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Natural Building Workshops

May 19
Love0

Gearing Up to Timber Frame!

By Timber Framing, Natural Building Workshops, Hand Tools

boring-machines

Do you ever get into cleaning frenzies, and spend hours scouring and scrubbing around the house, including those areas that often don’t get their fair share of loving? Well, that’s how I’ve been feeling lately, but it’s not our house that is getting the attention… it’s all of our tools. Recently, I’ve been spending a goodly amount of time sharpening, oiling, de-rusting, and tuning to get all of our gear ready for the upcoming Timber Frame Workshop in June. This year we’ll have some newcomers on the tool front to try out, including two antique boring machines we obtained last winter that haven’t seen action yet.

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Mar 16
Love0

Full 2014 Natural Building Workshop Schedule is Up!

By Timber Framing, Natural Building Workshops, Cob Oven

Outdoor Cob Oven

Towering timber frames and hot pizza pie… oh my! (Sorry, that was a weak attempt at poetry.) But hopefully it paints a colorful picture of our upcoming natural building courses this year in 2014. Our full schedule is up, and we’ve added a Timber Frame Workshop and Cob Oven Workshop to our offerings. Both of these classes are in our new and beautiful location of Berea, Kentucky. Specifically, these two workshops are being hosted at the Clear Creek Festival grounds, home to an incredible arts & music festival and a developing off-grid homestead.

Perhaps you’ll join us this summer in raising an old school timber frame pavilion? Or building an outdoor oven with cob?

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Feb 28
Love0

Anticipating the Spring, Workshops, and More

By Natural Building Workshops
Carving wooden bowl

Carving a giant dough bowl, a current side project

All of a sudden, things are getting really busy around here. Springtime is coming on fast. This week has been so busy I don’t even have time to write a proper update here, but I promise I will quite soon. We have a lot of exciting projects in the works, and some of which may involve you. There’s a couple natural building workshops we’re currently planning — these are the first workshops we’ll be offering in our new home location of Berea, Kentucky! Oh, let’s not forget to mention the full-on straw bale cabin we are helping a couple to build this year up in the woods, too. Things are rolling along.

This week has been so full that I haven’t had even a minute to continue work on some of my recent carving projects, including a huge dough bowl, pictured above. I’m excited to get back to this once I have a moment. And then there’s building that workbench, too. We’ve got the wood, and now it’s a question of finding a way to mill some of it up.

Anyway, you should expect to see some exciting updates here quite soon detailing our newest natural building workshops this summer. Keep posted. Exciting times are ahead.

Dec 30
Love0

2013: The Year of Chairs, Stairs, Workshopping, & Moving

By Woodworking, Homesteading, Natural Building Workshops, Carpentry, Strawtron
Spreading Seed: Living Roof

High up in the sky, spreading seed on the living roof of Strawtron

Now is the typical time to think back on the past year, and to try my darnedest to remember everything that has transpired. 2013 was a particularly memorable year, not unlike the others, I suppose. But this year has been pretty different in several big ways, too. Most notably, this year we decided to move to Berea, Kentucky and sell our two homes at Dancing Rabbit. But that didn’t stop us from squeezing in a few more natural building workshops before we left. Oh, and we had to wrap up a lot of work on Strawtron before we could even sell it. Somehow, we found a way to cram it all in.

Here’s a look at how events and projects unfolded in 2013.

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Oct 06
Love0

Pizza… and More Cob Oven Workshop Photos

By Cob Oven, Natural Building Workshops
Outdoor Pizza Oven: Fresh Pizza

A particularly bubbly pizza gets topped with fresh basil during our pizza party

Our latest group of Cob Oven Workshop students departed last week with full bellies, new oven building skills, and with a greater glimpse of life in an intentional community. These 3 day workshops are very fun for us, and I foresee planning more for the future. Can we pull off doing a few in 2014? I sure hope so…

Each time we build another cob oven, I learn something new. The same applies to when we go to actually use the oven, as well. Our pizza is slightly improving every time. Mmm..

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Sep 20
Love0

Our Inaugural Cob Oven Workshop: Mud, Fire, and Fun!

By Natural Building Workshops, Cob Oven
Cob Oven Bread

Baked bread fresh from the cob oven

A few short days ago, our first Cob Oven Workshop came to an end. The workshop was filled with mud, fire, and a whole lot of fun. Thankfully, our participants agreed! Folks got down and dirty as we built an oven from the hearth upwards. We learned all about how to make a good batch of cob, using natural and recycled materials effectively, plastering, how to fire an oven and make good use of the ample heat it provides, and lots more. We sure did eat extremely well, too.

Here are a few nice testimonials from just a couple of our lovely people from the inaugural workshop:

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Sep 01
Love0

Roundwood Timber Framers Unite: More Timber Frame Workshop Photos

By Timber Framing, Natural Building Workshops, Photos
Roundwood Timber Frame Workshop Group Shot

The fearless band of roundwood timber framers

Our most excellent group of students have disbanded for now, as our 2013 Timber Frame Workshop has come to an end. The group took on the challenge of working with roundwood to construct a traditional mortise and tenon style timber frame, and I must say — they did a great job given the lack of previous experience. Check out a few images of them hard at work below!

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Aug 22
Love0

If Some One Offers You a Drill, Take It (Timber Frame Photo Update)

By Timber Framing, Natural Building Workshops
Roundwood timber frame

Students take on roundwood timber framing this year

Recently, one of the timber frame participants wisely said: ‘if some one offers you a drill, take it.’ I think this quote has wide application, and plan on remembering it. Our instructor Tom Cundiff says he prefers to teach students with minimal or no experience with working wood or timber framing. In his view, those individuals are more open to being taught and absorbing new information. If some one already thinks they have the answer, it can be harder to teach something new or different.

The students this year are doing a great job thus far. Most have had zero or little timber framing & carpentry experience, but it’s amazing how quickly people catch on in a workshop setting. It’s really fun to witness that. The sponge effect is definitely happening. It’s also interesting to see the evolution of understanding — how experiencing different parts of the timber framing procedure gradually create a more fully formed image and understanding. All of a sudden you’ll see that “a-ha!” moment. I know I’ve felt that myself, too.

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Aug 17
Love0

The Calm Before the (Framing) Storm

By Natural Building Workshops, Timber Framing
Roundwood Timber Frame Workshop

Calm before the storm…

Our batch of students for the 2013 Timber Frame Workshop arrive this afternoon, and we are in that interesting moment in time right before a lot of activity, anticipating, getting the last few things in order, and looking forward to the 10 days ahead. This year’s workshop feels vastly different than last, since April and I (a.k.a., The Year of Mud) are acting as hosts and organizers, or masters of ceremonies. We’ll be ducking in and out of the class itself, too, but the labor is much more evenly distributed this year, which is really nice.

Anyway, we love hosting workshops and meeting new people, and reveling in the excitement that is part of participating with a group of people on a project in an organized way. These workshops are like an extension of community, although temporary. But a sure sign of success, despite how temporary and brief these workshops ultimately are, is maintaining contact with former participants.

Well, look forward to updates throughout the week! We’ll make daily updates on The Year of Mud on facebook, too.