When I first heard of building a house with bales of straw, the concept seemed outlandish to me. Rot, mildew, mold, insects, rodents, and fire all came to mind but as I investigated further, building houses out of bales of straw has a long history dating back to the pioneers who settled the Sand Hills of Nebraska. When properly protected from moisture, bales of hay or straw have many exceptional attributes and yield a structure which is exceptionaly energy efficient, environmentally friendly, nearly fire proof, and asthetically pleasing..

The construction of most buildings today accounst for a large proportion of energy use, depletion of resources, and pollution.

A truckload of 2X4's VS A truckload of straw bales;
One takes 25 to 30 years to grow, the other, just 3 months to grow .
It is obvious which method of building a wall is more sustainable and environmentally sound.

Essentially, bales of straw are stacked much like bricks in over-lapping courses, pinned together using bamboo or re-bar, and coated with various plasters ranging from adobe mud to stucco. A bale of straw has an R Value of 54, making it 2 to 5 times more efficient than your normal 2 X 4 stick built wall with 4 inches of fiberglass insulation.