• Sustainability

ThePOOSH Connects Volunteers With Natural Building Projects

Document type

  • Lifestyle document

About the Documents

Overview

Lots of intentional communities are connected with the WWOOFing network (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). It’s a great way for volunteers to gain experience living and working on an organic farm in exchange for room and board.

But have you heard of the POOSH network, which connects people interested in natural and sustainable building projects? Short for the People’s Organization on Sustainable Housing, it matches POOSHers (volunteers) with build project hosts. Volunteers help build a sustainable project with natural or recycled materials, and may receive food, a place to stay, and education in return. It’s essentially a Village Building Convergence on a global scale.

For an example, check out the listing for Woosi Wildwood’s Cob Sauna Plastering. This project is scheduled to happen in Spring and Summer 2017 in Washington:

“Join us this spring as we continue the plastering stage of our cob sauna. The sauna is a spiral yin-yang design on a dry stack rock foundation. The cob walls are finished, the scratch coat is finished, and we’re doing the decoration and sculpture on, then the final plaster and pigment coat. We’re also finishing the ceiling, and the cob floor.”

Volunteers can camp out on the property and will be provided food and rustic shelters. They’re looking for people who have experience working with cob, or at least want to get their hands dirty and “learn by doing”.

Other projects include Earthships, rammed-earth dwellings, passive houses, hobbit holes, and more. According to the website, “ThePOOSH.org encourages its members to research a wide variety of building materials.” These might include renewable resources like bamboo, clay, and straw, or reusable trash like rubber tires and aluminum or glass containers.

“The key focuses for thePOOSH.org are: the resources that are used during the construction process, the materials that are used for the construction itself, the construction methods and techniques used, and the impact that structures have on the environment once built.”

Want to get more involved with natural building? You can look for a project close to home, or make plans for an overseas adventure in Europe or Asia. Visit thePOOSH.org to sign up as a volunteer or to list your own project!

Description

Lots of intentional communities are connected with the WWOOFing network (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). It’s a great way for volunteers to gain experience living and working on an organic farm in exchange for room and board.

But have you heard of the POOSH network, which connects people interested in natural and sustainable building projects? Short for the People’s Organization on Sustainable Housing, it matches POOSHers (volunteers) with build project hosts. Volunteers help build a sustainable project with natural or recycled materials, and may receive food, a place to stay, and education in return. It’s essentially a Village Building Convergence on a global scale.

For an example, check out the listing for Woosi Wildwood’s Cob Sauna Plastering. This project is scheduled to happen in Spring and Summer 2017 in Washington:

“Join us this spring as we continue the plastering stage of our cob sauna. The sauna is a spiral yin-yang design on a dry stack rock foundation. The cob walls are finished, the scratch coat is finished, and we’re doing the decoration and sculpture on, then the final plaster and pigment coat. We’re also finishing the ceiling, and the cob floor.”

Volunteers can camp out on the property and will be provided food and rustic shelters. They’re looking for people who have experience working with cob, or at least want to get their hands dirty and “learn by doing”.

Other projects include Earthships, rammed-earth dwellings, passive houses, hobbit holes, and more. According to the website, “ThePOOSH.org encourages its members to research a wide variety of building materials.” These might include renewable resources like bamboo, clay, and straw, or reusable trash like rubber tires and aluminum or glass containers.

“The key focuses for thePOOSH.org are: the resources that are used during the construction process, the materials that are used for the construction itself, the construction methods and techniques used, and the impact that structures have on the environment once built.”

Want to get more involved with natural building? You can look for a project close to home, or make plans for an overseas adventure in Europe or Asia. Visit thePOOSH.org to sign up as a volunteer or to list your own project!

Learner Reviews

Excellent0%

Very good0%

Good0%

Fair0%

Poor0%

See more reviews

You might also be interested in:

