1 1/2" framing chisel & corner chisel found at flea market
I’ll admit, I do like shopping once in a while, although I dislike going to most stores. The kind of shopping that I don’t complain about, though, is the kind that happens once a month at our local flea markets.
These flea markets are brimming with tools, if you can manage picking through piles and piles of rust and assorted junk, but every once in a while you will walk away happy. I’ve spent the last year specifically looking for timber framing tools, and have had some success with procuring things on my want list. Read More
Chad slides a pizza out of the wood-fired cob oven
Our friend and neighbor Chad at Red Earth Farms recently constructed a beast of a wood fired pizza oven. It’s a massive cob oven, almost three feet in diameter inside, with huge insulation, and believe it or not, built in the greenhouse attached to his home.
Small Strawbale is not a book that will prepare you to construct your own straw bale house, in the sense that it will not give you all the gory building details that go into straw bale home construction. Instead, it will provide a nice bit of juice in the inspiration department for those folks intrigued by building with bales, or hoping to break ground on one of their own houses in the future. Read More
Wow, thanks to reader Adam for pointing out that there does indeed exist stateside manufacturers of wool insulation batting. (This GreenHomeBuilding.com Q&A is outdated.) Good Shepherd Wool Insulation, based out of Interlaken, NY, manufactures 16″ and 24″wide wool batting rolls for conventional construction and timber frames, and rope wool for log home building. Read More
In pondering the floor insulation options for Strawtron, I’ve come to a bit of a question mark in the sheep’s wool department. Originally, I had planned on doing some light clay straw in the timber platform, between the floor joists, but I’ve come to acknowledge that the R-value of this method is lacking.
The Strawtron timber frame plans! (SE corner view)
I’ve been exchanging many emails with Tom Cundiff over the past month or so about the timber frame plans and drawings for Strawtron, our new house. I’m excited to now show off these great 3D drawings that he has come up with!
Here’s the lowdown on the new house design… Read More
This has no direct relationship with the content of this blog, but it’s too big to ignore, and to close to my soul to not mention here. The Occupy Together protests (or the We are the One Percent, or Occupy Wall Street) are igniting worldwide, and I must say, it’s hugely exciting, and part of me wishes I could participate. But I’m geographically nowhere near any of the protests. So be it.
I do hope this movement has staying power, because this present time feels like it could be a tipping point — politically, socially, culturally, ecologically… and these protests can have huge power, as long as they are tactically and thoughtfully organized, and with clear and powerful messages and demands for change. I don’t want to hype it up, but there is so much coalescing in this world, so much demand for real change, and these protests are a mighty vehicle in a hugely important time to get our message out there.
Check out these photos from protests around the globe.
p.s. Check out Occupy George and how you can protest wealth inequality in America.
I figure many of the readers of this here blog are familiar with wood heat, but perhaps that is just an assumption. Anyway, I want to mention this post I recently wrote for sustainablog about wood heat — it’s called Wood Heat Stoves: 4 Reasons You Should Consider Heating with Wood.
Check it out. I love wood heat, and the benefits are many. What it all boils down to, though, is that nothing really compares to having a live fire in your home. It just feels so… human.
You may have noticed lots of references here lately to hand hewing and broad axes. Call it research, I guess, because I’m still debating how I will acquire, and then work with and move those white oak timbers I mentioned earlier.
Anyway, I really enjoyed this quality video. Really well shot, very clear, very easy to understand the process of hewing here. Check it out!
About The Year of Mud
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.
