About Strawbale NetworkThe idea of putting together strawbale-net.eu hatched in the summer of 2008 in Denmark, due to an obvious need to create a European-wide network. It was clear many people were looking for more information about straw bale building from a variety of sources. Other important ingredients in the mix were a small amount of impatience on my side and lot of enthusiasm, kindness and support from people around me.
First of all Charlotte Mannstead and Karen Hjermind contributed with their gift of visual expression and intuitive design and by the time we had the first graphic proposal for the web, I was so hooked by the beauty and potential of it there was no way of going back.
Despite the fact that we couldn't find a web master at first and then after we found one we lost him again due to too many other commitments, the drive was strong enough to keep me going until I found the right person to help make it happen. In winter/spring 2009 Vlado Brucker appeared on the scene and as is his habit [I suspect] without too much talking he put himself to work. The result was a crude version of this website in the summer of 2009. Around that time I started loosing my momentum and was also busy being self-employed in the UK and helping with preparations for the European Straw Bale Conference in Belgium.

Finally the conference took place - it was a blessing, for me personally and for the European strawbaling community no doubt, but particularly for this web site. At a website meeting at the conference we got support for our website, some great suggestions for the content, lots of enthusiasm and maybe most importanly; many people eager to help.

The people who joined our team at the conference were: Will Holden, Luca Boschetto, Lindsey Round-Turner on the web design/admin front and Oliver Heizmann and Nicole Trienekens who promised to give some feedback. We are looking forward to working with all who want to put a bit of their soul into this and we will keep you posted when new people join us in the effort. This is a work of love and a gift to the strawbaling community in Europe and we are proud to be all working on it together.

More about people behind the strawbale-net.eu

Nora Kasanicka - I am a [Central] European, strawbaler, clay plasterer, currently training as a carpenter and much more:) I love to play with wood and mud the most but I love to meet people and get to do things together as well. I am passionate about generating a strong and resilient strawbaling community here in Europe.






Vladimír Brucker

Linz Round-Turner - I'm a half Kenyan-half British global nomad and have lived in South Africa, Tanzania, Nepal and the US. I'm a Junior Architect with a huge passion for Straw and am currently researching a Masters in Humanitarian and Development Practice studying Straw with the intention of producing a fun educational video.  In the future I have plans to set up a construction NGO which educates people in vulnerable communities about the possibilities of building for yourself with straw.

Money behind the strawbale-net.eu

The strawbale-net.eu is a new project and so far hasn't cost us too much money. The domain cost eur 1.50 and first year’s registation was eur 9.00 [if i remember correctly it was Charlotte who was calling the shots that night:) ] We now have to pay for the Joomla template we used [about $50] and the coming years hosting [about eur 30]. We don't have to charge members any fees to start off but would like to start the discussion about how to finance running costs of strawbale-net.eu [and eventually look into reimbursment of people who have contributed] . The discussions will take place on the web forum once it is up and running. Until a working solution is found and while we can afford it, we will pay for things out of our pocket and we will make sure to keep track of all the spending and eventually recover it. No doubt this will be a good topic for discussion at the next European Gathering in 2011.