Wrapping up the framing on the porch roof of the off-grid cabin

How can it possibly be that March is already coming to an end? The passing of time is so utterly mundane of a subject but it’s terribly fascinating to ponder at the same time. I can hardly believe how fast these weeks go by sometimes. I’ve been spending some quality time doing various woodworking projects over the last month, so I’ve got some catching up to do on the blog. For now I wanted to share a couple of photos of the off-grid straw bale cabin we’re helping to build with our friends here in Kentucky. This off-grid house will be the site of our 7 day Straw Bale Workshop this July.

This sweet little cabin is tucked away in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, and it will be decked out with straw bale walls and clay plaster this summer. Eventually it will have a small off-grid power system and be a comfy little outpost in a beautiful patch of forest.

Building the Off-Grid Straw Bale Cabin

Work is about to pick up again on our friends’ little off-grid straw bale cabin (code name: Chanterelle Shack). Thankfully, all of the roofing work was finished before the cold and wet of winter really set in. The roof was a challenging proposition, as the building itself is an octagon. Making an octagon has to be something like 4-8 times more difficult than a simple rectangle with a gable… goodness. The octagonal house also has a big ol’ porch that extends off three bays, as you can see in the first photo. Figuring that business out was no slouch.

Looking up inside the house at the octagonal roof framing

As it stands, we’ve got the framing and roofing fully finished, and before the Straw Bale Workshop, we’ll have to get the stemwall totally complete. The stemwall itself will be earthbags faced with stone. The earthbags will get the straw bales off the ground and high and dry, and the stone facing will protect the earthbags from UV damage.

We’ll also have to figure out exact window placements and acquire all the windows and doors to have them ready for installation in July. Once all of that stuff has been purchased and is on-site, we can making the bucks and framing ahead of time so it’s all ready to go.

I’m really looking forward to our July workshop. This will be the first straw bale course we’ve done since 2012, and our good friend and numero uno straw bale instructor Mark Mazziotti will be joining us again to teach.

Well, here are a couple more photos from earlier last year to finish things off here.

Raising the center post in the straw bale cabin

Tim and Jacob get the roof ready for metal