Monthly Archives

March 2016

Milk Paint: A Great Non-Toxic Paint

By Natural Remodeling
Milk Paint (Non-Toxic Paint) on Drywall

Milk paint can be used on drywall, even previously painted drywall

If there’s one particularly insidious building product, it must be paint. Conventional paint has a surprisingly high level of embodied energy, and the ill health impacts of the VOCs found in conventional latex paint are well-documented. When we decided to repaint the walls of our house this winter, we knew very early on that we wanted to go the non-toxic paint route. The prospective product had to have zero VOCs, be safe to use and dispose of, and not contribute to decreased indoor air quality. Ideally, it would be from natural materials. Thankfully, we found something that fit the bill.

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Photos from Around the Homestead

By Homesteading, Photos

I take a lot of photos, and living at the new homestead provides even more opportunity to do so. I try not to flood this blog with too much non-natural building related stuff, as it can easily become a bit unfocused.

However, you can still get a little insight into our lives here in Kentucky — check out our new instagram feed to see more photos from around the homestead. Expect a lot of gardening, woodworking, mushroom and wild food, craft, and other current projects there. Be sure to connect with us to get regular updates!

[instagram-feed]

 

Our Future Cob Stomper is Here

By Uncategorized
Baby Hazel

Our new baby boy

The day after I wrote the last blog entry, April went into labor. And on Saturday, March 5 April gave birth to our baby boy. (It was the actual due date, believe it or not). His name is Hazel Elliot and he’s a healthy 8 lbs., 2 oz. with a nice ol’ patch of dark hair. I fell immediately in love with this mushy little baby.

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The Season of Transition

By Homesteading

Changes are coming our way. April’s official due date is mere days away, the weather seems to be warming, and our focus on projects is (finally) slowly shifting away from remodeling stuff into other realms of life. Onion seedlings are sprouting away in the south window, and the garden is getting expanded and doused with manure bit by bit in preparation for a serious food growing year.

I’ve been up in the woods gathering firewood for next winter, and cutting logs for inoculating shiitake and golden oyster mushrooms this week. We’ve had a bunch of new woodworking tools show up from a grant we received last year, and the garage is slowly becoming filled with our collection of new equipment. The grass is barely but visibly growing. There is, in short, a lot happening right now.

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