Aaron Mason Hauser

The size of the beard is an indicator for how long we've been working on the Boden-Haus.  It will be removed once the Boden-Haus is completed.

Alan Lomax at work.

I am grounded. My travels are on hold. The barely afloat clouds are so fast, towing in the morning's next thunderhead, and they make me think of what's next for me.

I have a plan, you know.

It came to me a year ago. It was originally motivated by money: how can money be made from rammed earth? It is free. That's its biggest problem. Unlike plywood, cement and even adobe, it can't easily be mass-produced and shipped. Thus, industrialists will have no interest in propagating it as a viable form of construction. Then it occurred to me, perhaps its value lies not in its primary purpose as a building material, but in some other quality it possesses.

People living in rammed earth homes talk about the peacefulness of their homes. Street noise is all but eliminated, and the walls seem to absorb even the indoor ambient noise, creating an altogether warm, peaceful environment. That's it then, I will combine my interest in rammed earth with my interest in music and build rammed earth music studios. In fact, I will travel, find local musicians a la Alan Lomax and work with them to build rammed earth studios. Then, we will create albums, and the proceeds of the albums will go back into the artists' communities. The albums will hopefully spread the word on rammed earth, making it a more seriously considered form of construction.

While there is much more to be said on this plan and how it's changed over the year, this blost has taken longer than I intended it would, and the threatening clouds are gone. For now, I must return to laying stones. Feedback is appreciated.