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Oct 06
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Pizza… and More Cob Oven Workshop Photos

By Cob Oven, Natural Building Workshops
Outdoor Pizza Oven: Fresh Pizza

A particularly bubbly pizza gets topped with fresh basil during our pizza party

Our latest group of Cob Oven Workshop students departed last week with full bellies, new oven building skills, and with a greater glimpse of life in an intentional community. These 3 day workshops are very fun for us, and I foresee planning more for the future. Can we pull off doing a few in 2014? I sure hope so…

Each time we build another cob oven, I learn something new. The same applies to when we go to actually use the oven, as well. Our pizza is slightly improving every time. Mmm..

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Oct 03
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Our Cob House, Gobcobatron is For Sale

By Resources
Gobcobatron: Cob House Interior

The current Gobcobatron interior

I promised some big news earlier, and here it is! Gobcobatron, one of the most recognized homes at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in Missouri, is for sale. It is a cob house that’s been featured in Yes! magazine, Popular Mechanics, Parade Magazine, Treehugger, Lloyd Kahn’s Tiny Homes, overseas magazines, and other media.

The house is a great 3 season dwelling, and is currently being utilized for earning rental income. This house has a lot of potential for the right individual looking for a seasonal space, or for earning income while living in a popular intentional community.

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Oct 01
Love0

Minka: Short Film about Restoring Ancient Japanese Farmhouse

By Resources, Video, Traditional Building

While on the subject of the minka, or traditional Japanese farmhouse for a hot a minute, here is a fantastic short film & documentary simply titled Minka, describing the restoration of John Roderick’s well-known home in Japan. The restoration of the ancient farmhouse was led by the young and beginner (at the time) architect Yoshihiro Takishita.

This is a fantastic short film, not for just the story of the challenging re-construction of the minka, but the beautiful friendship between John Roderick and Yoshihiro Takishita himself. Very inspiring stuff. The short synopsis says it nicely: “A film about place and memory, a farmhouse in Japan, and the lives of the people who called it home.”

 

Sep 30
Love0

Can’t Get Enough of those Curvy Beams: Minka

By Traditional Building
Minka: Traditional Japanese Farmhouse

A minka, or traditional Japanese farmhouse with massive, curvy beams on display

For some reason or another, ever since I was young, I’ve been drawn like a magnet to the various products of Japanese culture. What those products are have changed throughout time, whether it was films, or food, etc. Lately, I have been somewhat secretly obsessing over minka, or traditional Japanese farmhouse architecture, with its signature massive beams, wood joinery, huge thatch roofs, sliding shoji doors… Beautiful buildings that seem impossibly well-crafted by long-gone builders with nothing but hand tools and human muscle at their disposal.

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Sep 24
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Like Icing on a Cake: Applying Finish Clay Plaster

By Cob Oven, Clay Plaster
Cob Oven - Clay Plaster

Applying the finish clay plaster to our cob oven

Busy busy busy. It seems like the story of our lives doesn’t change very much. I have lots of catching up to do. But as I sit here and avoid work for a mere moment, let me share this recent photo of our finish clay plaster application to our outdoor cob oven. Smooth clay plaster looks amazing, but I think it looks its finest right after it goes on. It’s like literally putting icing on your walls (or oven, or whatever you happen to be plastering). Love it. One day, I’d love to get some more serious training on how to do clay plaster on an expert level.

I hope to have a brandy new outdoor cob oven how-to written up soon, not to mention make a few updates about the state of Strawtron, our straw bale house we’ve been chugging away on. We also have other big news coming down the pipes. Keep posted, as always.

Sep 20
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Our Inaugural Cob Oven Workshop: Mud, Fire, and Fun!

By Natural Building Workshops, Cob Oven
Cob Oven Bread

Baked bread fresh from the cob oven

A few short days ago, our first Cob Oven Workshop came to an end. The workshop was filled with mud, fire, and a whole lot of fun. Thankfully, our participants agreed! Folks got down and dirty as we built an oven from the hearth upwards. We learned all about how to make a good batch of cob, using natural and recycled materials effectively, plastering, how to fire an oven and make good use of the ample heat it provides, and lots more. We sure did eat extremely well, too.

Here are a few nice testimonials from just a couple of our lovely people from the inaugural workshop:

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Sep 09
Love0

This is What Security Looks Like

By Living Electricity-free
Homemade Beeswax Candles

Our very freshly made 100% beeswax candles

Security is… a freshly made batch of beeswax candles. Their smell is intoxicating, and they provide beautiful light for us year-round. We have been making them for about five years now, and 3 days of candlemaking work a year is all it takes to provide light for the other 362 days. Not bad.

We use way fewer in high summer, when the days are long, and when we can cook without them, but in winter, we use significantly more because it’s dark by 5:00 p.m. We also use more when we have guests, because they create such a great mood, ya know?

Sep 04
Love0

Twenty Pizzas Later…

By Cob Oven
Outdoor Pizza Oven

The first fire in our new outdoor cob oven

In preparation for our Cob Oven Workshops, we did a “test” pizza party over the weekend. Over 20+ pizzas, 4 loaves of bread, 2 pans of zucchini bread, 2 cookie loafs, 1 pan of brownies, and 1 roast duck (homegrown!) later… I’d say it was a success. The oven was still holding over 200° 18 hours later! Wowzers. This is why I love outdoor cob ovens: they are extremely easy and cheap to build, you can take serious advantage of lots of heat to cook delicious food, and it’s an awesome social experience to gather around the oven while pizzas are flying out. An outdoor oven has all the right ingredients.

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Sep 01
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Roundwood Timber Framers Unite: More Timber Frame Workshop Photos

By Photos, Timber Framing, Natural Building Workshops
Roundwood Timber Frame Workshop Group Shot

The fearless band of roundwood timber framers

Our most excellent group of students have disbanded for now, as our 2013 Timber Frame Workshop has come to an end. The group took on the challenge of working with roundwood to construct a traditional mortise and tenon style timber frame, and I must say — they did a great job given the lack of previous experience. Check out a few images of them hard at work below!

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Aug 25
Love0

Make Your Own Wooden Pizza Peel

By Cob Oven, Hand Tools, Woodworking
Wooden Pizza Peel

Homemade wooden pizza peel ready for action

This week, I remembered our nearly finished outdoor oven is almost useless without a certain few tools. Unlike a conventional oven, you don’t just pop open the door, throw on an oven mitt or two, and take out your food. The best and most exciting part of baking in a cob oven is sliiiiding pizza and bread in and out with a pizza peel, a long handled paddle for transferring food in and out without burning your fingertips off in a 800°+ cooking environment. So I decided to take a couple hours to make a wooden pizza peel with a piece of oak I had sighted earlier for the purpose. Here’s how I made it.

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