The big (but certainly not the only) project for this year's event was a timber-framed, earthbag-stemwalled, strawbale-infilled, earthen-plastered, passive-radiant-floored, living-roofed structure with an attached greenhouse/sunspace featuring lava-rock masonry.
The frame and joinery for the main part of the structure was cut and erected prior to the event; the greenhouse joinery was saved as one of the hands-on presentations.
 
 Kaki Hunter and Doni Kiffmeyer were on hand to teach their FQSS (Fun, Quick, Simple, Solid) method of dirtbagging for the stemwall on which the straw-bale walls would be built. There's a lot more to it, but basically poly bags are filled with any moistened earth that has a reasonable clay content, laid in place, and tamped until you've got a row of big free-formed made-in-place rammed-earth bricks. Usually this technique is used to make domes and beautiful freestanding garden-type walls rather than stemwalls. Architectural dirtbagging hasn't been well-documented; the good news is that Kaki and Doni have put together an explicitly detailed how-to booklet.
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