Welcome to the natural building experience!

For having been in Texas for a month and a half, it doesn't look like we have accomplished much: a large, round hole in the ground filled with rocks and a garden hose laid out in a nearly rectangular fashion. Our adorable cob magic hut and earth oven are off to a slow start.

I'm guessing that if you are reading this, you know us, but if not, here's an intro: Break down "Bramber" and you get Brad, 28, handy guy with a large beard, and Amber, 24, not so handy and unbearded. Brad is likely to lead the building, while Amber (me) is probably going to do most of the writing.

We happen to be engaged and have recently relocated from Washington state to Texas to experiment with natural building, holistic living, and copious amounts of free time. We also have a dog-child monster named Oser.

Our plan is to build an earth-oven, suitable for baking bread, wood-firing pizzas, cooking casseroles and the like. It will have built-in counter space and a shed roof to protect it from rain. Next is a far more ambitious project: a one-room cob cottage.

We are building these structures on Brad's parents' land in a gated neighborhood. The parents already have a 3-bedroom home with several common areas: a living room, upstairs bonus room, a large backyard patio, and a separate studio (from which I am writing you). Our first challenge, then, was to define the purpose of building the cottage. No matter how green the building technique, it would be a waste of materials and unnecessary land disturbance if no one needs or uses it.

Our personal rationale is that this is the only free place we can find to experiment with natural building techniques. But the building will still be standing long after our learning experience is over (if we do it right!). At first we thought it could be a little guest bedroom, but quickly decided no one would choose to stay out there for long when there is space in the house with bathrooms. What could this place offer that a comfortable, modern home cannot? We have decided: magic.

Think tree house, clubhouse, sacred meditation nook, sanctuary. Bellinghamsters, envision a cob Jungle Hut. A place that's beautiful, a little wild, to bring pretty stones and bits of sea glass (ok, Hamsters, there's no beach here, but we brought a jar full of Locust treasures with us). We're going to have big windows, built-in benches, and a sculpted fireplace. I can imagine meditation, yoga, reading, drawing, writing and dreaming occurring here.

Sound too whimsically hippie-dippie? Well, one day, we hope to use these skills on a practical goal: housing the homeless and those living in inadequate shelter. But I've decided that not everything in life can be "practical" because then life is not worth living. So, for now, we get to be creative and not feel guilty about it, damn it!

We are sharing this learning experiment to encourage conscious decision-making about homes and daily life. Do you have to have a 30-year mortgage? How much square footage do you need? Is there a way to get around the toxins in modern building materials? How much money do you need to make to support yourself? Society gives us one set of answers (such as: yes, a lot, no, and a lot). But I am coming to believe that the ways we set up our homes and communities can be as varied and creative as we are. I hope to find juicy, vibrant new ways of experiencing the often neglected, mundane details of our busy lives: how we feed and shelter ourselves. Please feel free to follow along, ask questions, comment and critique!

Photo: A cob cottage named "Dawn" at the inspiring Cob Cottage Company in Oregon. Brad completed a workshop at Cob Co., and Brad and Amber visited it on their road trip from WA to TX.