Apr 11
Love13
benito: polished clay plaster

Polished Clay Plaster How-To Video

By Resources, Video, Clay Plaster

Did you know that you can polish clay plaster so that it has a reflective mirror finish? It looks spectacular, and Benito Steen (son of Athena and Bill Steen, straw bale experts of the southwest) has a new video describing his process for achieving the effect. Benito has done a great job describing the process in clear, simple term. The video is beautiful to watch, too.

Check it out above and learn for yourself how to make a polished clay plaster finish with very simple ingredients. Hope to see more videos like this soon!

Mar 17
Love0

Winter Woodworking: Pottery Shelves

By Woodworking

Our collection of handmade pottery suddenly expanded overnight last year, and cabinet space was tight. Enter these pottery shelves, which I built over the course of a few cold nights in the workshop. We didn’t want to hide the bowls in cabinets so these are pretty simple open shelves to display them. Plus it’s easy to grab one off the shelf, though I sometimes spend an extra couple seconds deciding which one will be juuust right…

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Mar 03
Love5
Clay Plaster Benefits

The Unique & Beneficial Properties of Clay Plaster

By Clay Plaster, Straw Bale Building, Light Clay Straw, Cob Building
Clay Plaster Benefits

Clay plaster base coat application in process

Clay soil is one of the most ancient, rudimentary, yet effective building materials on the planet. Besides being naturally abundant across much of the earth, clay has unique properties that make it not only suitable but very desirable as a natural building material. Clay is used for the production of fired brick, sun-baked adobes, cob, and natural plaster finishes.

In this very basic introduction to clay soil, I will highlight some of the unique water-loving features and other useful attributes of clay when it’s used as a natural building material, particularly as a plaster finish.

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Feb 26
Love1
The Year of Mud 10 year anniversary

10 Years of Mud

By Cob Building, Workshops

The Year of Mud 10 year anniversary

It’s 2018, and that means The Year of Mud hits double digits this year (!). Ten years ago, I started The Year of Mud blog when I began my foolhardy journey into the world of natural building. Well dang. I’m not one to boast, but it’s been a lot of work to keep this website chugging that whole time. I certainly had no idea where I was headed when I decided to “build a mud hut” all those years ago. But one thing is for sure: natural building has been a huge focal point of my life since I first stuck my hands (and feet) in a batch of cob.

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Feb 21
Love5

NEW Site Design!

By Uncategorized

Ok ok, this isn’t my formal announcement for the brandy new site design, but more of a “hey! I’m incorporating the new site design and a few kinks need to be worked out still!” It should be a day or two and everything will be 100% in place. So expect my formal announcement once the last few wrinkles are ironed out! Hurrah.

Feb 16
Love9
insulation thermal mass

The Differences Between Insulation and Thermal Mass

By Winter, Straw Bale Building, Resources, Cob Building
trimming straw bale wall

A highly insulated straw bale home under construction

If you’re new to natural building, two of the most important fundamental concepts to understand are thermal mass and insulation. Materials for constructing walls typically fall into one category or the other. Understanding the differences will be critical if your goal is to build an efficient, comfortable house appropriate for your local climate. Let’s look at thermal mass and insulation in the simplest terms possible.

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Feb 13
Love5

New Website Design Coming at Ya

By Uncategorized

The Year of Mud: new design

One of my big projects this winter has been overhauling this here website after many many years going without a major renovation. I’ve been anticipating tackling this task and I finally hunkered down to do the nitty gritty over the past month or so. It’s tedious and time-consuming work, no doubt. The new design is shaping up nicely and I should be rolling it out soon. So look out. It should make for a better reading and browsing experience.

p.s. Did you know that The Year of Mud is 10 years old this year? Cheers to that. More soon!

Feb 02
Love2
staked toddler table

The Tiny Toddler Table

By Woodworking

staked toddler table 00

“Toddler table” would have been enough, but who can resist some good ol’ title alliteration? Forgive me, it’s late and I’m fully cognizant of the dearth of winter updates on the ol’ blog here. So here’s a little glimpse of at least one tiny project that I completed this winter. This is a toddler table for our little fellow (who will be turning 2 in March, yow).

Much of the past couple months has been imbued with sickness, cold cold weather, and sticking close to home. You know, winter stuff. The woodworking bug tends to hit me hard in the winter, so I try to carve out time whenever possible to make some stuff in the workshop. The time is always more limited than I like, especially now with a kiddo vying for as much attention as humanly possible. So it’s only appropriate that one of my woodworking projects is specifically for his benefit. Well, enough yammering, take a look!

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Jan 11
Love1
natural building workshop berea kentucky

2018 Natural Building Workshops Schedule is Live

By Natural Building Workshops

natural building workshop berea kentucky

In case you haven’t noticed, I recently posted our full 2018 Natural Building Workshops schedule. This year we have two dates for our popular Natural Building Essentials Workshop, and one Timber Frame Workshop in July. It’s hard to believe, but this is our seventh year hosting classes and year three at our homestead already. (And it’s year ten for this blog, too. Whoa.)

If you’ve been planning to come out and join us, this would be a great year to do so. We find inspiration and room for little improvements every year, and with each passing season there are more projects to see here at our land and elsewhere in the community at large.

Have a look at the full schedule here!

 

Jan 03
Love0
toronto blacksmith axes

(More) Axes We Love

By Hand Tools, Carpentry, Woodworking, Wood Carving

toronoto blacksmith custom forged axes

Tools are what make any craft or trade physically possible. You cannot make a house, spoon, basket, or sweater without certain essential tools. And a quality tool makes the experience more efficient, enjoyable, accurate, and safer. As I’ve stated before, I have a particular fondness for using axes, for whatever reason. A few years ago, I wrote Axes We Love to highlight some of the high quality hand-forged axes being made out there in the world. In my second entry in the Axes We Love series, I want to highlight a few more of the talented blacksmiths who are hard at work producing custom forged axes and other tools we need to do our best work.

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