My Story 

 

From Urgent Beginnings to Master Builder

In 2001, our family found ourselves living in a tent with three young children on raw land I'd inherited from my late father. It was winter and it was cold. With no building skills or enough money to purchase as much as a trailer, I borrowed money for a 6-day workshop with Ianto Evans of Cob Cottage Company, the pioneer who brought cob building to North America. I arrived three days early. Took notes until sunset, and learned one transformative truth: anyone can do this.

​

The day I got home, I started building. That first tiny 10×12 cottage became our shelter as we built homes for all the members of my family - including my Mom!  In less than 5 years, our little village was thriving and my 24-year journey of transformation—from survival to mastery was in motion.  

 

Building Community, Not Just Structures

I trained in Aikido for many years and learned to work WITH energy, not against it—a principle that shaped everything about how I build and teach. What began as desperate necessity became my calling: empowering hundreds of students to build their own dreams with their own hands, focusing on affordable, non toxic homes that are not extractive to the environment.

​

Entering My Mentor Era...

Now, 50+ projects later, I'm "gently reinventing"—transitioning from trowel and shovel to mentorship, consulting, and speaking. Im excited to share the use of materials that are from the earth, whether you are thinking about new construction or retrofitting existing structures, to make them more fire-resilient, less toxic and highly efficient. My Philosophy: “How can we need and want less? Everything we need is here." My work isn't exclusively about building techniques —it's about transformation. Moving from consumption to creation. From isolation to community. moving away From needing more to celebrating what we already have. This is the art of living directly with the earth, building with integrity, and finding joy in the simplest, most profound act: shaping earth into home.