Building with Strawbales workshop at The Food Forest, GAWLER, SA

The Strawbale building Weekend Workshop at The Food Forest

Oct 26 & 27, 2024

This 2-day intensive workshop held at The Food Forest will present you with an opportunity to assess the possibilities for strawbale building in your life, whether you wish to build your own home, construct a garden wall or chook shed or just decide if strawbale is the right medium for your project.

You will learn through lectures, practical activities (building and rendering a straw bale wall), case studies, slides and inspection of strawbale structures at The Food Forest.

Both days will run from 8.45am till 5pm.

Topics discussed:

• Basic construction techniques
• Load-bearing vs pole frame structures
• Design principles and site assessment
• Doors and windows
• Natural finishes, renders and their maintenance
• Floors, foundations and roof options
• Fire, termites and rodents
• Building regulations and Council approvals
• Costs
• Builders, Contractors, Owner Builder comparisons

The Presenters:

Lance Kairl is South Australia’s most experienced strawbale builder. He is also passionately committed to helping people gain the skills to build or make practical decisions about their dwellings through workshops and on-the-job assistance. He has been in the building trade for many years and brings a fusion of the knowledge of conventional, energy efficient and alternative design and construction to each project he undertakes. His business,  ‘House of Bales’, is involved in the construction of buildings all around SA. Lance’s dry sense of humour and unflappable nature are welcome assets in the often frantic times of house construction.

Graham Brookman has experienced land use all over the world and his search for ecologically sustainable farming systems led to the Permaculture model devised by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren. Graham has put the model to the test and teaches his findings in an energetic, interactive and practical style.

Having designed a state-of-the-art composting toilet and reedbed system, his next project was a straw-bale cold room, big enough for the Food Forest’s little tractor to drive into with bulk bins of fruit and nuts. The success of the cold room and subsequent structures has convinced Graham that strawbale construction is an ideal building medium for Southern Australia. He is a qualified horticulturalist, teacher and permaculture designer, was the inaugural chairman of the Adelaide Showground Farmers Market and has strong interest in regional planning.

Annemarie Brookman teaches, runs an organic market garden, a stall at the Farmers Market and a busy office and family. She has observed buildings, crafts and cuisines in many countries. Her passion for visually beautiful and natural fibres and structures and her skills as a designer are expressed in a direct and practical manner. Annemarie is qualified in Art, Craft, Permaculture Design and training. She has done more finishing of strawbale walls than anyone else at The Food Forest and designed a uniquely cheap and maintenance-free passive-solar slat system to allow winter sun into the extension of the homestead.

Gerald Wittmann runs an engineering firm which has amassed a great deal of information about the structural performance of strawbale walls. His role is to prepare a soil report, check architectural drawings and make suggestions about the ways in which a building of a particular shape/form can be constructed in a structurally sound manner.

Bohdan Dorniak owns an architectural firm which has designed many strawbale houses and special purpose buildings. Bohdan has had extensive experience with strawbale building so his plans are buildable with this particular medium. He has a number of projects in progress around the State. He is also one of the founding members of AUSBALE, the Australian Strawbale Building Association.

The Venue

The Food Forest is on Kaurna country and we respect their connection to this land, water and community.

The original homestead was built within the first few years of settlement of South Australia and much of the history of the farm has been retained. The old barn, that once housed the horses that worked on the property, has been transformed into a Learning Centre for the presentation of courses and workshops. Visitors can also enjoy the ‘loo with a view’, a unique composting toilet and reedbed system which transforms human by-products into reeds for mulching, rich compost for fertiliser and bamboo for furniture and structural work.

Environmentally responsible building technologies are demonstrated in the Studio, the ‘Eco-gazebo‘ and the drive-in coolroom, all of which are constructed with strawbales. The Cob Oven shows the ancient craft of building with special mud mixtures.

The heritage listed homestead, now more than 180 years old, at The Food Forest was built with thick rock walls and tiny casement windows. This dark and ‘defensive’ building has been extended using passive solar design and a fusion of strawbale, massive rock and highly insulated galvanised iron to create a light, spacious and sustainable living space. 

Water is from roof catchment. The 7kW photo voltaic-system provides electricity to the house, farm and grid. The sun also heats our water.

The severe demarcation between inside and outside made by the early settlers is inappropriate for our Mediterranean climate and has been revolutionised by extending the paving of the verandah into a strawbale-walled, vine-covered outdoor food preparation and entertainment area featuring a cob oven for making pizzas and bread, a barbeque and a raised herb bed.

The trellis over the area also incorporates polycarbonate cladding which allows natural sunlight to flood the area but cuts out 99% of the harmful UV rays. Together with the strawbale wall to the south-west it provides shelter against wind and rain. The area is also shaded by trees and is adjacent to food gardens.

The most recent building at The Food Forest is ‘Cosy Cottage”, an extremely solar-efficient single room studio built with 'bales on edge' in just a few weeks on a shoestring budget.

We provide morning and afternoon tea. Please BYO lunch.

For more information about other workshops that we offer, the venue and general Food Forest information visit: www.foodforest.com.au

Once you have registered, more information about this workshop and what to bring etc, will be sent out via email closer to the event.