Food Church Property, named Selah, of southern New Mexico is aiming to operate entirely on existing resources from the immediately surrounding lands. Selah is in its 3rd year of development and first year as a Food Church property.
Food Church Visioneers arrived for September of 2024 with initial goals of observation and planning of future projects. Village Visioneer Lindsey devised a building plan to increase the property’s rainfall catchment with a new shed structure. The shed will house a set of cabinets and other building materials, keeping them dry and protected from the weather. The Selah property is fairly sloped and therefore the new shed needed a level floor installed. Visioneers employed the cob method of building; mixing soil, water and dried leaves to create a cement like mixture. The mixture was poured into a frame made with locally harvested piñon trunks.
The frame was laden with additional wood to add structural volume to the floor. Batches of cob were mixed and dumped until the floor reached the height of the frame.
The second half of the floor was shallower and needed much less wood filler and cob cement, and the process went quickly and smoothly.
Cob building is a key component of the Selah property, and several walls had already been stabilized and formed with cob. During the first month as a Food Church property, Visioneers also utilized this simple method to stabilize the floor of the future greenhouse-bathroom, where several rainwater catchment barrels are stored and gravity fed.