Monthly Archives

February 2014

Feb 28
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Anticipating the Spring, Workshops, and More

By Natural Building Workshops
Carving wooden bowl

Carving a giant dough bowl, a current side project

All of a sudden, things are getting really busy around here. Springtime is coming on fast. This week has been so busy I don’t even have time to write a proper update here, but I promise I will quite soon. We have a lot of exciting projects in the works, and some of which may involve you. There’s a couple natural building workshops we’re currently planning — these are the first workshops we’ll be offering in our new home location of Berea, Kentucky! Oh, let’s not forget to mention the full-on straw bale cabin we are helping a couple to build this year up in the woods, too. Things are rolling along.

This week has been so full that I haven’t had even a minute to continue work on some of my recent carving projects, including a huge dough bowl, pictured above. I’m excited to get back to this once I have a moment. And then there’s building that workbench, too. We’ve got the wood, and now it’s a question of finding a way to mill some of it up.

Anyway, you should expect to see some exciting updates here quite soon detailing our newest natural building workshops this summer. Keep posted. Exciting times are ahead.

Feb 19
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Seeking A Handmade Life

By Media, Resources
Bill Coperthwaite Yurt House

Bill Coperthwaite’s yurt home in Maine

“The main thrust of my work is not simple living, not yurt design, not social change, although each of these is important and receives large blocks of my time. But they are not central. My central concern is encouragement – encouraging people to seek, experiment, to plan, to create, and to dream. If enough people do this we will find a better way.”

This is a quote from Bill Coperthwaite, whose book A Handmade Life: In Search of Simplicity I have just recently finished reading. The book is, for lack of a more creative word, an interesting one, sprinkled full of a life’s worth of knowledge and insights, yet strangely lacking in what I thought would be the obvious subject — living a handmade lifestyle. The book is both idiosyncratic and universal, simple yet dense, and encouraging yet only pointing in a general direction.

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Feb 16
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The Quest for a Proper Workbench

By Hand Tools, Woodworking

woodworking-workbench

Things are about to get serious. Very serious. Ever since spending time with Greg in his workshop in Tennessee last winter, I’ve realized just how critical it is to have an appropriate space to work on projects. In this case, woodworking projects. Greg has a big 6′ long maple workbench — it’s heavy, solid, and outfitted with extremely useful (and well-made) vises and clamping devices. Using his shop and bench really put the bug in my head that I would like to build my own bench at some point, when space, time, and other factors allowed.

And now I’m graced with having a bit of available time on my hands, and soon, at least some temporary space to set up a workbench. The time has come to build a heavy duty workbench in the traditional style.

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Feb 11
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Axes We Love

By Hand Tools, Carpentry, Woodworking, Wood Carving
John Neeman Tools Goosewing Broad Axe

The very artful John Neeman Goosewing Broad Axe

I’ll admit, I spend perhaps an inordinate amount of time looking at images of axes. There’s just something about them. I think it’s their timeless functionality and dashingly good looks. Over the hundreds of thousands of years they have been in use by humankind, any number of styles, shapes, and sizes have been made to perform a variety of splitting, chopping, carving, and shaping work. It’s the sheer variety and the craftsmanship that I’m most attracted to, I think. Of course I love using them, too, probably more than any other hand tool.

To celebrate the axe and the people who continue to make them, here is a selection of 26 modern day hand forged axes made by a variety of blacksmiths that are beautiful, functional, and swoon-worthy.

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Feb 05
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Paradise Lot: Creating Eden in the Suburbs

By Resources, Gardening, Homesteading, Permaculture

ParadiseLot-bookAs I enter a new phase in life with the goal of obtaining raw land to create my own slice of homesteading delight, my appetite for books and stories about permaculture, especially of a more personal account is ever greater. This is a fortunate time, as the number of books over the past decade have only been increasing as people have had more time to take permaculture principles to the field, garden, and home with new results to share. Landowners and prospective owners should consider themselves lucky to not have to go in quite as blind as before with books like Paradise Lot, by Eric Toensmeier and Jonathan Bates.

Actually, in this case a landowner could mean anyone with even a tiny backyard to their name, as this dynamic duo have created an unbelievable patch of perennial goodness on a mere 1/10th of an acre. Their experiment and book are a testament to the idea that even supremely ravaged land in suburban deserts can be transformed into thriving ecosystems, providing an abundance of soil, food, habitat, and ultimately reward.

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