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Aug 04
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Straw Bale Workshop Finished! Slideshow & More

By Straw Bale Building, Strawtron, Natural Building Workshops
strawbaleworkshop-group02

Our lovely bunch of straw bale workshop participants

We just finished our awesome 10 days of the first Year of Mud Straw Bale Workshop — what a blast! We had yet another great batch of students, and there was ample opportunity to get lots of progress made, and learn all the ins and outs of working with straw bales. I think everyone went home energized and enlivened, and probably a bit tired too…. and definitely full from tons of great food.

I personally came away from this class with my love once again reignited for natural building, a wish for continuing to learn and challenge myself, and a strong desire to keep working in this invigorating format. It is so great to be surrounded by and working closely with people curious, excited, and enthusiastic about natural building and alternative living.

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Aug 01
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Earthen Plaster Makes Me Happy

By Photos, Straw Bale Building, Strawtron, Natural Building Workshops
Natural Earthen Plaster

Fresh first coat of earthen plaster in our future bedroom

The fact that we’ve come this far during the workshop makes me very happy. Here’s looking at our future bedroom, with a fresh base coat of earthen plaster, and our first trimmed window with embedded black walnut window sill. It looks fantastic. The students have been loving the mud. I love that they love the mud.

Things are good. The workshop has been a blast. Today is our last day!

Jul 30
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Straw Bale Workshop Photos!

By Strawtron, Natural Building Workshops, Photos, Straw Bale Building
Earthen Plaster at Straw Bale Workshop

Mo and Rick apply some earthen plaster

We’ve been having a great time during our 2012 Straw Bale Workshop. The students have really taken to working with bales, and most recently, mixing and applying earthen plaster. People just love the mud.

I love working with our students, and again, it will be very sad to see everyone go home. We’ve gotten an incredible amount of work done in just one week.

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Jul 19
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Progress is Sweet

By Timber Framing, Strawtron
Timber Frame Compound Roof

Our newly erected compound roof frame!

Progress is sweet. I have never worked so hard in my life. Physically, and mentally, even.
It is sheer exhaustion, but looking up at the timber frame in the morning light seems to make it all worth while. Getting compliments from friends and neighbors, and smiles from strangers coming into the village must mean we are doing something right, too.

Getting these compound roof rafters installed on the timber frame was a highlight.

More later.

Jul 09
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Two Weeks Remain Until Straw Bale Workshop!

By Natural Building Workshops, Straw Bale Building, Strawtron
Straw Bale House Workshop

The Year of Mud's Straw Bale Workshop is soon approaching!

Only two short weeks remain until our Straw Bale Workshop begins! From July 22 – August 2, we will be hosting our last natural building workshop of the year, a 10 day course dedicated to straw bale house construction. Come and learn all the ins and outs of working with straw bales and natural plasters at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in Missouri!

A few more participant spaces still remain — apply now if you want to get in on our last natural building workshop of the year. It’s not too late.

p.s. This weekend, a local farmer brought us 300 straw bales from his property, seven miles away. How cool is it that our walls were grown in a field less than 10 miles away?

Jul 04
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Unique and Interesting Antique Woodworking Hand Tools For Sale

By Resources, Hand Tools, Timber Framing
Millers Falls Boring Machine Bits

Lovely Millers Falls Boring Machine Bits from Jim Bode

There are a wealth of interesting antique woodworking hand tools out there in the world, and thankfully Jim Bode has a great online shop devoted to preserving and reselling some of these beautiful items. I recently received 3 lovely drill bits for our Millers Falls boring machine, a 2″, 1 1/2″, and a unique 1″ bit, all lovingly sharpened and cleaned, and a sheer pleasure to use for the first time. Wow!

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Jun 26
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Thank You Timber Framers!

By Natural Building Workshops, Timber Framing, Strawtron
Timber Frame Workshop 2012

Thank you Timber Frame Workshop participants!

Yesterday was the end of our fantastic two week Timber Framing Workshop. I’m very sad that it is over, and extremely grateful for the fantastic progress we made, and the quality of work we produced. Wow. We did everything from square rule layout, to lofting and daisy wheel layout and scribing, to hand hewing, working with roundwood, hand raising 18′ tall posts and beams, and so much more. We used Japanese hand saws, planes, chisels and mallets, boring machines, broad axes, and more with a group of students with minimal hand tool experience. It is incredible what we were able to achieve.

I cannot express how much enjoyment I was continually experiencing during the course, and how satisfied I am now to have been able to host such a wonderful workshop, with wonderful folks involved.

Thanks April, Tom, Chris, Lauren, Kyle, Dan, Will, Carl, Jacob, Kiera, Alex, Shand, and Micah!

(Expect more updates about what we learned, and what we built in the next couple of weeks.)