Wow, computers / the internet / technology can really be a drag sometimes. I just discovered that over half of my $20 outdoor cob oven post has gone missing from this website. I can’t find any of the content anywhere online, archived. This is the most popular post on my website, too, of course.
So I call out for help: does anyone have the text of this particular entry saved somewhere on their computer? (Of course, I don’t. Gr.)
Help!
UPDATE: It’s been found! Thanks, readers!
A reader brought it to my attention that you can’t leave comments on this blog without registering, which I actually hadn’t realized until now. I’d like to try opening up commenting to anyone without the need to register, so if you’ve been reluctant up until now, there ya go! Thanks.
Dearest friend and fellow Dancing Rabbit member, natural builder, gardener, fiddle player, yoga teacher, (hell, life teacher), and just simply an amazing human being, Tamar died on Sunday, September 12th. I’ve had the oh-too brief fortune to know Tamar for three years while living at Dancing Rabbit. Last fall, Tamar’s health took a sudden turn for the worst when she was diagnosed with cancer. Since that fateful autumn, she has been through much pain, as have those many family members and friends who have been witness to her suffering. It has been one hell of a journey, the difficult end of which has come on a incredibly sunny, breathtaking September afternoon, with Monarchs bringing fluttering, fleeting color and beauty to the prairie. How fitting a day for the death of such an amazing individual.
Tamar has left a mark on many of those people who have crossed paths with her, and I am no exception. She had been a big inspiration throughout the building of my home, and her colorful mosaics grace its cob walls. She has left behind many reminders of her beautiful (but too-short) life here at Dancing Rabbit, and for that I am extremely thankful, and I am indebted to have known such an amazing person and friend.
Here’s to you, Tamar. You are missed.
Counter space with spice shelves, and stove to the right
We’ve moved into the new temporary outdoor kitchen. All of the food, utensils, pots, and pans got carried over last week, and we set up the ol’ single burner rocket stove outside the door. We’ve finally got a roof over our heads (a truck topper roof, no less), sufficient counter space, the faithful filing cabinet for rodent-proof storage, high shelves for extra canning jars, plenty of hooks for utensils and cast iron pans, rain catchment with a gravity-fed sink, a big hotbox/seat/counter, and a very experimental three burner lorena-style stove inside.
Haha. A few weeks ago, a woman from PARADE Magazine contacted me about the grain bin renovation here at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. With my email response, I included a link to this website, and the writer decided to feature GOBCOBATRON instead of the grain bin home.
So now 70 million people have read about me (‘Ziggy Liloia’ – I actually almost never use my nickname and last name together) and building my cob house here at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. Weird.
Unfortunately, they did not include either a link to The Year of Mud or Dancing Rabbit’s website. But here’s their story on it: Home, Strange Home.
The comments I received on my earlier post seemed to be enough to sway me towards combining this website with my kitchen construction blog, so except many (and more frequent) posts about building the bale-cob kitchen here in the future! For the sake of my own sanity and time, this seems to be the best option. I’ve imported all of the content (there isn’t that much yet), so you’ll see it throughout the existing posts.
You may notice a few other changes on The Year of Mud to accommodate this change, as well. I’ve reworked the About page to include a brief cob building overview, and moved my cob house timeline to its own page. And the kitchen construction project has its own page as well, which will surely be updated as progress on that building continues.
Stay tuned for more, and thanks for the feedback!
p.s. No new title yet. I gotta admit that I’m sorta attached to “The Year of Mud”, even though the name is kinda irrelevant now.
I’ve been pondering a possibility for the past week or so. Last year, I started up a new blog dedicated to my latest building project, a sub-community kitchen here at Dancing Rabbit that I’m working on with a few other folks. However, I’ve been finding it difficult to want to maintain two separate websites, although in theory I like the idea of the content for each website being devoted to each particular project. It just seems more organized, you know? But it’s really hard to want to upkeep two pretty regular blogs… well, regularly.
And so I ask you readers: do you think that I should combine The House That Millet Built with The Year of Mud, for the sake of simplicity? Or should I keep them separate, for the sake of organization?
It should be fairly straightforward to have a kitchen subsection on this website, with it’s own set of categories.
Well, what do you think? Would it detract from the straight aim of this blog to start talking about a whole new project?
Just a little (sorta off-topic) newsflash: Sustainablog has teamed up with Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage (my home) to host a blogathon to help raise funds for Dancing Rabbit. Check out the details here!
Check out the sustainablog homepage for new blog posts over the next 24 hours and consider contributing to the cause! You may even see a post or two with my name under it during that time…
This post might seem a little random, but I stumbled across this video and was floored by how complicated the manufacturing process for this simple soccer ball (sorry, football for the rest of the world) is. The amount of technology, machinery, computers, and undoubtedly, energy going on here is HUGE.
Remember that this is a mere football. A ball. Filled with air.
Then imagine how complex the manufacturing process is for other seemingly everyday objects.
I watched this and had to think about my house, made mostly out of sand and clay, which was built almost entirely by hand. The level of technology in my whole house seems to pale in comparison! (Ok, so there are some materials in the house [windows, the EPDM] that are probably quite complex to manufacture, but still…)
Oh industry…
About The Year of Mud
Hi there, I’m Ziggy. In 2008, I launched The Year of Mud while building my first natural home. This blog is a collection of personal stories and experiences building with clay, straw, and wood over the past 15+ years. A few of the things that get me fired up are natural plasters, timber framing, & Japanese architecture. Since 2012, we’ve been hosting Natural Building Workshops so you can learn essential skills to build your own natural home.
