Have you dreamed about building an enchanting woodland cabin?
This hands-on workshop will give you the opportunity to learn about the ancient building technique of cordwood masonry and hone up on some basic carpentry skills in the process.
There are seven full or partial cordwood structures at Wintergreen: the Hobbit House, the Smoke House, the Meadow Hut, the Sauna, the Bake Oven, the Root Cellar, and the Beach House - which combines cordwood and straw bale.
By the end of the workshop, you will have an excellent introduction to cordwood masonry, and with the experience and resources you will have acquired at Wintergreen, you should be ready to begin building on your own.
About the Instructors
RENA UPITIS is a mixed media artist, musician, teacher, and timber frame carpenter. She has an abiding interest in sustainable architecture and has built several small cedar cordwood buildings with the help of friends and family. Her design for the Wintergreen lodge uses straw bale and a living roof. Rena studied with Rob and Jaki Roy at the Earthwood Building School in the summer of 2006, and returned back to Wintergreen and promptly built the Hobbit House, the first of what now number seven cordwood structures on the land.
ADAM TURCOTTE is a highly skilled carpenter, trained in heritage carpentry and skilled in both cordwood and straw bale building. Last summer, he helped design and build The Beach House, Wintergreen’s only building that combines straw bale with cordwood. Adam and his wife Louise Cooper are neighbours - and Louise is the Kitchen Manager at Wintergreen.