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May 11
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My Boing Boing Interview: How to Build Your Own Hobbit House

By Media, The Year of Mud Book, Resources

Avi Solomon recently interviewed me for a bit on Boing Boing, titled Brian “Ziggy” Liloia on How To Build Your Own Hobbit House.

In the interview, I talk about my decision to build with cob, the great rewards and challenges in building your own home, the community building experience at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, and more.

If you’re new to this blog (or even if you’re not), please check it out!

p.s. Want to learn even more about how to build your own cob house? Check out The Year of Mud: Build a Cob House book!

 

May 09
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Wild Bee Swarm Lands in Cob Wood Shed

By Photos, Cob Woodshed

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Wow…. this was too awesome not to mention here. Today, a wild bee swarm made a home in my cob wood shed. We’ve got some empty hive boxes stored in there, and over the past week, I’ve noticed a lot of bees coming and going through the door of the shed.

And today, a great big ol’ swarm came buzzing through the village, and gathered at the entrance of the wood shed — they were moving into the hives stored inside. It was truly an amazing sight!

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Apr 20
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Retrofiting a Cob Window Sill

By Cob Building, Cob Shelves
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Carving out the window sill for a retrofit

One of the great things about cob is how immensely sculptable the material is. But the sculpture doesn’t stop once the walls are dry. You can always come back to a wall with a shovel, pickaxe, machete, or other sturdy tool and do retrofitting fairly easily. I recently decided to redo some of the window sills in the house that were straight cob, and instead install some wood boards to make them more functional.

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Apr 18
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The Year of Mud: Building a Cob House Book Now Available

By The Year of Mud Book, Resources
 

At last, I finished producing my cob building book, The Year of Mud: Building a Cob House. It is available for purchase through Blurb.com. This book is a story of how I constructed my own home, and what it is like to build with cob. The book features dozens of color images, how-to information and building recipes, and inspiration for those wanting to learn more about cob and earthen building.

Here’s a synopsis and some details about the cob house manual:

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Apr 06
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More House Deconstruction Adventures

By Carpentry

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I spent about four days over the past two weeks with a crew of other Dancing Rabbit and Red Earth folks working to deconstruct an old house in a nearby town. This was the most complete deconstruction experience I’ve had thus far — it was a great opportunity to start from scratch in pulling apart a house, piece by piece, revealing the innards, and scratching my head the whole time about the incredibly questionable and pretty damn ugly building decisions in this particular building. The thing sure was hideous with thoughtless additions and ugly materials, but we still got a good amount of wood and other useful materials out of it.

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Apr 04
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Natual Building Video Review: Mud, Hands, A House

By Media, Resources, Video

I recently had the fortunate opportunity to check out Mud, Hands, A House (or El Barro, Las Manos, La Casa, its original Spanish title), a great natural building documentary provided to me by the kind Max of Firespeaking.com.

It’s an educational, how-to focused natural building documentary with a wealth of instructional segments, led by Jorge Belanko, an engaging master natural builder based in Patagonia, Argentina.

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Mar 26
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All the Work Updates Fit to Print

By Wabi-sabi Kitchen, Timber Framing, Design, Drainage Trench, Moisture

It’s spring, and the building season has officially begun. I’ve been a bit consumed with thinking about building lately — between doing some work around the house, planning for the next building season for the cooperative kitchen, thinking about a new home design, and serving on Dancing Rabbit’s new Common House design committee (we are a group of five tasked with designing a new common house intended to serve a population of 150 people), I have plenty to think about in the building arena. Sometimes it’s exhausting.

But as soon as I am able to actually do work, and not just think about it, it feels a lot better.

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Mar 09
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The Year of Mud: The Book in the Works

By The Year of Mud Book

Last December, I mentioned the possibility of writing a book about building my cob house. Well, I never got around to it that winter. But this winter, I have made it a priority.

This February, I’ve chomped down and begun the process of writing a book about the experience of building my cob house from the perspective of a first-time builder. It’s important for me to note that even with the current moisture problems, which almost dissuaded me from taking on the project, I decided it would be a worthwhile venture to get some of my writing in print, in a more easily digestible form, including all those things that I’ve learned, including some of the experiences of the past couple months.

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Mar 04
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What Next For The Year Of Mud?

By Design, Moisture, Winter

You might be wondering what’s next for the house, for my living situation, for this website. Gobcobatron needs some help, and it’s clear that a cob house in northeast Missouri is probably not the best idea for a four seasons dwelling. I love my house, but it’s become apparent that this is not the house I am meant to live in for the long haul.

But what will become of it?

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