How to make mud bricks, and why you might want to

How to make mud bricks, and why you might want to
https://www.heifer.org/join-the-conversation/blog/2018/October/how-to-make-mud-bricks-and-why-you-might-want-to.html

Here’s a recipe for mud bricks. But remember, brick making is more of an art than a science, and you’ll likely take a few tries to perfect your own signature recipe.

Ingredients
Dirt (the sturdiest bricks come from dirt with a clay content of 25 to 50 percent)
Sand
Straw, grass or pine needles
Water
Sunlight
A mold to shape the bricks

Mix soil and water into a thick mud. Add some sand, then mix in the straw, grass or pine needles. Pour the mixture into your molds. Bake bricks in sunshine for five days or so. If cracks appear, cover the bricks so they’re not in direct sunlight. Remove the bricks from the molds and let them dry a few more days.

Are your bricks strong enough? Test them by dropping one from about hip-high. If it breaks, it probably has too much sand in it. Cracks that formed after drying could mean the dirt you used has too much clay.