Learn to build with straw bale at Rock Farm, Meath
US Dept of Agriculture

Learn to build with straw bale at Rock Farm, Meath

Straw bale construction expert Bee Rowan will run a series of straw bale building workshops at Rock Farm on the Slane Castle Estate in Co Meath, starting from Saturday, 18 June.

The hands-on course is the first in a series of eco courses developed by husband and wife team Carina and Alex Mount Charles.  The course will provide a step-by-step guide to building a thermally efficient straw bale home.

 "Straw bale is a fantastic material for many reasons. It is a simple, user-friendly material that readily lends itself to the creation of beautiful, high-performance buildings; minimising the need for heating and cooling," said Bee Rowan of Strawbuild.org, who has over a decade of experience building with the material. "The ease of construction and forgiving nature of the material and techniques opens up building to a really wide range of people; many of whom would never dream of attempting a more conventional build.”

 The course will look in detail at two straw bale buildings, a farm office and a home office. Both feature load-bearing straw bale walls, car-tyre foundations filled with limecrete and the use of natural plasters.

 Options range from a three-day introductory course to five-day, two-week and one-month residential courses. The cost of a three-day non-residential course, with refreshments and lunches, is €250. Discounts are available for longer courses or the full residential course period.  Places on each course are limited.

Carina Mount Charles, a former energy consultant, said: “We are thrilled to be launching Rock Farm’s Ecotourism inaugural teaching course with Bee Rowan.  This is the first step for our ecotourism destination and training centre.  Rock Farm has taken several years of detailed design work and planning and we are committed to developing an eco-tourism offering that protects the future of our organic farm, as well as the local ecology, promoting biodiversity alongside entrepreneurial and community ventures."
 
More information is available here.

Last modified on Friday, 28 June 2013 14:51