Hempcrete Double Feature
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This week\\u2019s podcast is a special hempcrete double feature.
Hempcrete is a building material made from three\\xa0 ingredients \\u2014 hemp hurd, lime binder and water \\u2014 which forms a lightweight cementicious material with insulating properties.
First we talk to Monica Medina-McCurdy, executive director of All Together Now Pennsylvania, an organization focused on building resilient self-sufficient regional economies, with hemp playing a leading role.
Earlier this year, the organization was awarded a $48,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture to promote hemp building materials and textiles.
Medina-McCurdy said a portion of those funds will be used to host a hands-on hempcrete workshop May 6-7 in Barto.
The two-day workshop will be lead by hempcrete builder Cameron McIntosh of Americharnve, Pennsylvania\\u2019s leading hempcrete installer.
\\u201cWe really want to attract people who are established already in the building trades because we think that there\'s a huge need for education,\\u201d Medina-McCurdy said.
Our second guest is Kim Croes, a contractor from Michigan who attended a hempcrete workshop with McIntosh last year and has since completed work on the first hempcrete house in Michigan.
Croes has been running a painting business for the past eight years. Her interest in hemp for building comes from her health concerns about toxic materials used in construction.
When she heard about hempcrete, she reached out to CBD hemp farmers who had extra hemp for sale.
\\u201cI needed specific hemp, Croes said. \\u201cI needed hemp that was grown for fiber. I needed it to be building-grade quality. And so just getting hemp was not as easy as it initially seemed.\\u201d
Croes said there are efforts underway to bring processing capacity to Michigan. She said she hopes to source local hemp hurds within a few years, but she said there is need for investment in the local processing infrastructure, especially as the automobile industry eyes hemp as a sustainable material for cars.
\\u201cOne little processing facility is not going to do it,\\u201d Croes said. \\u201cIt\\u2019s going to take a buildup of things to get to that point, so someone\'s got to step up to the plate. It can\'t it be someone like me. I\'m in the building sector and that\'s where I belong.\\u201d
Learn more:
FiberFort
https://fiberfort.com/
Register for Hempcrete Workshop, May 6-7
LINK TKTKTKTKTKTKTKT
All Together Now Pennsylvania
https://alltogethernowpa.org/
Americhanvre
https://americhanvre.com/
Farmer Jawn Philly
https://www.farmerjawnphilly.com/
News Nuggets
Bill Aims to Cut Red Tape for Industrial Hemp
https://www.lancasterfarming.com/farming-news/hemp/bill-aims-to-cut-red-tape-for-industrial-hemp/article_8764d032-c9d5-11ed-91b7-4bd93bf02333.html
Hempcrete ASTM C-518 Test Results
https://www.hempbuildinginstitute.org/post/americhanvre-ereasy-spray-applied-hempcrete-astm-c-518-test-results
Thanks to our Sponsors
IND Hemp
https://indhemp.com/
Mpactful Ventures
https://www.mpactfulventures.org/
Farm
https://www.farmland.fi/