TEG Newsletter - Issue 30
- theearthbuildersgu
- Aug 6
- 11 min read
It is not often we are able to take in all the beauty of an adobe home built in 1916 near the center of Taos. We had the opportunity to do so recently. The owners of this home invited us to explore all the architectural details, the beauty of the setting, and the beautiful adobe walls. It did not disappoint! The home is affectionately known as “Casa Rosa”. Our 2nd stop was another classic New Mexico adobe. It is believed to have been designed by Myrtle and Wilfred Stedman. The photo of the dinette in the kitchen is right out of their books. Thanks to all who attend our TEG Tours. This time folks came from as far away as Norman, Oklahoma! Pat Martinez Rutherford - TEG Board Member Albuquerque Joinery’s Latest Build Continues
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 Work continues on Albuquerque Joinery’s latest build, a 2,400 square foot adobe home in the South Guadalupe Trail neighborhood of Albuquerque's North Valley. This was the site of TEG’s March 2025 tour. Like other “flat” roofed adobes we’ve built, we framed the parapets rather than build them of adobe. To tastefully disguise our work, we cut a curve into the parapet studs to mimic a battered back adobe masonry. In our heart of hearts we would love to keep laying adobe all the way up, but the framed parapet just makes too much sense with modern construction requirements. For this assembly, we built what is known as a pocket roof. After the beams are put, the ceiling decking is laid, and a roof framed on top of that. This can be a particularly stressful part of the project, as the beams and ceiling (interior parts of the house) are exposed to the weather until we get a roof deck on. (Needless to say, we’re glad that’s over!!) We had 19-½” of insulation blown into our pocket roof, bringing us to R-60+, decking the roof right behind the insulation crew. A tar and gravel roof followed. We’re particularly pleased with how we were able to both leave ample space for insulation, and keep the parapets relatively short and in keeping with the traditional style. With so many beautiful old adobe homes in the neighborhood, we wanted this one to feel like it had been there forever. Since then, we’ve installed all the windows, hooked up our electrical service, built the window sills, finished the concrete floors, lathed our bond beam and interior window bullnoses, and got a first coat of plaster over the lath. We’ve also begun sheetrocking the interior frame walls. We don’t have many, and we always go to some length to disguise them. All our frame walls get sound insulation, sheetrock, and are finished with earthen plaster. Over the upcoming weeks we’ll be building the exterior doors and mud plastering all the interior walls. Vamos! Esther Fredrickson, Albuquerque Joinery & TEG Board Member
Viva Vegas '25 - NM State Historic Preservation Conference October 3-5, 2025
 Register now at: https://www.preservenewmexico.com/ Cornerstones Community Partnerships - TEG Member National Ambient Energy for Buildings Research Symposium To non-PV solar buildings researchers, architects, builders, educators, and policy makers, We are excited to announce this conference 7-9 September 2025 at Ghost Ranch, NM, generously supported by the NSF engineering.louisville.edu/naebrs. Ghost Ranch is the historic site of the first passive solar conference hosted by Peter van Dresser and Steve Baer in 1972. The passive solar test cabins built there in the 1970s are still operating. We look forward to seeing you at Ghost Ranch and anticipate stimulating interactions in an awe-inspiring location. Let us know if you have questions. More info at: https://engineering.louisville.edu/naebrs/ Symposium Tracks
M Keith Sharp - Emeritus Professor Louisville Newsletter Invite for Contributions We want to hear your story! Do you have an earthbuilding story to share? Consider contributing to our quarterly newsletter. TEG welcomes any earthen news, achievement, anecdote, reflection, or personal story related to the fields of adobe, compressed earth block, rammed earth, or cob. Be sure to share your photos, as well! Email us for more info: theearthbuildersguild@gmail.com Pat Martinez Rutherford - TEG Board Member Getting to Know our Members
 The Garcias, who they are, and how they can help others build their own dreams.
