Category

Natural Building Workshops

Jul 09
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Straw Bale Lessons: Keep Those Bales Dry!

By Natural Building Workshops, Moisture, Straw Bale Building
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
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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
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2014 in Review: A Chockablock Year

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

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
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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
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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
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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
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Everyone Loves the “Cob Toss”

By Cob Building, Natural Building Workshops
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
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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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Aug 17
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Getting Ready For Cob in the Forest

By Cob Building, Natural Building Workshops
Cob Bench Site

The lovely site for the cob bench we’ll soon be building

Time is (of course) flying. You’ve heard it all before, and it’s true all the same. August, though it doesn’t feel like any August I can remember, has peaked and we’re on the slide down to September, one of my favorite months. Though when I was of school age, I absolutely dreaded the coming of that particular month, and could not much look past the beginning of the school year to the sheer beauty and joy of the end of summer and beginning of fall.

We’re starting off September with our Cob Building Workshop, and things are definitely in motion to get ready for the event. We’ll be playing with cob in the forest for three days, here at the lovely mountain homestead of Tim and Jane outside Berea, Kentucky. It’s an absolutely beautiful site, as you might be able to tell from the photo above.

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Jul 29
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Cob Building Workshop is Just Around the Corner!

By Cob Building, Natural Building Workshops

Dancing In CobJust when I thought things might be quiet for a while, I look at the calendar and take note that we are just a little more than a month away from our Cob Building Workshop. Yow!

Our 3 day Cob Building Workshop takes place from September 5-7 here outside Berea, Kentucky. There are still three spaces remaining, so if you’ve been waiting to register, I suggest you go ahead and do that soon, because the spaces are certain to fill up. You can also save a bit on the registration fee if you register within the week.

I’m personally very excited to get my hands (and feet) back in the mud, at what will no doubt be a beautiful time of year. If you want to get your cobbing on with us, go ahead and register today.