Monthly Archives

November 2015

Buy Nothing, Making Something

By Living Electricity-free, Winter
Homemade taper candles

Some of our newly made beeswax taper candles

The day after thanksgiving is Buy Nothing Day. While we didn’t specifically set out to Make Something on Buy Nothing Day, I do believe the “holiday” was made all the better by deciding to make some beeswax taper candles in preparation for winter.

Making hand-dipped candles is one of the most wholesome activities I can think of. Wholesome because of the amazing smells of the process, the time available to reflect on the incredible depth of bee energy necessary to create such an astounding natural product, the visitations of the bees themselves as we dip candle after candle, and the routine of it all. Needless to say, it’s an enjoyable process, and the satisfaction of a restocked cache of candles gives me such a glorious feeling of security, too.

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The First Ever Rocket-Style Griddle Oven

By Rocket Stove, Cob Oven
Rocket-Style Griddle & Barrel Oven

The first fire ever in the first rocket-style griddle oven ever!

One of the exciting projects going up at the recent Natural Building Colloquium was this amazing rocket stove-style griddle oven. It’s a wood-fired griddle with barrel oven, both heated by the same fire — in this case, a downdraft fire similar to what you see in the now classic rocket mass heater design. This was designed and built by two mass heater wizards, Max Edleson of Firespeaking and Flemming Abrahamsson of Fornyet Energi in Denmark. It was the first of its kind ever built, and it was really sweet to see the griddle oven take shape over the week.

See below for a sequence of construction images and the finished product. Too cool. I wish I could have taken it home with me.

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Natural Building Colloquium 2015: A Community of Builders

By Uncategorized
nbc20 group

The NBC20 crowd

What do you get when you assemble 150 natural builders and seven days in the middle of nowhere, New Mexico? A whole lot of jabbering, that’s for sure. Seriously though, the recent Natural Building Colloquium is what I’m referring to. April and I just returned from a long stint out west, where we participated in the 20th (!) anniversary Natural Building Colloquium (NBC). Twenty years ago (21 to be really precise), the idea was hatched to gather individuals from across the country to share ideas and inspiration, and to further the goals of the natural building community. And thus the Colloquium was born. A lot has happened in the time since the first gathering, and this year’s event provided a great opportunity to reflect on the history of the movement.

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The Return Home…

By Uncategorized
Red Soil, Kingston, New Mexico

I’m back from the foothills of the Gila National Forest in NM… where the sun shines bright and the soil is deep brown & beautiful

It’s one month later… and we’re back in Kentucky after a rather long road trip. I’ve been enjoying the break from the computer/internets, to be frank… that’s no offense to you though, dear reader. It’s nice to be unplugged for a good stint. I am, however, excited about sorting through my photos from New Mexico and the Natural Building Colloquium to share here. It might take me a few days. We have a moving truck from Dancing Rabbit to unload and I suspect the return to remodeling the house here will be swift.

All is well… keep posted for some insights from the Colloquium and more.