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Apr 15
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A Slice of Japan in Philadelphia: Shofuso House and Garden

By Timber Framing, Traditional Building, Photos
Shofuso House in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia

The Shofuso House in Fairmount Park, Philly, PA

I may never get to Japan, though I’ve dreamed about it on and off for many years now. I was, however, pleasantly surprised to find that there’s a little slice of Japan here in the states, right inside Philadelphia in Fairmount Park. The Shofuso house and gardens are an impressive little site, representative of 17th century Japanese architecture. The home is complete with authentic traditional carpentry and building techniques, and the garden features native Japanese plants. And it’s beautiful.

I thought about asking if they wouldn’t mind me shacking up there for a bit to be able to experience the house a bit more fully…  Here are some photos of the house and garden.

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Apr 05
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It’s a Snug Fit: Assembling the Timber Frame Pavilion

By Timber Framing
Cutting a Mortise at Timber Frame Workshop

April works on some of the last remaining joints before the timber frame assembly

I think I’ve realized that the excitement of timber framing can be represented by a curve. If the x axis on a bar graph represents time, and the y excitement, the line climbs and rises from left to right. The entire process is gradually more invigorating and interesting as you proceed on a project.

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Mar 31
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Visitor Season at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage Right Around the Corner

By Work Exchange, Strawtron
Visit Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage

Experience sustainable living at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage this year

Well, that came up fast. It’s April 1 tomorrow, and that signals a special time of year. In a couple of weeks, the visitor season at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is about to begin. If you’ve been curious what life is like in an ecovillage or intentional community, now is the time to sign up and plan your trip for this summer.

There are a number of ways to visit Dancing Rabbit, but if you think you might be interested in living there one day, the visitor program is your best bet. Here’s how to go about setting that up.

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Mar 26
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Making Wood Chips at Last

By Timber Framing
16" Makita Circular Saw in Action

Jacob tests out the 16″ Makita circular saw on an end cut

Things are progressing smoothly for us here in Nacogdoches. We have fairly quickly moved on from layout to cutting the joinery for the Lake Naconiche timber frame pavilion. I personally haven’t spent much time around the more specialized timber framing power tools, and it’s been a sight to see…. and an experience to use them, too.

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Mar 21
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Lake Naconiche Timber Frame Pavilion Workshop Begins

By Timber Framing
Timber Framers Guild Lake Naconiche Workshop

April gets her set of timber frame plans ready to go

We’ve made it to Texas. Shockingly big, sprawling, and stunningly green Texas. Yesterday, the Timber Framers Guild Lake Naconiche Workshop officially began, and we starting chipping away at the layout work for the 32×48 timber frame pavilion. It’s hard to believe in a little over a week, the building we’re looking at on paper should be up in the air. The magic of timber framing has just begun…

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Mar 17
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Serious Score of Ash Lumber for Workbench

By Woodworking
Ash Wood For Workbench

Part of our recent haul of ash for the workbench projec

This is probably some of the nicest wood I’ve ever owned, hands down. We really got lucky here with this rough sawn ash lumber for the workbench we’re on our way to building. It’s stunning stuff, immaculately sawn and largely free of flaws. Part of me feels strangely guilty. But the other part of me knows we’ll put it to excellent use, as I expect this workbench we’re about to build is going to last many, many years.

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Mar 16
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Full 2014 Natural Building Workshop Schedule is Up!

By Timber Framing, Natural Building Workshops, Cob Oven

Outdoor Cob Oven

Towering timber frames and hot pizza pie… oh my! (Sorry, that was a weak attempt at poetry.) But hopefully it paints a colorful picture of our upcoming natural building courses this year in 2014. Our full schedule is up, and we’ve added a Timber Frame Workshop and Cob Oven Workshop to our offerings. Both of these classes are in our new and beautiful location of Berea, Kentucky. Specifically, these two workshops are being hosted at the Clear Creek Festival grounds, home to an incredible arts & music festival and a developing off-grid homestead.

Perhaps you’ll join us this summer in raising an old school timber frame pavilion? Or building an outdoor oven with cob?

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Mar 12
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Headed to Texas… to Timber Frame

By Timber Framing
Timber Framers Guild Workshop

On left: the pavilion we will soon help build in Texas

In just over a week, The Year of Mud crew (April, Jacob, and I) will all be headed to Texas. I never thought I would have reason to say I’m going to Texas, but here we are: Texas beckons, and we are heeding the call. More specifically, the Timber Framers Guild beckons, as they are hosting a week-long workshop to build a large outdoor pavilion in the historic town of Nacogdoches. Interestingly, this will be the first workshop I attend that is not our own, and I’m excited for the opportunity to purely participate in some one else’s event. Since our timber frame instructor Tom Cundiff first worked with us in 2011, I have been very excited by the possibility of attending a TFG event, and the stars have aligned.

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Mar 04
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Spoons of Winter

By Woodworking, Wood Carving
Carving Spoons

The recent carved spoons of winter 2013-14

This winter has been a cold one. With a chopping block and my shaving horse set up inside, it’s allowed me to do a good bit of woodworking and carving work despite the cold, and without taking up much space in our new transitional home. I’ve had more time to finally dive a little more deeply into carving spoons, and it’s been thoroughly enjoyable. Above are some recent examples my carved spoons.

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