I invite you in July in Ghindari, between the 14 and 28 of July 2024 to build a green roof for the earthbag house that I have been building for the last 6 summers. As you may already know I am striving to start an intentional community around values like people care, planet care and fair share.

I want to share with you the experience of creating the hat of the house while give it life, i want to share with you the learning curve of working with unconventional materials and techniques, I want to share with you this place and the way I see the future and why I think intentional communities are the future.

⚒️ What exactly will we do?

The task is simple:

• clean the roof of straw and earth (already started);
• eliminate the geotextile and PVC membrane;
• replace the damaged straw bales;
• add the new EPDM geomembrane;
• add the newc geotextile;
• add straw and earth to create a living roof.

While removing the old PVC waterproofing and replacing the damaged strawbale thermal insulation are the easy part, adding the new waterproofing system is more complex since will have to address all the old problems like correctly managing joints and penetrations (around the chimneys) while using an expensive material that I have no experience with.

If you are more a visual person watch this video presentation so you can imagine how the roof looks like.

🌄 How will we organize?

When we work we work hard, when we rest we rest hard.

• we start working early so we can enjoy the refreshing mornigs;
• afternoon we continue working so we can avoid the midday heat;
• we never know how the weather will turn on us so we will every moment;
• around lunch and dinner i will share my experience either on building with natural materials or on building a sustainable intentional community.

But I also invite you to share your experience, your points of view, your dreams, your projects because knowing more about each other will bring us together in creating communities..

I do not know how long will this take or how the weather will be but I invite you, if you can allocate that much time, to be here for the entire period so you can get involved in all the steps.

🔎 What will I get?

I am referring to you, not me. Hopefully I will get the roof but what will you get? There are some things that are measurable and others that are not but overall i promise you a great experience.

• knowledge about building with natural materials (foundation, wals, roofs, waterproofing, thermal insulation, plastering and floors;
• practical experience in building a green roof (the most difficult part of a building);
• knowledge about intentional communities in Romania (what they ate, how they function, why they are a solution);
• knowledge about living in nature in an house build out of natural materials.

I am not good at marketing or a great diplomat so I will not be able to sugarcoat the experience. But i can promise you that all you can learn from me comes from practical experience and from my heart.

Are you not yet convinced? See this video presentation of the location.

💰 What about pricing?

This project is about sharing knowledge, experiences, and resources so there is no fee for participating, but if you can bring some food with you it will be of great help. Since it is summer vegetables and legumes are cheaper and there is also my garden that can provide some assistance but I will do my best to provide healthy vegetarian meals at lunch and dinner. For the hungry one we can also make a breakfast of porridge but you will need to wake up earlier. And we can try foreign since the forest is full of mushrooms and fields full of wild plants that we can eat.

👌 Who can participate?

Anyone that resonates or wants to learn more about building with natural materials or with the idea of intentional community, is welcomed. You can come by yourself, with your partner, with your kids. My dogs and cats love everyone so more play partners the better.

Bring your own gear, tent, sleeping materace, sleeping bag, camper. I can also host some of you in two partially finished rooms, a loft and a glamping tent. Bring some earplugs if you know you are a sensitive sleeper since there is a lot of wildlife around the house and sometimes dogs will bark long into the night.

✉️ How to participate?

Write me an email, contact me on whatsapp or signal, call me. I will happily give you more details. But before you do that ask yourself a question: “what can i get from this experience”. My contact information is here.