Practical Straw Bale Construction is the straw bale construction discussion group created and moderated by Hank Carr of Organic Environments and welcomes anyone interested in straw bale construction from Ontario or around the world. Practical Straw Bale Construction will host moderate discussions of straw bale construction, the materials and methods used, the people involved, and related technologies. We will discuss regulatory and planning hurdles and the issues associated with real people building real homes and buildings in the real world. We will leave the heated environmental and political discussions and common myths to the groups dedicated to (or overrun by) them and will focus on the how to of straw bale construction and associated systems and technologies.

This is a picture of our daughter Lily retying bales at the Sierra Youth Coalition mini-workshop at the McSkimming Outdoor Education Center. You're never too young to start building with straw bales.

Hank Carr is the Vice President and Membership Coordinator of the Ontario Straw Bale Building Coalition. You can find the OSBBC on the web at http://www.strawbalebuilding.ca, by email at info@strawbalebuilding.ca, or by phone at 1-87-STRAW-BAL(E). For membership inquiries, email members@strawbalebuilding.ca or see the membership form in the Files section. The OSBBC welcomes members from all over Canada and the world.

If there is any doubt in your mind as to what is acceptable behaviour in this group please read the file "Practical Straw Bale Rules.txt" in the Files section. It shouldn't be necessary for most people but there are those who still think that the internet is the wild west.