{"id":4372,"date":"2022-12-04T13:45:54","date_gmt":"2022-12-04T18:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/havenearth.biz\/2022\/12\/04\/tucson-hemp-workshop-explores-hemp-building-materials\/"},"modified":"2022-12-04T13:45:54","modified_gmt":"2022-12-04T18:45:54","slug":"tucson-hemp-workshop-explores-hemp-building-materials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/havenearth.biz\/2022\/12\/04\/tucson-hemp-workshop-explores-hemp-building-materials\/","title":{"rendered":"Tucson Hemp Workshop Explores Hemp Building Materials"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hempcrete blocks and hemp rebar were introduced at a workshop led by Old Pueblo Hemp Company. Photo courtesy of Micaela Machado<\/em><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\u00a0By Mary Lotus<\/em><\/p>\n

Micaela Machado, general contractor and founder of Old Pueblo Hemp Co, believes the best introduction to building with hemp is for people to just get their hands on it. This was the guiding principal behind the three-day workshop she organized this October in Tucson.<\/p>\n

Old Pueblo Hemp Co, so-called after a nickname for the city of Tucson, is a relatively new company. After struggling to find general contractors who were willing to build with hemp, Machado, decided to take on a two-and-a-half year process and contractor training to become one herself. <\/p>\n

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\u201cWe are focusing on hemp lime construction and hemp blocks,\u201d said Machado. With a hydraulic press, \u201cwe can make up to 60 blocks an hour, so it\u2019s really fast.\u201d Old Pueblo collaborated with Tulum-Mexico based company Heaven Grown to put organize the workshop. \u201cHeaven Grown has elevated my level of natural building so much,\u201d said Machado.<\/p>\n

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Old Pueblo Hemp founder Micaela Machado poses with hemp blocks at the Tuscon workshop. Photo courtesy Micaela Machado.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\u201cThese workshops are so important,\u201d Machado said, describing her own experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had been into hemp, had heard about it but until I went to a workshop and worked with it, got my hands on it, it was almost like a fantasy,\u201d said Machado. At the Tucson even, \u201cwe had people coming in from as far as Colombia and Florida and Jersey, and then we had local builders too. I really wanted these local builders to come and see that this is here, in Arizona. To create this sustainable industry this has to stay local.\u201d<\/p>\n

The workshop, which was originally going to focus on hemp block production, expanded to include more natural building materials. \u201cWe worked with the hemp wool, hemp wood, hemp rebar, hemp lime and lime plaster.\u201d Of the things they constructed were three dog houses, one made entirely of reclaimed materials. \u201cWe are utilizing the recourses that are here, and all of these things don\u2019t need to go into a landfill.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0Stephen Clarke with Heaven Grown opened her eyes to even more possibilities, like using different limes or including agave in the mix, said Machado. \u201cHe taught me that hemp is a medium that can be used with all kinds of different things, especially the materials we use out here in the dessert like adobe and lava-crete. All of these different materials that we can use together to get away from the concrete industry and create non toxic, high performing, homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clarke, on the other hand, was also introduced to something new in hemp rebar. \u201cHe was like, I didn\u2019t believe it was real,\u201d said Machado. Hemp rebar is fiberglass, coated with a bio-resin made from hemp. \u201cThey are tested, FRP (Fiberglass Reinforced Polymer) rated rebar. You can bend them, but they are at least twice as strong as steel rebar.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Participants work with plaster on internal hemp block wall. Photo courtesy Micaela Machado<\/em><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The workshop took place at Machado\u2019s parents house in Tucson, with 27 people in attendance. \u201cI even had a family come from Texas. [The] daughter had said dad, for spring break I don\u2019t want to go on vacation I want to go to this hemp building workshop. That is exactly what I wanted to see,\u201d said Machado.\u00a0 \u201cWe had my son here who is 6 years old, and the oldest attendant was probably in her 70s.\u201d<\/p>\n

The workshop also served to connect locals working within the natural building world, which is opening the door to the possibility of a natural building alliance within Tucson. \u201cWe have always admired each others work\u2026 It is a really exciting thing for us. There are so many different lanes in this natural building world,\u201d says Machado. Collaboration on building could be down the line, for example with adobe blocks from Tucson based Awareness Ranch.\u00a0 Each of these materials creates homes with different energies, says Machado. \u201cIt would be so cool to see how they intersect. I bet it would feel pretty great.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Offered as part of a special partnership between USHBA and HempBuildMag. HempBuildMag receives a commission through this arrangement.<\/em> <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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