Monthly Archives

March 2013

The Best Way to Learn About Natural Building

By Natural Building Workshops

Natural Building Workshops

People often write me and ask how to get into or learn about natural building and living a more sustainable lifestyle. Unfortunately (?), the answer is fairly predictable, but all the same, it is worth addressing here. The answer is this: the best way to learn whatever you want to do is to get firsthand experience. Sorry to say, but it’s that simple.

When to comes to a specialized skill, there is no replacement for getting firsthand experience. Reading books and looking at images online is one thing, and one thing only — a mere taste, a slight dip of the spoon. All of that goes out the window when you try the thing (say, building) itself. Because putting an idea into practice is an entirely different experience from intellectualizing or daydreaming about it.

But that is the “business” I feel most passionate about, and want to encourage more than anything to the readers of this blog, to the people I meet, and to anyone who has an itch to do anything new. Go out there, get experience, create connections, and give it a try.

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Amazing post with all the goodies

By Food for thought

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Easy, Tamper-Proof Compost Bin Plans

By Gardening
Compost Bin Plans

Rodent and dog-proof compost bin… for under $40

We’ve all got our shortcomings. Our compost bin situation has been severely lacking for… a few years, I’ll say. How embarrassing.  Let’s just say we were kinda lacking on the “bin” end of things for a while… until now. These great compost bin plans we came up with eliminate dogs and rodents from getting into our pile, allowing us to create soil fertility without the headache of critters messing things up! All it took was a roll of hardware cloth, and a bag of zip ties. I’m so pleased to have a functional compost bin that I just had to share this here. The whole thing costs under $40.

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The Year of Mud Back in Full Swing

By Uncategorized
bugs

Yikes…

At least once a year, I spend several stressful hours troubleshooting a new website problem, at times hopelessly, and finally, at the brink of despair, a solution rises up like a phoenix that instantly alleviates the technical bug. Well, that is what just happened.

For the last month, any posts and updates to pages I have made to The Year of Mud were not publicly viewable… but all of that is ironed out now. You may see a few “new” posts here since February, and additionally, the 2013 Timber Frame Workshop details are fully viewable!

Thanks for your patience! You can imagine I’d much rather be outside building than scouring troubleshooting forums for answers all night, but it’s all important and worth it in the end.

More updates as they come. Spring is here!

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear

Ambrose Redmoon Quote

Timber Frame Joinery: How to Make a Mortise By Hand

By Hand Tools, Timber Framing, Strawtron
Millers Falls Boring Machine

How to make a mortise with hand tools: boring machine and chisel

You can’t have a tenon without a mortise. They go together like peas and carrots. (Or insert your favorite “go together” cliche here.) Uh, anyway, I described how to cut a tenon by hand in a previous post, and in this article, I’ll describe the process for making a mortise in a timber by hand. A mortise is basically a slot for a tenon, which is later pegged to secure the joinery. It’s simple and timeless.

Mortises are arguably more difficult to make by hand than tenons. I’ll describe how to do it with a boring machine and chisel.

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Exciting Announcement Coming Soon

By Uncategorized

Timber

We’ve got an exciting announcement to make in the coming week. I’m holding out for now, but I can say that it you’re itching to get your natural building on later this summer, you’re going to enjoy the news we have to share.

Here are a couple clues, though. It’s an event that you can participate in, it involves creating wood chips, and… well, maybe you should just wait a few more days.

2013 is shaping up to be a big year!

(Photo credit: GrungeTextures via photopin cc)