We’re about to lift this timber frame into position inside our new house that we’re currently remodeling. Exciting times ahead… more news soon once I have a second to write. I’m also preparing to depart on a very exciting trip to New Mexico.
p.s. No, it won’t hit the ceiling… we planned for that!
p.p.s. I love working with poplar after so much fussing with white oak… what a dreamy wood!
Our new home in Kentucky, very unlike our other homes
Last fall, we traveled back to our former home in Missouri to bring our straw bale & timber frame house to completion. It was six weeks of non-stop work, including finishing the interior clay plaster and exterior lime plaster, wiring the house for electric, loading the living roof with more topsoil to fill in some bare spots, shoring up our custom wood spiral staircase… all for the purposes of making the home more sellable.
This fall, we’re working on something a little bit different. We’re right in the middle of remodeling our new house here in Kentucky, a very different home from the one we had built from the ground up in Missouri. It’s a very conventional stick frame structure, with vinyl siding, an asphalt shingle roof, fiberglass insulation, and very thin walls…
It’s an odd feeling to own such a conventional home after living in my own natural homes for the past seven years. However, we’re taking a lot of time to personalize the space and give it a big boost in the aesthetics and functionality department. Things are shaping up nicely…
This land represents so much powerful potential for health
A few weeks ago, I took photos all over our newly acquired land to have good documentation for the future. In the coming years, we will no doubt re-envision this place, build new infrastructure, shape the land, and introduce new plants and animals. It’s exciting to think about tapping into the potential of this land, and restoring more vigor and vitality.
The Whole Systems Design barn
I love this timber frame barn. Spending time in this building was a big highlight for me during the recent Permaculture Design Course I just attended in Vermont. Most of the “classroom” activity happened in this barn, as well as meals, playing ping pong, and general hanging out. While it’s not so much an agricultural barn (at least not currently), it’s a barn nevertheless, and I think it’s a great example of a well-designed multi-purpose space.
Circling the upper pond at the beautiful Moretown homestead site
Three words come to mind when I think about the experience of participating in the Whole Systems Design Permaculture Design Course: full, filling, and fulfilling. It was an intensely packed 10 days of learning, and the long hours were thoroughly nourishing. Exhausting at times, but totally rewarding all the same. There was so much to think about and discuss that it was hard to pull away and find some decent sleep at night. At the closure of the course, I came away deeply satisfied, more confident than ever before in the journey towards establishing a home for myself that’s in alignment with my vision.
An amazing view out to the field & ponds from the barn
Earlier last week, I got back from Vermont after attending a 10 day Permaculture Design Course (PDC) with Whole Systems Design. Let me tell you, it’s taken me a few days to fall back into the groove of things here after a very rich, fulfilling, and thoroughly intense experience. It was a joy to participate. The days were long and full of great conversation and new ideas. It was actually quite moving at times and gave me lots of opportunity to think about what I want not just from the land we’ve recently come into, but from life overall.
I’ve barey begun going through my photos in hopes of writing a summary of my experience. While I do that, I want to at least share a few enticing photos from the journey. Here ya go… stay tuned for more of an in-depth rundown soon.
Working on the site of our 2015 Straw Bale Workshop
I’m writing from the past for the future — I should be in Vermont as you read this. I scheduled this little post to self-publish so you’d have some fun photos to look at while I’m PDCing it up during this latter part of August.
Here’s a photo gallery and slideshow from our recent July Straw Bale Workshop in which we built the straw bale walls of a small, off-grid octagonal cabin in the Kentucky foothills. It’s always amazing to me to see the walls go up and instantly take the house to a whole new level of completion. I love the gradual defining of the space from digging the foundation trench, to building the frame and roof, and then the stacking of the walls themselves. Even once the straw bales are up, the house is still ultimately a ways away from actual “completion” (whatever that means), but my goodness it feels good.
Read ahead to see the evolution of the small straw bale home in the woods during our course!
Read More
Tomorrow, April and I head east. I’ll be attending a PDC at Whole Systems Research Farm in Vermont for 10 days. I’ve been eagerly anticipating this trip since the spring, and the timing couldn’t be better. This fall, we’ll be moving onto our new land and the next year will be full of visioning and designing and making plans for the land and the future. I suspect a lot of the new knowledge I come home with after the PDC will be very helpful for our design process.
Think about the transition between your straw bales and foundation early in the design process
In one of my recent posts, I talked about details at the top of the straw bale wall where it meets the roof. Now I’d like to talk about some considerations where the wall meets the foundation. This is another critical point in the straw bale wall design, and planning from the beginning of the process is essential for a clean and durable finish surface at the bottom of the wall. Here are some tips to think about regarding the plaster and details between the bales and foundation.
The Whole Systems Research Farm, where I’m headed in August
I’m awfully excited about the upcoming month. In August, I’m headed to the Whole Systems Research Farm in Vermont to take a Permaculture Design Certificate Course (PDC). In this case, it’s an intensive workshop and immersion in designing and maintaining resilient farms and homesteads, based on the principles and techniques of permaculture design. Basically… it’s 10 days learning about forest gardens, water management, perennial plants, scything, self-sufficiency, and maintaining high yield / low input food landscapes.
Okay, that’s still a lot of words, but you get the idea. This is rich stuff, and I’m thrilled to be able to see Ben Falk and co.’s living examples of permaculture in action. The timing couldn’t be better, as we’ll be moving onto our land this summer/fall, and making grand plans over the winter and in 2016 for turning our own 28 acres in a slice of perma-paradise.
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.
