Cobbing in Costa Rica

In this Central American land of clay, building with cob is one of the simplest, most economical construction techniques. Cob is the name for a lump of material made of clay, sand and straw (or in our case, rice hulls). The first step is to gather your materials - fetch the shovel and wheelbarrow!

Dig a load of clay. Dig a load of sand.

Pushing a wheelbarrow full of clay up a hill, with smiles on their faces -

Alana, Lisa and Anne

Next, the clay needs to be broken up and crushed then mixed with the other dry materials - sand and rice hulls.

The ideal proportions of clay, sand and straw (or hulls) depends on the density of the clay and the coarseness of the sand. We found the measurements for Finca Fruicion to be 4 parts clay, 2 parts sand, one part hulls. Next, add water and mix until it sticks together like cookie dough.

Then, stomp in it to thoroughly blend the clay

This tarp rolling technique is great for small batches (we are patching the bottle wall)

When the mix was just right, we made little wads to patch the walls!