Julie Covington of The Pottery Studio on Earthen and Adobe Building
"I have a long and varied history with clay which began with high school pottery classes in Greensboro, NC. I continued my work with clay in college, and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Asheville with a BA in Ceramics and Sculpture in 2001. In the last year of my studies I began to learn more about earthen building, and became enchanted with the idea of hand-sculpting one's own house out of clay, sand and straw. I took an adobe-building workshop shortly after graduation and quickly became hooked on working with clay on such a large scale. Over the next few years I continued to work with earthen structures, participating in projects and teaching workshops in Thailand, Northern New Mexico and Austin, Texas as well as in the Asheville area. I've always been most attracted to livelihoods which allow for creatively combining form and function, a yearning which is satisfied both by making a beautiful mug that feels just right in your hand, as well as in sculpting the snug, curved walls in a strong, simple house.

I currently make high-fired functional pottery with the intention of returning ritual to the table and the kitchen. The forms I make range from crocks, jugs and French butter keepers, to tea sets, vases and serving platters.

I live in an adobe cottage on a farm just north of Asheville and continue to do occasional earthen building and finish work."

Discover the Bliss of Alternative Building Methods: Earth

Sustainable building at Earthaven:

We build passive-solar heated buildings of natural Earth-friendly materials and generate our own off-grid power. We practice sustainable forestry and preserve many of our wilderness areas. We are not yet growing and raising most of our own food; however, this is important to us and is one of our next steps.

Natural Buildings. Earthaven's passive-solar community buildings and individual homes are built of mostly natural materials, and usually with metal roofs for roof water catchment; two have living roofs. Most are built with lumber milled from trees on the land, and are either timber-framed or stud-framed, with either earth-plastered exteriors or clapboard, with insulation and thermal mass from walls of straw-clay or chip-slip (wood chips and clay), or insulation from recycled cellulose or cotton.

We also have an Earthship, a strawbale cabin, an adobe-brick and cob home, and a home built of plywood from recycled fruit juice pallets. As of 2006 we have about 30 buildings, distributed throughout most of our 14 neighborhoods.

Passive Solar Heating. All of our community buildings and almost all of our residences are passive solar buildings on south-facing slopes, heated by the sun and woodstoves or propane heaters as back-up. Some of our buildings have radiant floor heating.

Off-Grid Power. Earthaven is 100% off the grid. Our central village area operates on hydro-power from a micro-hydro system in Rosy Branch Creek. The Hut Hamlet Kitchen and every individual hut, residence, or business operates on individual or shared solar electric systems. To run power tools, our construction crews use generators or batteries charged by the micro-hydro station. During a series of rainy, snowy, or overcast days, homes and businesses can run low on electricity, so most of us use electricity conservatively.

Many of us use propane for refrigeration. We are planning at least two more micro-hydro systems in the future, and our long-term policy is to provide electricity to every neighborhood.

For more information about this exciting 'experiment' in sustainable living, CLICK HERE

Discover the Bliss of Alternative Building Methods: Cob