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random Archives - The Year of Mud

May 09
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No Shortage of Things To Do

By Strawtron, Woodworking

spring work

There’s been no shortage of things to do these past few weeks. Other than the usual building and gardening tasks, there’s been a lot on the list of items to complete.

I realize it’s been a while since I’ve posted any new photos of work on Strawtron… I promise we are not slacking. Nothing has jumped out at me as really photo-worthy just yet. Although that will change soon, as we are closing in the north porch and will soon be doing some light clay straw work. Yea!

Just when I think we’re done with work on Gobcobatron, we find more to do. As we are converting the cob house to a rental this year (see how you can stay in our cob house this summer!), it means we’ve taken some time to do some maintenance work — re-grouting parts of the tile floor, oiling the floor (finally), tearing out the mudroom floor to put in a more durable tile floor, making a brandy new bed frame to accommodate a queen size mattress, dusting the rafters… Didn’t I say I was “done” with this house before?

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Apr 30
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Life is Just a Series of Moving Objects

By Uncategorized

Moving Stuff

I think I have it figured out. I’ve boiled life down to the most elemental action. As I see it now, life is basically an on-going series of moving objects around.

When you build a cob house, you move sand and clay and straw onto a tarp, or into a pit, and continue to move it around with your feet so that it’s mixed. Then you pick it up and move it onto the foundation (which may be a series of stones that you picked up and arranged on top of a drainage trench filled with gravel that you moved into place), and eventually, you get to a place where you might move wood around to form the shape of a roof. Of course the wood will need some work done to it, perhaps some joinery, which means you’ll be moving chunks of material out of the wood itself.

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Nov 21
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Help Turtle Island Preserve: Community Raided For Code Violations

By Resources

Turtle Island Preserve

Turtle Island Preserve is an educational center that focuses on primitive and traditional living skills, including natural building. They have been operating for 26 years. Recently, they have been subject to a harsh government raid for apparent code violations.

Once again, the government demonstrates complete hypocrisy and hatred in the face of positive change, and my compassion goes out to Turtle Island.

Read their urgent letter below, and support them by signing this petition!

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Feb 27
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The Year of Mud Gets a Brand New Look

By Uncategorized

You may have noticed that The Year of Mud has gotten a bit of a design overhaul recently. The theme has been changed, and along with that, the navigation up top has been simplified — hopefully you can find what you need more easily and clearly now.

Check it out and leave your feedback if you have anything to share. Thanks for reading!

p.s. Did you know you can also get to The Year of Mud at https://theyearofmud.com? Oh yea.

Dec 29
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The Year of Mud Website Downtime

By Uncategorized

Whoops! The Year of Mud has had a few hiccups today. All of the kinks should be ironed out now, but it’s not impossible that it may go down briefly once more in the next 24 hours. Sorry for any inconvenience!

Happy browsing!

Oct 19
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OT: Too Big To Ignore: The Occupy Together Protests

By Uncategorized

This has no direct relationship with the content of this blog, but it’s too big to ignore, and to close to my soul to not mention here. The Occupy Together protests (or the We are the One Percent, or Occupy Wall Street) are igniting worldwide, and I must say, it’s hugely exciting, and part of me wishes I could participate. But I’m geographically nowhere near any of the protests. So be it.

I do hope this movement has staying power, because this present time feels like it could be a tipping point — politically, socially, culturally, ecologically… and these protests can have huge power, as long as they are tactically and thoughtfully organized, and with clear and powerful messages and demands for change. I don’t want to hype it up, but there is so much coalescing in this world, so much demand for real change, and these protests are a mighty vehicle in a hugely important time to get our message out there.

Check out these photos from protests around the globe.

p.s. Check out Occupy George and how you can protest wealth inequality in America.

May 09
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Wild Bee Swarm Lands in Cob Wood Shed

By Photos, Cob Woodshed

shed-swarm-01
Wow…. this was too awesome not to mention here. Today, a wild bee swarm made a home in my cob wood shed. We’ve got some empty hive boxes stored in there, and over the past week, I’ve noticed a lot of bees coming and going through the door of the shed.

And today, a great big ol’ swarm came buzzing through the village, and gathered at the entrance of the wood shed — they were moving into the hives stored inside. It was truly an amazing sight!

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Dec 15
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New option to leave blog comments

By Uncategorized

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.