Today is the last day for our free giveaway from Ricefield Collective. I’ll be drawing a name out of a hat tomorrow, so if you want your name in the mix, please read this post and comment! It’s really very easy. And your hands might be a bit warmer this winter as a result, too.
The lovey Berea, Kentucky landscape
Why Berea, Kentucky? We have moved from a landscape dominated by midwestern open skies, corn and soybean fields, very low population densities, and cheap living to an area of mountains, rocks and creeks, small college towns, and… cheap living, too. Dancing Rabbit (in Rutledge, Missouri) is sort of a hotspot in a cultural vacuum. There are no building codes and living is pretty dang cheap, but that comes at a certain cost, too. Northeast Missouri is not known for its progressive edge or counter-cultural activities, except for what you yourself create. While the tri-communities (Dancing Rabbit, Red Earth Farms, and Sandhill Farm) and the Possibility Alliance of La Plata, MO attract lots of very interesting folks, these communities are basically the beginning and the end of the eco and progressive edge (or whatever you want to call it) in northeast Missouri.
What we’ve discovered around Berea, Kentucky is an area with equally limited (or no) building codes and cheap living, but with many other very significant perks, as well. Here’s a distillation of what has attracted us to re-settling here on the edge of Appalachia.
Today, we’re running a free giveaway, partnering with the folks of Ricefield Collective, a sweet enterprise that provides a fulfilling means for Philippine indigenous people to stay on their ancestral land, the gorgeous Banaue Rice Terraces, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This collective of Philippine women make hand-knit goods in order to supplement their income, which enables them to stay on their land and avoid moving to the city to find higher wages.
Click ahead to read how to enter the giveaway to win a pair of hand-knit Winnower’s Mittens, straight from the women of the Banaue Rice Terraces, and more background on this unique enterprise.
In the spirit of winter, all things handmade, and gifting, The Year of Mud will be running a free giveaway in the next two days. We have been gifted a lovely handmade item, but we’d like to pass the goods on to one lucky reader. I think we have been fortunate to receive the generosity of many individuals in the recent past, so we’d like to at least help spread the good karma a little further.
Please check back on Tuesday, December 17 for the details on how you can enter the giveaway. I promise it will be really simple, and you might end up with a really sweet handmade item in time for the New Year. Check back soon!
The newly finished continuous arm Windsor chair
I have been dreaming about making this chair since February of this year, and I finally had the chance to make one when April and I visited Greg again in Tennessee a couple weeks ago. I had the pleasure of sitting in one at Kelly Mehler’s (after making a bowback chair), and those arms… I just loved them. I had to make one. So, here are a few shots of my newly finished continuous arm Windsor chair, which is now receiving a lot of love in our new living quarters. It’s a comfy one.
A look at our new (transitional) home in Berea, KY! (Photo taken in early spring)
We have landed in Berea, Kentucky. We… live here now. That’s a strange thing to say, after investing so much of our lives into Dancing Rabbit for so long. April and I are both intensely excited for our future here, and it’s merely just begun.
I guess we haven’t officially moved just yet, as we are still DR members. Until the day we sell our two homes, we need to retain membership. And we haven’t moved everything out here just yet — basically just the essentials for living here through the spring. Our bee hives, valuable furniture, boring machines, scaffolding… you know, things that wouldn’t really fit in a small vehicle have been left behind for now.
Anyway, here’s what we’re looking at for our new lives in Berea for the next few months.
Bill Coperthwaite, age 83, died November 26, 2013
Sad news — Bill Coperthwaite, a modern role model for folks striving to live simpler, more handmade, more just lives, died in a car crash on an icy road earlier last week. Bill was best known for his work in promoting the building of yurts and living simply. But that is something of an understatement.
“It’s the best way I know,” Coperthwaite said in a 2003 interview, describing his lifestyle on a 400-acre tract with waterfront along the serene harbor. “Each of us tries to live in the best way we know how. I want to contribute to the problems of the world as little as possible. I really believe we must find simpler ways to live or society will collapse.”
Family carving spoons in Russia, early 1900s
Today is Buy Nothing Day. Why don’t you celebrate and Make Something instead? Follow the example of these Russian folks around the year 1900, for example. Their spoon carving operation is a family business, and their wares are brought into the bustling town in huge, brimming baskets. I love these great photos. It’s sad that you would never see something like this today.
One can hope, though. Click ahead to see more sweet spoon carving photos from early 20th century Russia.
Two custom doors in the second story of the timber frame house
The second story of our timber frame & straw bale house has shorter than standard wall heights. It is definitely standing height, but the beams (or top plates, more specifically) that support the rafters are at head height, and another curved tie beam is similarly placed. We have two door locations upstairs, one to access the north storage loft above the porch, and a second for the walk-out balcony on the west, so we were faced with having to size and build our own homemade doors from scratch. Since I have never built a DIY door before, I was fairly intimidated, but the process wasn’t that bad once I got started. What I came up with were some super heavy duty, insulated doors made with tongue and groove boards, complete with some burly strap hinges to support the weight.
Wille Sundqvist working away
Here’s just a quick update on the Taunton Press reprint of Wille Sundqvist’s Swedish Carving Techniques — it’s now for sale through their website. Ragweed Forge also has copies for sale for slightly less than MSRP — check it here.
As a side note, I love the above picture of Wille Sundqvist at work — the man is now in his upper 80s, but it doesn’t look like he’s stopping anytime soon.
Finally, a great quote from Bill Coperthwaite, another great individual worth mentioning at a later date: “I want to live in a world where people are intoxicated with the joy of making things.”
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.