Though we come from different backgrounds and lifestyles, our paths crossed at a moment the Divine deemed perfect. Our shared hopes, the gift of family, and our dreams and ideals are woven together like threads in a tapestry, linking our past to our future. Through our innovative approach to sustainable construction with compressed earth blocks, we celebrate our love for tradition, honoring natural building materials and drawing inspiration from ancient wisdom. This connection helps us preserve the rich history and craftsmanship of Adobe architecture. With these versatile compressed blocks, an Adobe home — such as fences, patios, or flower boxes — can be skillfully built from the very soil (tierra) found on site. The possibilities are endless. With a little creativity and artistry, the owner/builder can design a home that radiates the charm and character of centuries past, evoking a sense of timelessness and heritage in every detail. Adobe in Action - Latest News
 Anchor block for a 10" adobe wall by an Adobe in Action online student. Fifteen students are currently signed up for Adobe in Action's fifth online class of 2025 - Adobe Wall Construction. After completing some small lumber projects as part of their midterm projects last week (anchor blocks, rough bucks and story poles), the students are now watching videos which take them through the process of an adobe wall build from the first course to the bond beam. Adobe in Action is celebrating its 14th year of offering online classes in 2025. See the remaining Summer/Fall 2025 classes here. Catch the latest episode of our Mud Talks Podcast (Mud Talks 33: Debora Barros & Siena Leone-Getten on their "Intro to Adobe Preservation with Pat Taylor" Field Workshop Experience) here. Kurt Gardella - TEG Board Member, Adobe in Action Executive Director & Instructor SFCC Adobe Program - Latest News The Santa Fe Community College Summer Fall 2025 Adobe Construction class schedule has been released. Fall 2025 ADOB 1111 - Adobe Construction Basics Dates: 08/18-10/11/2025 (class meets in person Sept. 20, Sept. 21, Sept. 27 and Sept. 28, 2025) Format: Blended (50% online + 50% field work) Instructors: Kurt Gardella & Issac Logsdon ADOB 1112 - Adobe Wall Construction Dates: 10/14-12/06/2025 (class meets in person Oct. 25, Oct. 26, Nov. 8 and Nov. 9, 2025) Format: Blended (50% online + 50% field work) Instructors: Kurt Gardella & Issac Logsdon ADOB 1113 - Passive Solar Adobe Design Dates: 10/14-12/06/2025 Format: Online Instructor: Kurt Gardella View the full Fall 2025 online schedule here: https://sfccssb.sfcc.edu/PROD/pw_pub_sched.p_listthislist?term_in=202520&subj_in=ADOB Full details the Adobe Construction Program at SFCC can be found at: https://www.sfcc.edu/programs/adobe-construction/ Kurt Gardella - TEG Board Member, SFCC Adobe Program Lead Adjunct Faculty Earthen Material Practices in Art & Architecture Institute of American Indian Arts
 Institute of American Indian Arts - Santa Fe, New Mexico Earthen Material Practices in Art & Architecture Course Code: CERA350B.01 / TRDA390 Studio Arts and Indigenous Liberal Studies Friday and Saturday, 9:30 am - 3:30 pm Instructors: Joanna Keane Lopez & Issac Logsdon Fall 2025 // 3 Credits 8 weeks - Aug. 22 - Oct. 11 A hands-on course exploring earthen architecture (adobe, rammed earth, cob, etc.) introductory skill building of an horno, banco and walls, conservation & preservation studies, local site visits, historical contexts of the local and global, and a survey of contemporary artistic practices. For additional info contact: daisy.quezada@iaia.edu Joanna Keane Lopez - TEG Member Earthen Legends TEG has begun a project of compiling bios/stories of those people who have contributed to our industry over the years. We are interested in receiving bios from anyone who can add to our library of knowledge in a salute to those who make up the history of earthen construction. Send your submissions to theearthbuildersguild@gmail.com. Criteria for submissions to Earthen Legends:
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View from the Chair August 1, 2025 Greetings Fellow TEG members, The topic for this installment is opportunity, or more specifically opportunities. I have long considered that there are multiple sorts of opportunities that come our way during the course of our living on this planet and participating in the social settings that we all enjoy. There are ways that we express our relationship to opportunity, whether it is to “seize the opportunity”, or “create the opportunity”, or even “recognize the opportunity”. Each of these expressions comes from wanting to make sure that we don’t miss out on the opportunities that are before us. I know that I have, throughout the course of my own life, been presented with a myriad of opportunities, some of which slipped through my fingers, and others that I was able to act on in time to realize the benefits of these opportunities. We can often see quite clearly in hindsight what a missed opportunity cost us or at least didn’t provide a much-desired outcome that could have been. Having said that, it’s all too easy to think that we should have just applied more thought and more willingness to proceed when we look back at these missed opportunities, but I also think that we should be patient with ourselves since most of these lost opportunities weren’t lost because of not thinking them through, but rather that during the time lag when we were doing the ruminating, the opportunity simply vanished or had changed enough to no longer be an opportunity to us. I think that we are in a time of opportunity for the earthen construction industry, but not one without a lot of deliberation and thoughtfulness. When we seize an opportunity, in general we are saying that there exists some situation that we ourselves did not create, but that appears on our radar screen, so to speak, and that it begs to be looked at, thought about, and then acted on in terms of securing whatever that particular opportunity is. Through the ages of human interactions, there have been countless ways that this has been said, with the one that truly sticks in my mind, carpe diem. This term literally means “seize the day”, but it has come to mean seize the opportunity in our modern usage of the term. It’s an admonition