Click and Smile on Mother’s Day to Benefit FIC If you’re going to shop at Amazon on Mother’s Day or any other day, use AmazonSmile and select the Foundation for Intentional Community (FIC) to benefit from most of your purchases. Not familiar with AmazonSmile? You can tie your existing Amazon accoun…
  • Economics & Law
Free Resources for Cooperation! For #GiveItAwayTuesday we are celebrating the spirit of generosity, gratefulness, and sharing, by giving it back! The 27th of November is the globally celebrated day of giving: #GivingTuesday. To join the fun FIC is going to pay it forward and give it away! Throu…
  • Economics & Law
What is New Power? It is not just a change in technologies that is reshaping our world, our culture, and our participation in it. Our beliefs and expectations for what is possible, and what ought to be possible, is also changing. This is eclipsing the old lessons on the right way to create and s…
  • New to community
  • Economics & Law
We’ve mentioned this before but this year the FIC is especially proud to be co-sponsoring the New Economy Coalition’s Common Bound Conference in St. Louis, June 22-24. There’s still time to register here. What is Common Bound? They’re over 700 people across the new economy movement who will come…
  • Economics & Law
When I first heard about the concept of income-sharing communities, I was pretty skeptical. It had been hard enough for me stabilize my own finances after graduating from college during the recession. I wasn’t sure I’d be up for sharing finances with a spouse – never mind an entire community. But…
  • Social Justice
Food Solutions New England is offering an online 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge, in partnership with the Interaction Institute for Social Change. Participants will receive an e-mail prompt each day, with a challenge to “learn, read, talk, or take action.” According to its website: …
  • Sustainability
One of the most exciting things about building community in the age of the Internet and social media is that it’s easier than ever to get an inside look at the communities that interest us. While nothing can replace an in-person visit, a new web series called “intentional” comes as close you can get…
  • Sustainability
Curious about how you can apply permaculture principles in your community or ecovillage? There’s no better way than to visit a community in person and learn from hands-on workshops and immersion programs. Here are two very different programs – one an affordable “spring break” at a community in Wa…
  • Health & Well-Being
This is a guest post by Lily Silver, who blogs at How to Get On, “a guide to Social Security Disability, Medicaid and Home Care for CFS/ME and those who are homebound.” She sent us this article about joining community while on disability, and we thought it would have some useful information for our …
  • Economics & Law
When we hear the words “intentional community,” we may think of residential communities like back-to-the-land communes and urban housing co-ops. But you don’t have to live in the same house to have a shared vision and make an impact. A non-profit called Cool Block brings entire neighborhoods toge…
  • Governance
One of the challenges of living in a community with lots of new residents or guests is getting everyone oriented to the tasks and projects at hand. When I lived at Foster Village, a 10-person community in Portland, Oregon, we had a membership committee in charge of welcoming new residents, and a lia…
  • Governance
For some high-profile communities, visibility is a good thing. The Dancing Rabbit ecovillage in Rutledge, Missouri, depends on workshops and other business endeavors to support itself. Many communities maintain a social media presence as a way to attract new members and promote co-operative living o…
  • Governance
Talking about class can be difficult – especially in intentional communities that include people from a variety of backgrounds. It can be a challenge to balance the needs of members from different classes: residents with stable jobs and incomes; property owners; activists who choose to live frugally…
  • Economics & Law
Whether it’s eating local, supporting worker-owned businesses, or taking money out of Wall Street banks, the “localist” movement is on the rise. While the dominance of mega-corporations like Wal-Mart and Amazon may seem complete, small businesses make up half of the U.S. GDP and create over three ti…
  • Governance
One of the biggest hurdles an intentional community can face is figuring out how to make decisions. There are dozens of decision-making strategies to choose from, from consensus to sociocracy. But in today’s busy world, simply gathering around the table together as a community can be a challenge. A…
  • Economics & Law
For a while, peer-to-peer lending platforms were going to be the next big thing. Instead of borrowing from big banks, we could borrow from each other, on platforms like Lending Club and Prosper. But pretty soon big banks starting getting involved, and the loans weren’t really so “peer-to-peer” af…
  • Sustainability
For many tiny house enthusiasts, building the house itself isn’t the hard part. There are lots of resources out there for designing and constructing a tiny house, as well as companies that will build the whole thing for you. More and more people are coming to see tiny homes as a viable living option…
  • Economics & Law
Since 1993, the Warm Showers network has been connecting touring bicyclists with hosts willing to offer them a couch, shower, camping space, or other form of hospitality. Originally started as a listserv, it was developed into a full website in 2005, and currently has 86,000 active members and 36,00…
  • Economics & Law
Airbnb and other “sharing economy” sites have been getting some bad press lately, with many cities arguing that the platforms are driving up rent, contributing to housing scarcity, and turning residential neighborhoods into tourist districts. Some cities, like Berlin, have begun to regulate room- an…
I am an official member of this community
Disclaimer
I affirm that my information is accurate and I am authorized to manage this listing

Free Plan

Free plan
Free

Advertise in our Directory

  • Subtotal

    {{ currencyFormat( pricing_summary.total_amount ) }}

Become a + Member

  • Send Direct Messages and see contact information
  • Find communities based on your profile tool
  • Post Needs & Offers Listings and Events
  • Access to resources in the Members Library /// like vetted documents uploaded by communites (e.g. bylaws )
  • Member badge on your profile
  • View communities detailed reviews
  • Create Private Groups