Inner City Farmer

Just about every single thing I have made out of cob still needs to be plastered. Why has this taken me so long? What’s the delay? The truth is that I’m just not very good at plastering. Yet. Compared to the mindless ease of cobbing, plastering requires a certain finesse that doesn’t come naturally to me. One of the biggest problems I’ve experienced so far is that chunks of plaster that contain rocks or other large debris tend to immediately peel away from the cob. Hard-headed mule that I can be at times, it took me about five frustrating plastering experiences to figure out that I needed to sift all the large debris out of my sand before I added the lime to it. Duh.

The answer to my problem came to me as I stared at the pile of “junk” I recently removed from my garage. One of the items was a large screen window. I immediately recognized it as the perfect solution for the plastering problem. Now before I start plastering I spend about three or four minutes sifting random stuff out of my sand. The result is a perfectly smooth plaster that goes on without a struggle. Now I just need to figure out how to stop the plaster from cracking so badly. I’ve been spraying each coat with a mister, but it’s 95 degrees here and dry as a bone and the water nearly disappears before it hits the wall. I’m sure it will come to me with time and practice.

People are always asking where I get the clay that I use to make cob.

The answer: From a pit I dug in my backyard.

The cost: Free.

The long-term goal: To transform the pit into a pond, complete with a “creek” circling my oak tree and, ideally, some fish and ducks to inhabit it.