Introduction of sorts

Hi, my name is Nick, and I will be your guide. Read my words at your own peril. Some words may not make sense to you, some actually might. I will do my best as your guide or at least somewhere near my best to describe to you the going-ons of building a Cob House with my family (and friends). The joy, the excitement, the trials, the tribulations and ultimately the completion.

A little bit about myself. I am an thirty-something Aussie, living in greater Portland, Oregon with my wife, Jen and our three kids, Nate (8), Maya (5) and Eli (3). We as a family have always veered off to the left. We have never really held down a "career," we home-school the kids and we eat a non-traditional "American" diet. I have always preached live to your means, so as a couple with three kids who home-school and don't want to hold down a "job," our paths led us to downsize. And our current downsizing looks like building a Cob House and live a self-sustaining life off the land.

We have moved continents as a family twice. From America to Australia and back to America again. Our move to Australia was predicated on moving in with my family on their newly purchased 5-acre lot and live off the land. That basically fell apart at the seems from the beginning due to unseen (or forgotten) problems. Our plan got a little off-track, but in the meantime we ran our own whole-food baking company from our home in Western Sydney and sold our goods at Farmers Markets, until we decided to sell-up and move to America. As a farewell to Australia we travelled up the East-Coast of Australia for a few months in a Motorhome. Really, not a bad life. Sometimes, I look back and wonder why life was so hard at times back then.

When we finally arrived back in America, we took a little time to find our groove, and now that we have found it, it is full-steam ahead. Without the money to buy land, we managed through a friend to find our 5-acres that we have been hunting for. We will be land-sharing on our friend's land. It's a win-win situation for everybody involved. And thank you for the people who have helped us out financially. You know who you are.

As we are still involved in the monetary aspect of living, donations or whatever semantics you want to play are gratefully accepted. Aside from that, we shall be needing human-power to help build our new life. So if you have an hour, a day, a week or whatever to spare and are willing, we will gladly accept your help. We will make it worth your while with awesome company, great food, the best music, some some-some and more.

Summer 2011 in McMinnville, Oregon. bring it on!

BTW I don't think pictures, photos or whatever you want to call them need captions. I will let you decide who is who. I am not saying I will never caption, just not now.