#strawbaleconstruction

[kmorgantini]

love my front porch #strawbalehouse #strawbaleconstruction #steinbeckcountry #southcounty #granitebench #woodenladders (at Metz)

[kmorgantini]

New concrete patio with colored concrete - came out pretty good-looking. #strawbalehouse #strawbalehome #strawbalebuilding #strawbalesofinstagram #strawbaleconstruction (at Metz)

[honey-im-almost-home]

Never ever give up

I haven't given up yet. I admit I have been dealing with some doubt and misgivings. It's hard when everyone around you is very skeptical or critical. Toying with taking this strawbale workshop class in VT this summer but it's a lot of money. Ugh. Lots of thoughts to work through. Scary taking this leap of faith on my own. Success or failure are equally scary! Continuing to read read read and research research research!!!

[honey-im-almost-home]

My first strawbale home I've seen in person. What a great trip. Loved the feel of it. Was so solid. And quiet. At this point being used more for storage than living space but still good to finally see one.

[honey-im-almost-home]

Going going back back to Cali Cali.

Seemed appropriate (if not a little backwards) on this 18th anniversary of Biggie's death. (Ok so technically I'm a day late but I'm still awake from yesterday so it counts...) Back to my heading, my mother returned today from a trip to visit my sister in LA. My sister is pretty much vehemently opposed to my strawbale house dream. I know she thinks I'm a total crazy person who is setting myself up for a life of misery and hard work. The hard work part I know I am in for...but I like it! It gives me life thinking about a house I built from the ground up. Or at least touched every step of the way. And the work of a small self sustaining farm is something I would relish in. