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strawtron Archives - The Year of Mud

Oct 29
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Goodbye Strawtron

By Strawtron
Straw Bale Timber Frame House: Strawtron

Sayonara, Strawtron

Almost four years ago, April and I moved from Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in northeast Missouri to Berea, Kentucky to try and find land to start developing a homestead. When we left, we put our straw bale and timber frame home, Strawtron up on the market. This fall, we finally sold the house to new owners. (We sold our cob house, Gobcobatron two years ago.)

We are, in a word, greatly relieved. (Oops, two words.) Why has it taken so long? Well, prospective buyers also need to be Dancing Rabbit members, so the pool of potential buyers is downright tiny. We thought we’d sell the house much sooner because the trend had been an increasingly larger population (and a shortage of homes), but that trend happened to reverse shortly after we left. Well, there was now way to foresee that one.

Nevertheless… the house is sold and I’m happy for the new owners. I love that house and I’m sure it will continue to be loved well into the future. Goodbye Strawtron!

Apr 03
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Our Straw Bale House in ‘Small Homes’

By Book Reviews, Timber Framing, Straw Bale Building, Strawtron
small home book - lloyd kahn

Lloyd Kahn’s latest, Small Homes: The Right Size

Lloyd Kahn of Shelter fame has a new book out, titled Small Homes: The Right Size, and I feel much gratitude that our straw bale & timber frame home is featured within its pages. Lloyd’s books have been a big source of inspiration for me these past 10 years. Flipping through Shelter, Home Work, and Builders of the Pacific Coast have been powerful influences and have helped me to feel connected to the worldwide movement of folks creating beautiful, unique, hand-built homes.

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May 20
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Green Roof on Straw Bale House: Alive and Kickin’

By Living Sod Roof, Straw Bale Building, Strawtron
green roof straw bale home

The Strawtron roof is lookin’ good and green these days

When we built our two story timber frame & straw bale house in 2012-13, we incorporated a green roof into the design. It was a hell of a task to pull it off, especially since we loaded all the soil onto the surface of the roof one bucket at a time. Sadly, we never stuck around long enough before moving to Kentucky to see the roof flourish with plant life. Thankfully, it’s doing pretty well these days.

Recently, I got a few photos from friends and I’m happy to report that the green roof is indeed just that — full of plant life and kickin’.

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Feb 01
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A New Chapter for Gobcobatron

By Strawtron, Cob Building
Gobcobatron, Cob House

A new chapter for Gobcobatron…

For long-time readers of this blog, you probably know the story of building my first house, Gobcobatron. That experience was, after all, the inspiration for “The Year of Mud” to begin with. About a month ago, we sold Gobcobatron. It’s exciting, a relief, and an interesting stew of emotions to no longer own what was once so very close to me. Mostly, I’m really glad to be completely untethered from a building I can’t easily maintain living 8+ hours away. The experience of selling the house also causes me to feel old(er) in a way, and a bit nostalgic too. And it’s fascinating to think about the house having its own story and its own path now, separate from me.

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Dec 07
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Our Straw Bale House ‘Exterior Design’

By Straw Bale Building, Strawtron, Lime Plaster
Straw Bale House Exterior: West Side

The west side of our straw bale house

I’ve posted a goodly number of images of the interior of our straw bale house ‘Strawtron’, but fewer of the exterior. Here’s a few photos to peruse and some explanation for our ‘exterior design’ choices. Much of how we designed the exterior was based on the local climate, orientation to the sun, functionality, and aesthetics. I think the function, look, and feel of the exterior of the home is as important or more (in some cases) than the interior.
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Nov 30
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Natural Lighting in Your Natural Home

By Living Electricity-free, Straw Bale Building, Strawtron
Natural Lighting: Straw Bale Home Interior

The morning sun casts a warm glow on the bedroom ceiling on our straw bale home

Something I’ve become very aware of over the last number of years is my deep craving for natural lighting, and access to sunlight in general. This becomes especially apparent to me when I’m in a home that has poor solar orientation, or during the winter when sunlight is naturally less abundant. Unless I can see and feel the sun on me when I wake up, for example, I’m much more likely to feel drowsy and lethargic in the morning hours. Something I’m very happy about with our straw bale house that we built in Missouri is the abundance and quality of light in the home interior.

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Nov 02
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New Photos of Our Straw Bale House for Sale

By Strawtron, Straw Bale Building
Straw Bale House for Sale

Our newly finish straw bale house interior

As you’ve likely already seen here, our straw bale house is for sale at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in northeast Missouri. We only recently returned from a six week trip that we took to wrap up all of the finish work on the home. I can happily say that the house is complete now, having received all of the nitty-gritty finish details.

To reflect the newly completed state of the house, I’ve updated the straw bale house sale page, including all of the new features. There’s plenty of new photos to view, too. Check it out and tell me what you think!

Oct 30
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The Joy of Finish Clay Plaster on Straw Bale Walls

By Clay Plaster, Straw Bale Building, Strawtron
Plastering Walls: Using Finish Clay Plaster

Troweling a finish clay plaster on the straw bale walls of our house

Having recently finished plastering the walls of our straw bale house, I have a renewed sense of enthusiasm for using clay plaster. Not that I ever felt ‘meh’ about it or anything — it’s more that I feel so inspired to go further with it than ever before and learn some of the deeper nuances to the craft. Clay plaster is just that – a seemingly simple craft, but full of subtleties, and the difference between an okay plaster and excellent plaster are profound. While I’m satisfied with the plaster work we just accomplished, I feel hungry to go further with it.

There’s a few tricks to plastering walls, including the quality of the base coat, your plaster recipe, and the alignment of the stars. Okay, maybe not that last part… but you get the idea. It’s a lot more than slapping some mud on the straw bales.

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Oct 26
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The Marathon is Over. Life is Good.

By Straw Bale Building, Strawtron
Finished Straw Bale House

A sneak peak at our newly finished straw bale/timber frame house

Our six week building marathon has finally come to an end, and work on our straw bale/timber frame house is complete. We’ve returned to Kentucky, and Missouri is behind us (for now). We plastered the interior and exterior, finished the ceilings, wired the house, did a bunch of trim and baseboard, built railings, built shelves… and completed countless other tasks. The finale was a bittersweet feeling, one of deep satisfaction of completing what we started, but also one of sadness…. that this is not truly our house. It’s for sale, and we’ll never have the chance of truly living in it in its glorious completed state.

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Oct 22
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A Fun Wooden Stair Railing Project

By Carpentry, Strawtron
DIY Interior Wooden Stair Railing 00

Using scrap wood to build this interior stair railing was a fun finish carpentry project

As I write this, the finish work is painfully close to complete on our straw bale home. The last leg of any project is the hardest part for me, as I’m so fixated on the end that the final push often feels like an eternity. But I digress. I had a lot of fun building this small interior stair railing in the second storey of our house. It was a great chance to do some finish carpentry and use some very pretty pieces of wood, many of which were scraps from other aspects of the house. No one will fall down the stairwell now, thank goodness, and this little wooden railing somehow completes the space much more nicely than I would have guessed. Check it out…

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