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Natural Building Workshops

Sep 06
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2013 Natural Building Workshops Planning

By Natural Building Workshops

Straw Bale Workshops at The Year of MudAfter such a successful 2012 Natural Building Workshop season, we are already planning for next year’s courses and classes in 2013. Planning is an on-going  process, and especially for events like these, we need to organize very far in advance to be able to structure our time and energy for the year. We hosted one Straw Bale Workshop and a Timber Framing Workshop this year, after months and months of planning, but next year may see the introduction of newer courses in the offering. I’m excited about the possibilities, and I hope you will be, too.

Things should be ironed out over the course of the fall season (the best time to do anything, really). Keep an eye peeled. Sign up for our email list to be the first to know.

 

 

Aug 04
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Straw Bale Workshop Finished! Slideshow & More

By Strawtron, Natural Building Workshops, Straw Bale Building
strawbaleworkshop-group02

Our lovely bunch of straw bale workshop participants

We just finished our awesome 10 days of the first Year of Mud Straw Bale Workshop — what a blast! We had yet another great batch of students, and there was ample opportunity to get lots of progress made, and learn all the ins and outs of working with straw bales. I think everyone went home energized and enlivened, and probably a bit tired too…. and definitely full from tons of great food.

I personally came away from this class with my love once again reignited for natural building, a wish for continuing to learn and challenge myself, and a strong desire to keep working in this invigorating format. It is so great to be surrounded by and working closely with people curious, excited, and enthusiastic about natural building and alternative living.

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Aug 01
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Earthen Plaster Makes Me Happy

By Natural Building Workshops, Photos, Straw Bale Building, Strawtron
Natural Earthen Plaster

Fresh first coat of earthen plaster in our future bedroom

The fact that we’ve come this far during the workshop makes me very happy. Here’s looking at our future bedroom, with a fresh base coat of earthen plaster, and our first trimmed window with embedded black walnut window sill. It looks fantastic. The students have been loving the mud. I love that they love the mud.

Things are good. The workshop has been a blast. Today is our last day!

Jul 30
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Straw Bale Workshop Photos!

By Natural Building Workshops, Photos, Straw Bale Building, Strawtron
Earthen Plaster at Straw Bale Workshop

Mo and Rick apply some earthen plaster

We’ve been having a great time during our 2012 Straw Bale Workshop. The students have really taken to working with bales, and most recently, mixing and applying earthen plaster. People just love the mud.

I love working with our students, and again, it will be very sad to see everyone go home. We’ve gotten an incredible amount of work done in just one week.

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Jul 09
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Two Weeks Remain Until Straw Bale Workshop!

By Natural Building Workshops, Straw Bale Building, Strawtron
Straw Bale House Workshop

The Year of Mud's Straw Bale Workshop is soon approaching!

Only two short weeks remain until our Straw Bale Workshop begins! From July 22 – August 2, we will be hosting our last natural building workshop of the year, a 10 day course dedicated to straw bale house construction. Come and learn all the ins and outs of working with straw bales and natural plasters at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in Missouri!

A few more participant spaces still remain — apply now if you want to get in on our last natural building workshop of the year. It’s not too late.

p.s. This weekend, a local farmer brought us 300 straw bales from his property, seven miles away. How cool is it that our walls were grown in a field less than 10 miles away?

Jun 26
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Thank You Timber Framers!

By Natural Building Workshops, Timber Framing, Strawtron
Timber Frame Workshop 2012

Thank you Timber Frame Workshop participants!

Yesterday was the end of our fantastic two week Timber Framing Workshop. I’m very sad that it is over, and extremely grateful for the fantastic progress we made, and the quality of work we produced. Wow. We did everything from square rule layout, to lofting and daisy wheel layout and scribing, to hand hewing, working with roundwood, hand raising 18′ tall posts and beams, and so much more. We used Japanese hand saws, planes, chisels and mallets, boring machines, broad axes, and more with a group of students with minimal hand tool experience. It is incredible what we were able to achieve.

I cannot express how much enjoyment I was continually experiencing during the course, and how satisfied I am now to have been able to host such a wonderful workshop, with wonderful folks involved.

Thanks April, Tom, Chris, Lauren, Kyle, Dan, Will, Carl, Jacob, Kiera, Alex, Shand, and Micah!

(Expect more updates about what we learned, and what we built in the next couple of weeks.)