Into the Mud – Earth Mixes, Testing & Messy Joys

We all got up bright and early last Friday morning and made our way up into the jungle – our pups happily leading the way down the path. It was a quick but magical morning on site for me before I had to swap mud for meetings and head off from the jungle to the concrete jungle… off to do some architecting at the day job!

Kit our dog ready to help out!

All the tools!

Our amazing site helper, Dhan, had already been hard at work. He dug up several big buckets of clay-rich soil from both the top and lower sites for us to test. We also lugged up some heavy bags of sand – a real team effort.

Sourcing Straw: A Local Challenge

For now, we’re using shop-bought straw from China, which isn't ideal, but we’re doing our best to reduce our footprint. Thankfully, Jenny tapped into her brilliant network and connected us with a local rice farmer. We're hopeful we’ll be able to use leftover rice husks in future mixes – bringing the materials closer to home and cutting down on unnecessary transport. Local is always better!

Sifting, Chopping, Mixing

Our first job was to sieve the soil to remove stones and debris. We were pleasantly surprised – the earth was already pretty clean, so the sieving was quick and easy.

Next came the straw. We tested a few methods of chopping it: scissors (slow), machetes (fun but risky), and everything in between. We eventually got a decent pile of short fibres ready for mixing.

Then came the hands-on fun. We measured out our prepared soils and sands using the ratios we’d determined earlier, slowly added water (Angus might’ve added a bit too enthusiastically – the mix got wetter than planned, but luckily, the hot Hong Kong sun is great for drying things out), and folded in the chopped straw.

Mud Games & Test Bricks

Once the mix was ready, we did some quick “drop tests” and a very scientific* game of "throw the clay ball at the board and see whose sticks best." The dogs even tried to join in, but their digging style didn’t quite help keep the mix on the tarp!

Finally, we tested out our homemade moulds with the mix – and success! Our first adobe test brick came out solid and held its shape.

As we finished up for the morning and assessed how many bricks we could actually get from the mix, we realised we’d need more than we originally thought — with 40 kids arriving for Monday’s workshop, our first batch wasn’t going to stretch far enough. So, we got up early again the following day to double up our mix and make sure there was enough for everyone to get stuck in.

We also left our test brick out to dry over the weekend to see how it performs — checking for cracks or crumbling once it sets. This will help us assess whether the mix needs adjusting before the kids arrive.

Prepping for Workshops

These mixes are all in preparation for our upcoming kids workshop with the Ark Eden Summer Camp. We’ll be walking them through the process, letting them feel the different materials, and of course, dancing in the mud. We can’t wait to see what they create!

🌍Next up: Preparing the bamboo!

With muddy hands and full hearts,

Alex

Bisque-kit