This morning I had a little time (and no kids) on my hand so I went to our local opshop. I came out with a bag of items which should get me through the changing season. I love opshops and I’m a frequent costumer. Today I want to share a few lessons I’ve learned over […]
Tech-Freedom
I like technology as much as the next person. I have a smartphone, a tablet, a notebook, ebook reader … you name it. But sometimes I like to switch off. We have established a few zones in our house where technology is not welcome. Before you read on, let me just say that I don’t […]
A life of choices and privilege
I want to clarify something. It’s about where I see myself (and this blog) with regards to a global movement to whole foods, ecological living, zero waste, and sustainability in general. It’s essentially about the privilege to choose my life. Let me begin with an example from my life: picking my son up from daycare. […]
Is sugar bad?
Any respectable book on nutrition and cooking advises against sugar today. Moving away from it seems to be the answer to any health concerns with regards to eating. Jamie Oliver shows some effects of sugar on health in his documentary Sugar Rush. I agree to some extent but not all the way to the evil […]
Straw bale workshop – recap
Four days have past without me working with straw, mud, or render. My clothes and shoes are clean again and I get my physical workout through my normal fitness routine. What has changed? I feel a different connection to buildings now. I walk past at least one construction side every day and I look at […]
Straw bale workshop – day 4
Day four, the last day of the straw bale workshop. I admit, I’m exhausted albeit it was an awesome experience. We did a lot of work on the house in a short amount of time. It’s amazing to see the progress from a timber frame to rendered walls. Today’s biggest job was to begin rendering […]
Straw bale workshop – day 3
Day three of building a straw bale house with natural materials and I’m starting to get comfortable with the process. I spend most of my day today on the interior mud walls, just like yesterday. We tried a different technique by forming mud-straw-sand-balls in our hands and ‘staging’ them into the timber frame. This technique […]
Straw bale workshop – day 2
Day two at the straw bale workshop meant I got to play with mud and I loved it. The morning began with a recap of the previous day and the plan for day two. There were two main tasks: finish of the outside straw walls and begin work on the interior mud walls. I was […]
Straw bale workshop – day 1
The first day at a straw bale workshop – it smelled (and looked) like a barn. My first impression of the building side when I arrived this morning was that of any other building side in Australia: the house-to-be has a wooden frame on a level surface with a roof of corrugated iron. However, in […]
Attending a building workshop – live blogging
As part of my collection of ideas and thoughts on a smaller and more fulfilling lifestyle I’ve been looking at alternatives to conventional housing designs. As a family we have started looking into ideas such as Earthships, mud brick houses, and straw bale buildings. This is all very exciting for me and also completely out […]