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Feb 08
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Want to Learn Straw Bale House Construction?

By Uncategorized

Want to learn all about straw bale home building this year? Don’t forget that we are seeking enthusiastic interns for the 2012 building season for the construction of our new straw bale and timber frame house.

This may indeed be a rare chance to learn how to do timber framing, straw bale building, and participate in two natural building workshops with skilled instructors, all in one program. Rarely will you find a natural building internship as robust as this.

Check out all of the juicy internship details here.

Feb 03
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Want Cheap Used Building Materials and Supplies?

By Uncategorized

It’s that time of year where I am beginning to really hoard building materials and supplies for the upcoming construction of our new straw bale house. We struck gold last weekend at a local auction — a building supplies business had recently shut down, and everything in their shop and warehouses was up for auction. Wow! That included lumber, windows, doors, metal roofing, hardware, and much more. We had a bit of a spree. Read More

Jan 31
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Land Ark Liquid Wax End Sealer

By Timber Framing

In the not-too distant future, we will be contacting the sawmill for our timber order once and for all. It’s quite exciting, and also a little nerve-wracking to think about putting in an order for such a large quantity of timber — over 6000 board feet of wood! I’ve never dealt with so much wood in my life. Whew. This is a little new to me.

Anyway, we want to take very good care of the wood for our timber frame home once it is delivered, and to that effect, we will be using Land Ark Liquid Wax End Sealer to help protect the wood.

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Jan 18
Love0

2012 Natural Building Internship: Build a Straw Bale House

By Work Exchange, Timber Framing, Straw Bale Building, Strawtron, Workshops


The Year of Mud is happy to announce that we are seeking an intern during the 2012 building season. We are offering a rare natural building internship opportunity — the chance to help build a straw bale house from the ground up, and to participate in two complete natural building workshops in an inspiring ecovillage community.

Interns will help to organize and get full participation in our Timber Frame Workshop, and Straw Bale Workshop. Come experience what it is like to build a natural home from step one at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage!

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Jan 17
Love0

Beautiful Rustic Swedish Cabins: Urnatur

By Living Sod Roof, Photos

urnatur rustic cottages 03

Sometimes I wonder if I wasn’t meant for Scandinavia. What with the region’s stunning living roofs, the old and beautiful traditions of timber construction, the forests… wow. This is my kind of aesthetic. These particular images are from Urnatur of Sweden. Urnatur is a so-called “eco lodge” and retreat, home to these lovely little rustic cottages. Inspirational stuff!

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Jan 14
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Photo: Cob House in Winter Landscape

By Winter, Heating, Photos

Wow, it finally feels like winter. We’ve had a ridiculous number of mild days thus far, and it decided to snow a couple days ago, but only immediately after a 60+ degree day. Hrmmm… for some reason, it’s hard to turn one’s mind from wandering to climate change…

We are faring much better this winter (in no doubt due to the warm days), but I actually want some cold to test all of the changes we’ve made to the house this summer!

By the way, click the panorama image for a larger version!

Jan 11
Love0

Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter: Lloyd Kahn Book Review

By Media, Resources

Lloyd Kahn is an owner-builder’s best friend. His colorful books document owner-builders’ projects across the world, chock full of captivating, beautiful photographs and valuable information for both the aspiring and active builder folks among us.

Each announcement of his book releases come with a certain wave of excitement, and Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter rides on the wave that Lloyd has been stirring up for over 30 years since the release of Shelter, and delivers a unique look into the newly exploding popularity of tiny houses.

Read ahead for a book review of Lloyd Kahn’s latest.

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Jan 08
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Timber Frame Homes = Energy Efficient Houses

By Timber Framing

timber frame homeTimber frame homes have been around for a long, long time. And there’s good reason for that. Timber frame houses make efficient use of resources, optimize the use of locally-available materials, can be built using relatively simple tools, and especially nowadays, they are easily outfitted with a number of highly insulative materials such as straw bales.

Timber frame houses are ultimately very efficient, much moreso than the typical stick frame house prevalent in conventional construction.

Check out my article here for more about why — Timber Frame Homes are Energy Efficient Homes.

p.s. Did I mention they are just way cooler and more beautiful than stick frames, too?

(Image source.)
Dec 30
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The Year of Mud Top 10 News and Posts for 2011

By Earthen Floor, Strawtron, The Year of Mud Book, Natural Building Workshops, Wabi-sabi Kitchen, Moisture, Timber Framing, Lime Plaster
Pug Cone

Pug dons a dog cone in 2011... but that's not terribly related to the here and now...

2011 has presented us with a wide mix of events and emotions. It’s been everything from momentous, to extremely challenging, to gratifying, and everything in-between. Just like every other year, I suppose, right? Each year is not so different from the last, but at the same time, each year is full of its own unique experiences.

This was the year we experienced some significant health challenges, decided to build a new home, continued to do major renovations to Gobcobatron to correct some of its moisture and heat issues, made some advancements on our kitchen construction, hosted our first mini building workshop, began organzing two major natural building courses, got some rewarding nods in the media, and ultimately, just like last year, kept incredibly occupied.

Here I present the top 10 news and posts from The Year of Mud in 2011.

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Dec 29
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The Year of Mud Website Downtime

By Uncategorized

Whoops! The Year of Mud has had a few hiccups today. All of the kinks should be ironed out now, but it’s not impossible that it may go down briefly once more in the next 24 hours. Sorry for any inconvenience!

Happy browsing!