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Natural Building Workshops

Aug 24
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The Off-Grid Straw Bale Cabin: Workshop Photo Gallery

By Natural Building Workshops, Photos, Straw Bale Building
Straw Bale Workshop Site

Working on the site of our 2015 Straw Bale Workshop

I’m writing from the past for the future — I should be in Vermont as you read this. I scheduled this little post to self-publish so you’d have some fun photos to look at while I’m PDCing it up during this latter part of August.

Here’s a photo gallery and slideshow from our recent July Straw Bale Workshop in which we built the straw bale walls of a small, off-grid octagonal cabin in the Kentucky foothills. It’s always amazing to me to see the walls go up and instantly take the house to a whole new level of completion. I love the gradual defining of the space from digging the foundation trench, to building the frame and roof, and then the stacking of the walls themselves. Even once the straw bales are up, the house is still ultimately a ways away from actual “completion” (whatever that means), but my goodness it feels good.

Read ahead to see the evolution of the small straw bale home in the woods during our course!
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Jul 20
Love2

Beginning Days of Our 2015 Straw Bale Workshop

By Natural Building Workshops, Straw Bale Building
Off Grid Straw Bale House Site

The octagonal straw bale cabin, site of our 2015 Straw Bale Workshop

Yesterday was the finale of our 2015 Straw Bale Workshop outside Berea, Kentucky. Our team of participants made it through a week of straw bale building, clay plastering, and more than our fair share of rain. Despite the far less than ideal weather conditions, everyone stayed remarkably upbeat and we achieved a lot of good work. Apparently even record-breaking rain couldn’t stop us from having fun.

I am so grateful to our top notch team of participants who joined us this year! Here’s a look back at some of the construction work we accomplished this past week.

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Jul 09
Love2

Straw Bale Lessons: Keep Those Bales Dry!

By Moisture, Straw Bale Building, Natural Building Workshops
Straw Bale Storage

Nice dry bales under a big roof for protection in storage is critical!

We’re mere days away from the start of our 2015 Straw Bale Workshop. This summer’s weather has been surprisingly wet — we’ve had some amount of rain at least every other day (if not every day) for the past two weeks or more. I’m hopeful that things will settle down by the weekend. If not, we’ll be able to cope, I do believe. At least the mushrooms are happy. This season’s high levels of rain have brought some important straw bale building lessons to the forefront.
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Mar 25
Love0

Sneak Peak: Off-Grid Straw Bale Cabin

By Natural Building Workshops, Straw Bale Building
Porch Roof on Off-Grid Straw Bale Cabin

Wrapping up the framing on the porch roof of the off-grid cabin

How can it possibly be that March is already coming to an end? The passing of time is so utterly mundane of a subject but it’s terribly fascinating to ponder at the same time. I can hardly believe how fast these weeks go by sometimes. I’ve been spending some quality time doing various woodworking projects over the last month, so I’ve got some catching up to do on the blog. For now I wanted to share a couple of photos of the off-grid straw bale cabin we’re helping to build with our friends here in Kentucky. This off-grid house will be the site of our 7 day Straw Bale Workshop this July.

This sweet little cabin is tucked away in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, and it will be decked out with straw bale walls and clay plaster this summer. Eventually it will have a small off-grid power system and be a comfy little outpost in a beautiful patch of forest.

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Jan 06
Love0

2014 in Review: A Chockablock Year

By Natural Building Workshops, Cob Oven, Photos, Timber Framing, Strawtron, Woodworking, Wood Carving

outdoor-pizza-ovenI can hardly recall such a dynamic, diverse year as 2014. 2014 marked a transition year for April and I, and I’m happy to say that it was a smooth one. It was our first year living in the Berea, Kentucky area, having left Dancing Rabbit in the fall of 2013. This move was not an insignificant event, as I spent seven full and formative years in the northeast Missouri ecovillage.

I like to think back on the year past and try to remember all that has happened — maintaining this blog is actually an important way for me to be able to do that. It’s as much about documenting what we’re up to as it is a way for me to preserve some of life’s countless details. Here I’ll share some of the notable events and experiences of 2014, the year of our transition into a new life outside of Berea, Kentucky.

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Nov 23
Love0

Straw Bale Workshop Slated for 2015!

By Straw Bale Building, Natural Building Workshops

Straw Bale Workshop 2015We’ve got some very exciting news to share with you. This fall we’ve been busy behind the scenes, organizing our first workshop for 2015 — a Straw Bale Workshop next July outside of Berea, Kentucky! We’re really happy to be teaming up with Mark Mazziotti again to offer another 7 day course on straw bale construction. This time, our workshop site is a small octagonal straw bale house. It’s an off-grid home being built here in the stunning Appalachian foothills.

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Nov 23
Love0

Straw Bale Workshop Slated for 2015!

By Natural Building Workshops, Straw Bale Building

Straw Bale Workshop 2015We’ve got some very exciting news to share with you. This fall we’ve been busy behind the scenes, organizing our first workshop for 2015 — a Straw Bale Workshop next July outside of Berea, Kentucky! We’re really happy to be teaming up with Mark Mazziotti again to offer another 7 day course on straw bale construction. This time, our workshop site is a small octagonal straw bale house. It’s an off-grid home being built here in the stunning Appalachian foothills.

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Sep 24
Love0

Our Recent Cob Bench Creation

By Natural Building Workshops, Cob Building
Cob Bench

Our Cob Building Workshop participants and the cob bench they built

Our recent Cob Building Workshop participants were able to build a cob bench from the foundation up, and I was very pleased with what we came up with. A cob bench is the perfect beginner cob building project, as it is simple, yet provides enough of a design challenge to be interesting and engaging. The best cob bench will be comfortable, inviting, and of course visually interesting. With a bench, you can “try it on” as you go and sit and feel out the dimensions and adjust as necessary. You don’t even need a tape measure.

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Sep 14
Love0

Everyone Loves the “Cob Toss”

By Natural Building Workshops, Cob Building
Cob Toss

Angelo starts the “cob toss” at the mixing station

I think one of the highlights for folks participating in our 2014 Cob Building Workshop was the “cob toss”. It involves nothing more than grabbing a pre-formed cob “loaf” and passing it to another builder, where eventually it will end up on the wall or whatever is being built. This is an extremely useful method for transporting the heavy material, especially when the wall is no longer at a height when it can be simply placed on the wall without much movement (on the builder’s part), or when the mixing station cannot be sited immediately adjacent to the wall.

I also love what the cob toss represents…

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Sep 08
Love0

Our Muddy Weekend Kicks Off

By Cob Building, Natural Building Workshops
Making Cob Loaves

Some of our first cob gets the “loaf” treatment for easy transport the bench site

Our 2014 Cob Building Workshop just wrapped up, and as always, I’m sad to see that folks have to go home already, but pleased with the very enjoyable experience we all shared. Our three day class was a great chance to get our hands (and feet) in the mud, mixing up some lovely batches of cob, and building a nice little bench and wall together.

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