Adobe
Adsorption
Bale quality
Book review
Building Science
Clay
Coatings
Cob
Code
Communication
On Fire
Issue 77, 2026
How a natural building cooperative jumped into action after one of their own was abducted by ICE.
On Natural Building Education
Issue 76, 2025
If Natural Building Is In Some Sense The Way Everyone Used To Build, Then Why Isn’t It Still Ubiquitous Today?
In this article Kenny Fallon Jr. argues that learning from these revivals is essential for natural building to meet the needs of our moment.
Finding Professional Places To Learn Natural Building Methods Is Hard Today, And Was Even Harder In The ’90s.
Michael reflects on his experiences and the lessons he learned along the way about imparting natural building methods to young folks.
Team up with young people In the Transition to a Sustainable Building Sector!
New Frameworks shares it's program to train start- ups in the young, but growing, structural straw panel industry, and to create an ongoing network of support to promote success, shared resources and mutual aid.
On Straw Panels
Issue 75, 2024
A comprehensive list of who is making straw panels and where they are
A builders perspective on working with straw panels
The New Frameworks Director of Vision & Strategy on their move from bales to panels
ISSUE 74, 2023
An in-depth look at the structures that have made Community Rebuilds such a successful design/build education program.
We sat down with Emily Niehaus, the founder of Community Rebuilds, to talk about the beginnings of the organization, environmentalism, human behavior, cult leaders, and the complexities of age.
I started out my natural building career with some basic cob construction: the beautiful act of combining clay, sand, and straw to make walls. In its essence, earth building is one of the most accessible methods of building both in terms of availability of materials and the ease of learning…
Alex Henderson of The Last Straw spoke with Raivo Vihman of Haystack Joinery and Andrew Frederick of Croft about their recent collaboration designing and building a house for a farmer in Northern Maine. The project merges timber frame and straw panel construction, creating an innovative hybrid system that solves a…
Serah Mead and Gabriel Woytek have worked with Community Rebuilds (CR) in a remarkable number of different capacities over the years. They were involved in the program’s early, most formative years and helped craft the soul of the program. They stirred that primordial soup of infinite possibility and helped generate…
No, Nancy and Eric Morlock’s house in Moab, UT did not fall down. Since building it with Community Rebuilds 11 years ago, it's served as a lovely, comfy, sun-filled home. Let’s take a look! This project is located in: Köppen–Geiger Zone BSk, ICC Climate Zone 5b, in an area with…
Jenna Yu was designing straw bale houses in California when a move back to Rhode Island inspired her to build an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) insulated with straw. This piece describes how and why she built with Ecococon straw panels.This project is located in: Köppen–Geiger Zone Dfa, ICC Climate Zone…
Chris and Lars both cut their teeth in the straw bale community over 20 years ago and have gone on to have outsized influences in the effort to bring natural building further into the mainstream building world. We asked them to talk with us about building code and its influence…
For more information on Strawtegi's CO2ttage in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. go to: www.strawtegi.org or read the project overview featured in The Last Straw Issue No. 71.This project is located in: Köppen–Geiger Zone BSk, ICC Climate Zone 5b, in an area with 5326 Heating Degree Days and 1803 Cooling…
On a misty night over 700 years ago, high in the mountains above what is now Nikkō Japan, a strange and fateful birth took place. A boy –small, sick, and weak– cried in his mother’s arms. This boy would grow to become one of the most influential sculptors, painters, and…
For this installment of “For Your Health” we sat down with Roberto Valle Kinloch, the manager of HomeFree, to talk about healthy building, how HomeFree shares its resources, and what’s coming down the pipeline. HomeFree is an initiative of the Healthy Building Network (HBN) that distills complex research on toxicity…
2022’s Greenbuild Conference and Exposition took place in San Francisco, CA with big name headliners like Jane Fonda and senior governmental employees from the EPA and GSA among many others. Every year this astonishingly large conference attracts thousands of architects, developers, and contractors who come to learn about the latest…
ISSUE 73, 2022
At the ripe old age of 94, this church is standing proof of the longevity of Nebraska-style construction.
Gordian’s Law describes a universal phenomenon common to places of construction work. The law is here submitted for peer review.
