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Sep 28
Love2

A Light Clay Straw Building Primer

By Resources, Light Clay Straw

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.

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Sep 06
Love1

Fall is for Cob Benches & Outhouses

By Cob Building, Natural Building Workshops, Light Clay Straw
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.

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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”?

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Aug 04
Love0

We are South Slope Farm

By Homesteading, South Slope Farm
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.

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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?

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Jun 07
Love0

Ziggy on The Permaculture Podcast

By Media, Timber Framing, Straw Bale Building, Homesteading, Cob Building, Permaculture
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.

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May 20
Love0

Green Roof on Straw Bale House: Alive and Kickin’

By Straw Bale Building, Strawtron, Living Sod Roof
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’.

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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!

 

Apr 19
Love0

Off The Grid Straw Bale Home: Spring Update!

By Doors & Windows, Clay Plaster, Straw Bale Building
Off the Grid Straw Bale House

This little off grid home is getting the finish work treatment this year

It’s been a while since I’ve posted any updates about the off the grid straw bale home we’ve been helping our friends build here outside Berea, Kentucky. Here’s a look at how the octagonal straw bale house is shaping up these days. It now has most of the base coat clay plaster complete, and more recently the window trim has been installed.

This is the year for finish work with the goal of moving in for the winter!

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Apr 09
Love0

Big Wood Weekend

By Carpentry, Woodworking
Red Oak Wood for Riving Shakes

One of our big wood scores this weekend… great for riving shakes

This was definitely the weekend for big wood. Big scores of big wood. First we saved some massive red oak logs from a local establishment with an eye for turning these big beautiful lengths of wood into shakes for a roof. (If we manage to save enough of the logs, we may even use the shakes on the upcoming roof of our timber frame pizza oven shelter.) And then by surprise, we found a local fellow who was advertising massively wide slabs of cedar… perfect for the kitchen counter we want to build.

Both of these are the kind of thing we may only find once or twice in our lifetime…

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