Welcome to cordwoodmasonry.com

the virtual home for Earthwood Building School, accenting Cordwood masonry, Earth-Sheltered Housing and Timber Framing for the Rest of Us! And it’s all under one roof: a Living Roof!

2021 was our final season of workshops at Earthwood Building School in West Chazy, NY. We will continue to provide books, videos, and plans through this website. Also, Rob and Jaki Roy are open to conducting cordwood workshops at other locations in North America and around the world by arrangement with organizers at least six months in advance of the desired workshop dates. Interested parties should email us at robandjaki(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Ancient and modern solar technology at Earthwood: a megalithic stone circle in the foreground and photovoltaics in the background.

Earthwood Building School is in the northeastern foothills of New York’s Adirondacks, close to the Canadian border. We’re an off-grid facility getting all of our electricity from solar energy. Over the years more photovoltaic panels have been added, the last in November 2016.

Because Earthwood is in a reclaimed gravel pit, the only viable option for a vegetable garden is raised bed gardening and we have found that ‘raised raised’ beds work really well for us. They help keep most animals out, and, most importantly, they’re great for your back! We have also experimented with hugelkultur, a mounded garden popular in Germany.

‘Raised Raised’ bed gardening

The Earthwood campus has a variety of cordwood masonry buildings which hundreds of students have helped to create. They include four guesthouses, a bookstore/library, sauna, mess hall and garage. All have living roofs.

Round Outbuildings

Stoneview Guesthouse is an octagon.

In addition, various big stones have grown in numbers, some during Stone Circle Workshops. The stone circle has been a gathering place for workshop introductions and evening socials. A positive aspect of workshops has been the feeling of support from other like-minded students. Cordwood building draws a special group of people!