We speak with documentary filmmaker Matt Anderson about conspiracy theorists, creative financing, what he’s learned from the natural building community and much more.
Discussions from the Ontario Natural Building Conference
We loved every second of it and wish you could’ve gone, but this report will have to do.
The author of Shelter on his life of making things about making things
An introduction to the BEAM calculator
An introduction to the term "Resource Conscious Construction" by Cillian Barrett and The Last Straw
Robert Bierschwale is divining ideal spots for wells in Junction TX
A peak into Huts, a fascinating collection of photography, sketches, and written reflections on the lives of rural South Africans under Apartheid
ISSUE 72, 2022
This article takes a unique view of urban resources, and challenges the idea of sending waste “away”. The references to building materials is based on the opinion of local builders and the writer’s experience.This project is located in: Köppen–Geiger Zone Cwb, ICC Climate Zone (SIM) 2c, in an area with…
the garden sorrel blooms in early April The wisteria petals droop and the dogwood blossoms brown The Queen Anne’s lace in mid- may, tall and flowing unlike the yucca bloom, Upright and firm in mid-may as well The mimosa blooms all of a sudden appear at the end of may,…
We sat down with the grandfather of the straw building resurgence, and one of the founders of The Last Straw, Matts Myhrman, to collect stories from back in the day and inspiration for the future!
The Kolûba Collective is expanding alternative building practices in Turkey where the natural building revival has not taken root like it has in many other parts of the world.
This easily replicable "Cobin" prototype is ready to spread to an urban area near you.
LIVE AT THE AUSTIN OUTHOUSE ALBUM BY BLAZE FOLEY Blaze Foley is a country singer and songwriter that died too soon in 1989 at the age of 39. He lived on the outskirts of society, in artists communities, on the road, and even built a house in a tree in…
We think visual manuals like this are a great way to demystify construction techniques. We know that reading about something is often best complemented by being shown and maybe doing it yourself.This is part 2/5 of the Muddy Micromanuals, which is an Aman Setu production. This micromanual and more are…
This project is located in: Köppen–Geiger Zone Am, ICC Climate Zone (SIM) 0a, in an area with 0 Heating Degree Days and 6093 Cooling Degree Days. After the wonderful experience of attending the 2016 International Straw Bale Conference (ISBC) in New Zealand, I attended a workshop that Steve Richards held…
Do you have a response to something printed here, or do you have a thought you want to share? Send your responses, questions, rants, jokes, or whatever to: editors@thelaststraw.orgConcrete Contrarian wrote: If a concrete building lasts a very long time, couldn’t that offset the extra carbon emissions? Urgent Earnest…
This image is an exploration of how and why crawfish make their homes, using natural materials and ventilation techniques.
“City in the Forest” inspired the cover of this issue, and in turn, was was directly inspired by earthbag architecture and the Honey House, featured in TLS Issue 55. Living as a part of the “city in a forest”, I wanted to illustrate lush and biodiverse tree dwellings of all…
ISSUE 71, 2022
This is the first article of a series where we follow Jeffrey Hart as he designs and builds his tiny house. Here Jeffrey introduces the project, explains his intentions and design process, and describes the exterior wall envelope of the house. Throughout this piece there are references to his Building…
We sat down with Martin Hammer to discuss his invaluable contributions to natural building and to the creation of natural building codes in the U.S.
Climate activists work to preserve a section of forest in Atlanta from becoming a new police training center
Susan Klinker breaks down the design and construction process of her C02ttage, which will be the first permitted chopped straw building in the US.
ALL WE CAN SAVE EDITED BY AYANA ELIZABETH JOHNSON & KATHARINE K. WILKINSON All We Can Save is a dynamic anthology of essays, poems, and stories from women addressing our climate crisis. The voices in it are so disparate and elegantly organized that it is able to offer some solace…
We think visual manuals like this are a great way to demystify construction techniques. We know that reading about something is often best complemented by being shown and maybe doing it yourself.This is a Braun and Byurdaid International and Ekdum Bundle production. "Seeds of gratitude" are given to the Prince's…
Adapted from a video and performance piece from the next generation of natural builders at the 2021 Natural Building Alliance Conference in Moab, Utah on the conference theme of “All Hands In.” I’ve been spending time the past couple weeks capturing video of builders around Moab holding the tools and…
