Skip to main content
Oct 13
Love1

Japanese Joinery, Animated

By Video, Carpentry, Timber Framing, Design, Woodworking, Resources, Traditional Building
 
 
Japanese craftspeople have the reputation of designing and creating some of the most intricate and complex timber joinery on the planet. The use of timbers in construction has a long and deeply fascinating history, and many of these astonishing joints have their roots in the building of temples. Historically, these techniques were fiercely guarded secrets of the carpentry guilds. (If you’re interested in Japanese joinery history and the current practice of temple restoration, check out the fascinating book The Genius of Japanese Carpentry.)

Check out this collection of beautifully simple animations of Japanese joinery in action. These are great little demonstrations of timber frame joints interlocking together.

Read More

Oct 05
Love1

Another Way to Make Chopped Straw

By Light Clay Straw, Clay Plaster, Earthen Floor, Straw Bale Building
Making Chopped Straw with a Lawnmower

Making chopped straw with a standard lawnmower

Chopped straw is an invaluable ingredient for clay plasters and earthen floors. Unfortunately, it’s a bit of a drag to actually make the stuff if you don’t have the right tools or equipment. If you’re building a straw bale wall, you get the benefit of collecting the chopped straw once you shave your walls (which is commonly done with a weed whacker). But if you’re working on a different type of structure, you’ll have to find a way to specifically make the chopped straw.

The ol’ “weed whacker in a barrel” gets really old really quickly, and frankly isn’t that effective. If you don’t have a leaf mulcher or wood chipper, which are far more efficient, you can actually use a lawn mower with a bag attachment to chop all of your straw for plaster. Here’s how to do it.

Read More

Sep 28
Love2

A Light Clay Straw Building Primer

By Light Clay Straw, Resources

stuffing-slipstraw-in-wall-cavityIt’s been quite the eventful September. The big news of the month is that we hosted our first Natural Building Workshop at the homestead. It was, in a word, wonderful. We had a very diverse group of 10 folks come out to learn all about cob, light clay straw, clay plaster, and clay paint. I couldn’t have asked for a better group. I’m continually amazed at the positive energy that is generated through these workshop experiences.

One of our projects was building the light clay straw walls of our new outhouse, which I’d like to document a bit here. This is an outhouse that will serve future workshops and large events (as well as being quite useful for just ourselves, too). The building is also a little bit of a “natural building showcase”, as it will have a few different types of natural finishes on display when all is said and done.

Read ahead to learn about how to build a light clay straw wall.

Read More

Sep 06
Love1

Fall is for Cob Benches & Outhouses

By Natural Building Workshops, Light Clay Straw, Cob Building
Framing the outhouse

Putting roof decking on the new outhouse

Our first official natural building project on the land this year is an outhouse. Ha! I kinda love that. Right now we’re in the midst of framing a small two stall outhouse that will be one of the site projects for work & learning during our upcoming Natural Building Essentials workshop. This outhouse is going to get a pretty special treatment in the form of light clay straw walls and a clay plaster finish. The finished product should be pretty de-luxe.

Read More

Aug 30
Love0

Sustainable or Resilient?

By Homesteading, South Slope Farm

Sustainably or resilient?This is just a bit of a thought experiment. I’ve been pondering the differences between the words “sustainable” and “resilient” lately, and if either of them apply to how we’re trying to live. I used to throw around the word “sustainable” a lot more than I do now, and I’d like to try to explain why I feel more cautious these days.

In textbook terms, sustainability means “the ability to continue a defined behavior indefinitely” (source). The key word here is “indefinitely”, which is defined as “lasting for an unknown or unstated length of time”. A synonym for indefinite is infinite. Practically speaking, what’s implied here is that if something is defined as sustainable, it means that it can be continued forever into the future.

Well, that’s a pretty heavy statement, huh? Going by this definition then, the phrases “more sustainably” or “less sustainably” don’t exactly make sense — there is only “sustainably”, since how can you do something “more infinitely” or “less infinitely”?

Read More

Aug 04
Love0

We are South Slope Farm

By South Slope Farm, Homesteading
South Slope Farm

We finally have a name for ourselves…

After many months of head scratching and deliberating, our little piece of hillside in the Kentucky foothills finally has a name: South Slope Farm. Not only that, we’re now incorporated, too. My dream of becoming a corporation is finally coming to fruition… now, isn’t that strange to say?

Actually, South Slope Farm is not just the name of our homestead, but our small egalitarian community in the making. This is more than just a place to hunker down and grow food and plant trees and build cool stuff. April, Jacob, and I have been actively planning to cultivate a small intentional community for a couple of years now, and getting incorporated is just one of the steps towards that goal.

Read More

Jul 23
Love0

Homesteading Realities

By Homesteading
tomatoes in the garden

Gardens + mountains in July

It is definitely high summer. The thermometer, garden, and lack of time to complete chores is a testament to this. Have you noticed this is my first update in a while? Well, needless to say, there’s been a lot going on.

This is our first summer at the new homestead. Which, by the way, we finally have a name for. In fact, getting our articles of incorporation and other paperwork in order has been another item we’ve been getting in order. I’ll save the announcement of our new farm name for the next post — that way you have something to look forward to, eh?

Read More

Jun 07
Love0

Ziggy on The Permaculture Podcast

By Homesteading, Cob Building, Permaculture, Media, Timber Framing, Straw Bale Building
Clear Creek Road

This is Clear Creek, the valley we now call home

Last month, Scott Mann of The Permaculture Podcast came to our neighborhood to re-visit the community here on Clear Creek, the place we now call home just outside Berea, Kentucky. Last summer, he came for a visit to record a podcast and he had such a positive experience that he decided to make another trip. During his initial visit I was in Vermont attending a Permaculture Design Course, ironically enough.

Read More

May 20
Love0

Green Roof on Straw Bale House: Alive and Kickin’

By Living Sod Roof, Straw Bale Building, Strawtron
green roof straw bale home

The Strawtron roof is lookin’ good and green these days

When we built our two story timber frame & straw bale house in 2012-13, we incorporated a green roof into the design. It was a hell of a task to pull it off, especially since we loaded all the soil onto the surface of the roof one bucket at a time. Sadly, we never stuck around long enough before moving to Kentucky to see the roof flourish with plant life. Thankfully, it’s doing pretty well these days.

Recently, I got a few photos from friends and I’m happy to report that the green roof is indeed just that — full of plant life and kickin’.

Read More

May 07
Love0

Spring Fever

By Homesteading
South Slope Homestead

Spring at the homestead… glorious morning hours.

Spring fever has struck. Workshop planning, income work, scything the grass, baby raising, gardening, figuring out 501d non-profit organization process, getting our woodworking shop set up once and for all… the list goes on. I’ve barely had time to touch the computer the last week. It’s important once in a while to step back and take the long view — like this one, from halfway up our property. This is the reason we do the things we do, including driving ourselves half-mad on occasion!