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Jan 06
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Making a Windsor Chair: Slideshow

By Woodworking

When I made my most recent continuous arm Windsor chair, I set out to take a photo every step of the way. I mostly did that, but I did miss a few. Namely, I missed a good bit of the assembly, and some of the turning. Can’t blame myself for having my hands full and all, I suppose. It’s way easier to document some one else building something. I guess I’ll just have to build another chair some day and be a bit more diligent with the photos.

Nevertheless, this slideshow should give a decent impression of the myriad steps that accompany making a chair from scratch. Enjoy!

Dec 30
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2013: The Year of Chairs, Stairs, Workshopping, & Moving

By Homesteading, Natural Building Workshops, Carpentry, Strawtron, Woodworking
Spreading Seed: Living Roof

High up in the sky, spreading seed on the living roof of Strawtron

Now is the typical time to think back on the past year, and to try my darnedest to remember everything that has transpired. 2013 was a particularly memorable year, not unlike the others, I suppose. But this year has been pretty different in several big ways, too. Most notably, this year we decided to move to Berea, Kentucky and sell our two homes at Dancing Rabbit. But that didn’t stop us from squeezing in a few more natural building workshops before we left. Oh, and we had to wrap up a lot of work on Strawtron before we could even sell it. Somehow, we found a way to cram it all in.

Here’s a look at how events and projects unfolded in 2013.

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Dec 26
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And The Winner Is…

By Uncategorized

ricefield-winner

Yesterday, we drew the lucky winner’s name out of a bowl for the Ricefield Collective mittens giveaway. The winner is Diana Sheppard. Congrats, Diana! I wish we had enough mittens for all the folks who entered, but alas…

Keep warm and have a great New Year, folks.

Dec 22
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Why Berea?

By Homesteading
Berea, Kentucky

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.

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Dec 17
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Enter Our Free Giveaway for Ricefield Collective Handmade Item

By Uncategorized

ricefield-collective-01

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.

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Dec 15
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Free Giveaway Coming Soon

By Uncategorized

question-markIn 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!

Dec 12
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My New Windsor Chair: Finished

By Woodworking
Continuous Arm Windsor Chair 01

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.

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Dec 06
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We’ve Landed

By Homesteading
forest-retreats

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.

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Dec 02
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R.I.P. Bill Coperthwaite

By Design
Bill Coperthwaite

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.”

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