A shady, beautiful balcony with climbing plants
Our new straw bale house plan features a balcony design on the west side of the building. The purpose of this balcony is two, if not three-fold. Not only is it a place to sit and watch the sunset, but it provides other more functional purposes, too. Here are some good tips about how to plan a successful balcony design for your new home. Take note!
An old froe and mallet
Every month, I make my pilgrimage (er, it’s really just a short trip, I guess) to the local flea market, the so-called Dog and Gun. Usually I go in search of old hand tools, especially woodworking tools. The latest find was this very old froe.
A froe is a tool used for cleaving wood — very often they are associated with splitting shakes, but they can be used to pare down wood for making handles, or whatever other reason you would have to cleave wood. They are used by striking a wooden mallet on the top of the blade (seen at right in this image). They are not sharp — they are basically a glorified wedge on a stick.
They are extremely useful, however. Recently, I spent a lot of time starting to split out blanks for wood pegs for the future timber frame. The handle is shot, so I need to make a new one, but for $20, it was a nice deal. This one’s quite old, too. I like when you can tell that an old woodworking tool has a lot of history.
(New froes are at least $50 or more, by the way.)
I will never cease to appreciate and ogle natural homes built by hand. Pretty spaces warm the heart.
I came across this stylish straw bale house pretty randomly, and was impressed with the unique style — check it out. I think this house is bigger than something I would ever consider building (just based on the sounds of it, and from the look of some of the images. I like to think homes should be kept as small and functional as possible.)
But anyway, inspiring images — check out the stunning timber frame details, the floors, nice lighting, and…. that kitchen — weird! Maybe it’s the angle, but that seems like a funky space — I want to see more of it to understand what is going on there.
I get excited thinking about all of the details that we will eventually put into our own straw bale house, and trying to imagine what the final space will look like, once I’m inside, sitting in the rocking chair, or looking out the window into the greenhouse to see how the plants are faring.
Gobcobatron featured in GRACE of China
The most recent magazine to feature my cob house, Gobcobatron, is Grace of China. It’s kinda like Vogue, I think. But in Chinese. They did a full five pages on us, so maybe mud houses are trendy or something over there? I have no clue what the article says… translation anyone?
Check it out! (Click for large!)
John Neeman is a small outfit making stunning quality, hand forged woodworking and timber framing tools in Latvia. Their work is impressive on multiple fronts (including this gorgeous documentary). Very inspiring.
I will have more information about John Neeman tools up in the coming weeks, as they are planning to launch an online store in the near future. (I’ve got a broad axe coming from them, too.)
Yea for traditional skills and blacksmithing!
p.s. Today is the last day to save 20% off the 2012 Timber Framing course! We may even get to use that handmade John Neeman broad axe during the workshop…
Timber Frame Workshop 2012 Update!Here’s a friendly reminder for all the prospective natural builders and timber framers out there.
There are only 3 days left to qualify for the Extra Early Registration Discount for this year’s Timber Framing Workshop.
You can SAVE 20% by applying now — that’s a savings of $400. And don’t forget — spaces are limited. All experience levels are welcome.
After March 15, there is still an Early Registration Discount, which is 10% off the tuition.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for applying! Hope to see you soon.
An impressive hammer beam timber frame
I’ve spent a lot of time searching for beautiful timber frame house images for inspiration for our new home. There are many unique frames out there, each with their own personality and style. Here’s a few I love looking at.
Rough sawn white oak for our timber frame
Above is a photo of our very first timbers for our new timber frame & straw bale house! We had a handful of sample timbers milled up at a local sawmill to determine the quality of the wood and the saw job. I’d say I’m pretty happy, especially at the quoted cost. (Pictured are two 8x8s, some 3×10 floor joists, and 3×5 brace stock.) Read More
I had a whole lot of fun a few weeks ago making this short film with April and our dog, Pug (the pug). It’s called DOG SHAMAN’s JOURNEY and features a character we made up over a year ago, Dog Shaman, the small dog whisperer. Err. Maybe you should just watch it, and then you’ll understand.
Anyway, parts of this short film were shot in my cob house, which despite its small size, actually worked out pretty well for a set.
Check it out below.
p.s. Watch in high quality!
Interested in learning more about light clay straw (or straw-clay, or ‘leichtlehm’) construction? My friend Jacob over at Red Earth Farms whipped up this handy guide to building with straw-clay. Inside you’ll find advice for dealing with framing your home, how to protect the walls from the elements, making light clay straw and finishing the walls with plaster, and more good stuff. Check it out below.
Jacob’s light clay straw home
by Jacob Schmidt
This is an introduction to light clay straw construction (a.k.a. “straw-clay”). In the summer of 2010, I started construction on my first house (20 ft. x 12 ft.). It was stud framed with light clay straw infill. I had helped with other natural building projects and had some conventional experience. This article is the product of all of my mistakes (and few successes) so that you, my fellow builder, do not have to walk the road that I have. Fortunately for y’all I built a chicken coop in 2011, and that helped me to learn more about building correctly with light clay straw. (One mistake being I should have done the coop first, but at least my chickens are happy.) Read More
Hi there, I’m Ziggy. In 2008, I launched The Year of Mud while building my first natural home. This website 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. In 2012, we started offering Natural Building Workshops, so you can learn essential hands-on skills to build your own natural home.
