient Earthen Construction Technology: When Earth Meets Fabric" at the Earth USA 2022 Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Download her accompanying PDF research paper https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a6afcc3b078693423db26ad/t/632bd66fbc09744eaf57a0b2/1663817337351/Slot15_042_Scarlett-Sul-Ah-Lee_2022.pdf. Scarlett Lee is a PhD Candidate & Tutor of Architectural History at the University of Edinburgh, UK. She was the winner of the 2022 Fred Webster Earthbuilding Engineering Prize at Earth USA 2022. Earth USA 2022 was the 11th International Conference on Earthen Architecture & Construction hosted by https://www.adobeinaction.org/. More information about the conference can be found at https://www.earthusa.org/.

2 FEB 2023 · In our eighteenth Mud Talks podcast, we listen to architect https://www.lmarchitectsinc.com/ and professional engineer https://verdantstructural.com/index.html deliver their podium presentation "Legal Adobe in California - A Pathway for Building Permits" at the Earth USA 2022 Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Download their accompanying PDF research paper https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a6afcc3b078693423db26ad/t/632be7027a15087eab26fdbd/1663821571110/Slot20_020_Ben-Loescher_2022.pdf. Earth USA 2022 was the 11th International Conference on Earthen Architecture & Construction hosted by https://www.adobeinaction.org/. More information about the conference can be found at https://www.earthusa.org/.

20 DEC 2022 · In our seventeenth Mud Talks podcast, we listen to architect https://www.markchalom.com/ deliver his keynote address "Building with Earth - Past, Present and Future from my Street Corner" at the Earth USA 2022 Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Mark specializes in blending handcrafted Traditional and Contemporary styles with sustainable technologies. Mark’s experience spans both design and construction of environmentally appropriate buildings. Since 1975, Mark has taken his architecture beyond Passive Solar and looks at the total structure, site, materials, systems, water, landscaping and their interaction with each other and the environment. His sensitivity to the historic cultures has blended these new technologies with the traditional forms and materials that have evolved in Northern New Mexico out of common sense and appropriateness. Mark is known for his expertise in the development of the “Solar Adobe” based on the past but adaptive and relevant to the future. Earth USA 2022 was the 11th International Conference on Earthen Architecture & Construction hosted by Adobe in Action. More information about the conference can be found at https://www.earthusa.org/.

17 AUG 2022 · In our sixteenth Mud Talks podcast, we speak to Jim Hallock of Earth Block International / Native Earth Block. Jim left traditional construction methods nearly 30 years ago for a life devoted to building with a healthy, sustainable, and superior product - Earth - and has since become the Western Hemisphere’s preeminent expert in Earth Block creation and construction. Due to the chemical sensitivity of his wife, Nora, Jim left California for rural Colorado in search of a non-toxic building material. After attending multiple seminars and presentations on various “green” systems, he found the answer right beneath his feet, leased a machine from New Mexico, and built what he now refers to as Earth Block One: his first of hundreds. The rest is a long and dirty history, spanning eight states and nine countries. Join us for this episode as Jim gives us an in-depth overview of his personal preferences when designing and building homes with CEBs.

26 APR 2022 · With Mud Talks 15-8 we wrap up a special eight-part miniseries dedicated to the topic of preserving earthen architecture. In this final episode of the series we speak to Jake Barrow, Cornerstones Community Partnerships Program Director. We speak about wood elements in earthen structures and their preservation as well as the importance of maintenance plans and cycles for earthen structures. Resources & Further Reading: Adobe Conservation - A Preservation Handbook pp. 117 to 126, 159 to 174, 191 to 208 by Cornerstones Community Partnerships (Author), Francisco Uviña Contreras (Illustrator) Publisher: Sunstone Press (August 15, 2006) ISBN-13: 978-0865345270 https://www.cstones.org/books The Mud Talks Preserving Earthen Architecture series is brought to you in collaboration with Cornerstones Community Partnerships and is made possible by the support of the US Department of the Interior, National Park Service and a National Center for Preservation Technology & Training grant.