to act on something that is right in your face and may not be there for more than a few fleeting moments. In the earthen construction industry, our carpe diem type opportunities are extremely challenging. It can be in the form of a chance to build an earthen structure that the owner/funder is on the fence about. Seizing the day may mean presenting the person with enough information, such as costs, benefits, regulatory hurdles, material availability hurdles, and the likelihood of finishing the build in their desired timeframe, for them to commit to the construction. You have seized this opportunity through your actions, your perseverance, and your desire to ensure that this opportunity is not missed. If the person nevertheless decides not to proceed, it won’t be because you didn’t put your all into it. This means that you should prepare yourself to react to these types of opportunities through whatever resources and actions it takes for you to be able to seize these opportunities in the most potentially successful way that you can. If you don’t do this, then you are taking your chances that you cannot carpe diem. Many of the most successful business folks out there talk about creating the opportunity. What they mean, at least in my opinion, is that they see an opening in some market or some industry that begs for a solution of some sort. These opportunities are waiting to be defined since most of the time they are an idea or a supposition or even a gut feeling that something beneficial could come of defining it. When Sony created the first Walkman, they recognized that people wanted something that would allow them to listen to their own personal preferences in music. What they ended up creating though was the opportunity to successively invent and manufacture ever newer versions of this device and have a years-long stream of income based on innovations and market dominance. Over time of course the market changed and now we have many ways to have this same ability to consume our music, videos, and conversations in a personalized and convenient manner. That one action of creating the opportunity has had a profound impact on our modern life. You can’t always tell where some opportunity will lead you, but if you don’t try to create it when you see that there is something going on that begs for a solution then again you have missed an opportunity. In our earthen construction industry, we have heard for many years about the need to use earthen as a means of achieving environmentally sustainable and energy efficient construction to deliver homes and other dwellings to a desirous market. We have seen that we cannot wait for opportunities to show up in our industry primarily due to the absence of a strong earthen presence in the overall construction market. We need to understand what the main areas that drive folks to want to build with earthen and then create the opportunities that satisfy this desire. This has never been easy, and it grows more difficult as we lose providers of earthen materials, especially traditionally made adobe blocks. This challenging situation has a bright side though, namely in a younger cadre of earthen materials producers. They are creating the opportunity to strengthen and even rejuvenate the adobe block manufacturing segment of our industry. Deepest thanks and kudos to those who are doing this! Perhaps the hardest aspect of all is the ability to recognize an opportunity. We all see situations that could be interpreted in so many different ways that it becomes nearly impossible to decipher whether this or that situation represents an opportunity. Is purchasing that old piece of equipment that can potentially help your business meet the next level of production worth it, or should you forego buying a potential maintenance nightmare in order to spend more on some other means of increasing your production. The old piece of equipment won’t be there forever, so a decision should be made regarding whether this “opportunity” is worth pursuing. It takes hard work, knowledge, experience, and probably some level of luck to arrive at dependable decisions in cases like this. In our industry, which is relatively tiny in relation to the overall construction industry, we often are faced with these decisions because we generally are smaller businesses, we have shallower pockets, and we have a consumer base that is somewhat fickle in their own decisions. I won’t pretend to think that I know how to solve this challenge, much less offer advice to you on how to approach it, but I will say that talking amongst ourselves as earthen practitioners can yield up some pretty useful information that will help when wrestling with such decisions. The more we share our knowledge and experiences with others, notwithstanding certain hard-won proprietary information, the more our industry can benefit from being able to make these decisions about whether or not there is beneficial opportunity in front of us. We TEG members who are on the TEG Board feel strongly about opportunities. We have Board and regular members who are seizing opportunities that will potentially bring many changes to how earthen materials are considered by the construction industry writ large. We also have those who are creating opportunities by determinedly applying their energy, time, and money to starting up or strengthening their ability to deliver earthen products to a hungry market. We even have those who are absolutely focused and deliberate in helping our earthen-curious customers and potential practitioners find the information they need to help recognize opportunities that they may be unaware of. We have members who unselfishly give of their knowledge and experience to those who simply ask for it because they know that in doing so, they forge yet another connection that may eventually lead to more opportunities for all of us. It’s pretty honorable if you ask me!
As always, if you have any questions that I personally can address please don’t hesitate to contact me, and if you have suggestions on how to strengthen our earthen construction industry I am all ears! With highest regards and hoping for many opportunities for us all, John Jordan, TEG Board Chair (chair@theearthbuildersguild.com) |
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