Hemp, Hemp, Hooray! - a Hempcrete 202 Training Success Story!
Our July 17+18 Hempcrete 202 Course at the HempShed went off without a hitch; only resounding choruses of “Hemp, Hemp, Hooray!”
We welcomed 9 participants to the HempShed for an all-in-one introduction to hempcrete and lime plaster.
Saturday morning, we kicked off the training by making hempcrete blocks to get a hands-on introduction to mixing and tamping.
Addy packs her hempcrete block
After each participant hand-packed their hempcrete block souvenir, we started work on the HempShed walls.
We worked as team to mix and pour cast-in-place hempcrete into the HempShed’s wall. Everyone had an opportunity to mix and pack hempcrete, and many hands meant that no one felt exhausted or sore at the end of the day!
Hemp+lime+water+humans=hempcrete
Once hempcrete was packed, we removed the forms to reveal a landscape of hempcrete in the walls. The natural variations in density reflect all the different hands that went to work on installing this natural building material. The horizontal lines showcase the individual lifts made in the walls.
Testing the freshly mixed hempcrete to see if it is the correct moisture.
Lime plaster was predominant on the natural building schedule Sunday. A natural partner to hempcrete, this ancient material acts as both the inside and outside finish on the HempShed. After learning the technique, our workshop participants got to work!
This weekend was a great success and we are so excited to see what incredible projects our hempcrete community gets up to next! Spoiler Alert - nearly half of our participants are planning to return in September for our Advanced Hempcrete and Lime Plaster training to finish up the tricky bits of the HempShed.
