Snow day!
As a kid, my favorite thing about going to public school was the snow days. (Except when we had so many that they crept into our summer vacations, that is.) Thankfully, as an adult I can appreciate the snow for more than its uncanny ability to shut down school. Anyone on a significant stretch of the east coast is getting a good dose of snow right now, and we were no exception. We got a good 14″+ here, and it’s beautiful.
These past few weeks, we’ve been busy planning our Natural Building Workshops schedule. 2016 is a particularly exciting year because this is the very first time we’ll be hosting courses at our new homestead location outside Berea, Kentucky. I’ve been anticipating this day for several years now, and it’s finally happening. The Year of Mud’s new headquarters will be the source of a lot of amazing building activity and workshops for years to come.
You can make a piece of drywall look like earth with just a couple coats of clay paint
You can make a drywall interior look like an earthen home with nothing more than a couple coats of simple clay paint. Clay paint can transform your space — it’s a very versatile material and can be used on a variety of surfaces, including exposed wood, plywood and drywall. In my previous post, I described how you can make a beautiful, non-toxic clay paint using three simple ingredients.
If you haven’t yet read the recipe yet, go ahead and start there. If you’re ready to get mud on your walls, read ahead for instructions for how to apply your new paint to your desired surface!
Clay paint is very easy to make and can lend even drywall a very earthen appearance
For some reason, it’s taken me a long time to try mixing up and using a clay paint (also known as a clay alis). Whatever the reason is, after attending the Natural Building Colloquium in October and talking to several folks about the ease of applying clay finishes on drywall, I knew I finally had to try it out in our new home here in Kentucky. Clay paint has many possible applications. Perhaps one of its best uses is to give an otherwise boring interior wall an earthy pick-me-up. It’s actually quite compatible with drywall, as you’ll see.
Read ahead for a recipe and instructions for making your very own clay paint.
2015: the year we acquired land, built a straw bale octagon, traveled east and west..
It’s that time of year again when I like to reflect on the goings-on of the past twelve months, wondering what the heck happened to the time. There was no lack of building work this year, and some very exciting trips towards the end of the year… and then there’s the new land and a baby on the way, too. Hrm… this whole blogging thing might get difficult trying to hold a baby while planting potatoes in the upcoming spring, eh? Well, until that time comes let me take a moment to share some of the highlights from 2015.
Lighting the first fire in the new Kitchen Queen stove
Another big fulfillment came in the form of moving our wood cook stove into the house today. Hooray! The stove made it through the door, and nothing terrible happened in the process either. Mind you, the stove weights 750 pounds, so it was no slouch trying to maneuver the beast into its final resting place. We found this beauty on craigslist months ago — it’s a Kitchen Queen 480, an Amish-made wood cook stove of epic proportions. Here you can see me about to light the first fire… yes, it was a giddy moment for me.
A ramp provides access to this funky little treehouse — I love how the underside of the roof catches morning light
SunRay Kelley may be one of the most “mythical” of the natural builders out there. He’s the builder known for saying the forest is his “Super Natural Store”, and his building designs conjure up feelings of the fantastical, magical, funkadelic. I had the privilege of seeing one of his creations in the making at the recent 20th anniversary Natural Building Colloquium at the Black Range Lodge in Kingston, NM — a whimsical treehouse nestled in ponderosa pine trees, featuring some signature SunRay touches. Check out the photos of this wild little building ahead…
Our natural oil finish in the process of going on the new red oak floor
Well dang, I’ve been waiting many days for this moment. Right now I’m happily sitting in a chair on our hardwood floor. That doesn’t sound particularly thrilling without any context though, I know. So… after days of grueling installation and sanding, we finally got to put the finishing touch on our new red oak floor — a special natural oil floor finish, one we’ve never before used. The application was a breeze / dream, your choice of cliche.
Really though, the finish went on extremely well. Best of all, of course, is that it’s a natural oil finish. This particular product is linseed oil-based (no polyurethane or VOCs here, thanks), it goes on in a single coat, and it gives the hardwood floor a beautiful “natural” tone and low gloss finish. The particular natural hardwood floor finish that I’m describing here is Rubio Monocoat, which I’ll talk more about below. So far, I really like it.
!!!
I’ve got an exciting announcement to share with you all. I’ve been waiting to really share this news for a little while, and now’s the time. The newest addition to our lives is better than the new land, or any house or cool building project… it’s a little baby. April is pregnant, and she is due in early March. Wow! This is by far the most exciting thing that’s happened for us, even moreso than acquiring land this year and all the other great things that are happening in our lives. Life is about to get really interesting, I must say. I’m looking forward to parenthood and having a little one running about. I already have visions of the baby’s first fistful of cob, and tromping around in the garden… oh yea.
It’s been remarkable to experience all the changes in April’s body. Thankfully, April’s health is really sound right now and she is physically feeling quite good. A bit of sore muscles here and there, but things must be alright if she’s able to paint the walls of our house, and cook big meals and plaster walls… There’s nothing more remarkable than a woman’s body and the ability to grow a tiny person, right? Unreal…
Well, until March… we have some time to prepare, thank goodness!
Some of our newly made beeswax taper candles
The day after thanksgiving is Buy Nothing Day. While we didn’t specifically set out to Make Something on Buy Nothing Day, I do believe the “holiday” was made all the better by deciding to make some beeswax taper candles in preparation for winter.
Making hand-dipped candles is one of the most wholesome activities I can think of. Wholesome because of the amazing smells of the process, the time available to reflect on the incredible depth of bee energy necessary to create such an astounding natural product, the visitations of the bees themselves as we dip candle after candle, and the routine of it all. Needless to say, it’s an enjoyable process, and the satisfaction of a restocked cache of candles gives me such a glorious feeling of security, too.
Hi there, I’m Ziggy. In 2008, I launched The Year of Mud while building my first natural home. This blog is a collection of personal stories and experiences building with clay, straw, and wood over the past 15+ years. A few of the things that get me fired up are natural plasters, timber framing, & Japanese architecture. Since 2012, we’ve been hosting Natural Building Workshops so you can learn essential skills to build your own natural home.
