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Mar 02
Love0

The Season of Transition

By Homesteading

Changes are coming our way. April’s official due date is mere days away, the weather seems to be warming, and our focus on projects is (finally) slowly shifting away from remodeling stuff into other realms of life. Onion seedlings are sprouting away in the south window, and the garden is getting expanded and doused with manure bit by bit in preparation for a serious food growing year.

I’ve been up in the woods gathering firewood for next winter, and cutting logs for inoculating shiitake and golden oyster mushrooms this week. We’ve had a bunch of new woodworking tools show up from a grant we received last year, and the garage is slowly becoming filled with our collection of new equipment. The grass is barely but visibly growing. There is, in short, a lot happening right now.

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Feb 11
Love0

Some Bedroom Remodel Photos & Ideas

By Photos
Bedroom Remodel Ideas

Our finished bedroom remodel with some new natural elements

Ok, I finally have some remodeling photos to share. We had a surprise snowy day yesterday, and the light reflecting from the ground into the bedroom inspired me to tidy up and take a few photos. The difference from what we started with is not insignificant, I would say. In this post, you can see examples of milk paint applied over the original latex, our new oak hardwood floors, and a few other aesthetic touches and functional improvements in our bedroom remodel.

Check out the comparison below for ideas for your own remodeling projects!

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Feb 07
Love0

The Light at the End of the Hallway

By Homesteading
Hallway with Shaker Pegs

We’re nearing the end… I think…

Life rule #327: everything always takes much longer than you think. Life rule #328: it’s terribly easy to forget how true rule #327 is every single time. Well, remodeling our house has been no exception. When we first acquired our new land (one of these days I’ll stop saying “new”), it was early summer, but we couldn’t relocate until September.

Once we showed up and moved in, we basically immediately starting remodeling the house, and we’ve been going at it more or less since then with the exception of a few diversions here and there. Yep, I thought we’d be completed much sooner than this. But finally… yes, I can see the light at the end of the hallway and we’re almost “done”. (Rule #2349: your house is never “done”.)

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Feb 01
Love0

A New Chapter for Gobcobatron

By Strawtron, Cob Building
Gobcobatron, Cob House

A new chapter for Gobcobatron…

For long-time readers of this blog, you probably know the story of building my first house, Gobcobatron. That experience was, after all, the inspiration for “The Year of Mud” to begin with. About a month ago, we sold Gobcobatron. It’s exciting, a relief, and an interesting stew of emotions to no longer own what was once so very close to me. Mostly, I’m really glad to be completely untethered from a building I can’t easily maintain living 8+ hours away. The experience of selling the house also causes me to feel old(er) in a way, and a bit nostalgic too. And it’s fascinating to think about the house having its own story and its own path now, separate from me.

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Jan 23
Love0

Snow Day

By Winter
Snow Day 2016

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.

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Jan 16
Love0

2016 Workshop Schedule is Up!

By Natural Building Workshops

13537433894_3d8109bd16_o

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.

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Jan 09
Love2

Make Drywall Look Like Earth: How to Use Clay Paint on Drywall

By Clay Plaster
finished clay paint

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!

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Jan 04
Love0

How To Make Your Own Clay Paint

By Clay Plaster
Clay paint recipe

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.

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Dec 27
Love0

Looking Back on 2015

By Uncategorized
Land in the sunset hours

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.

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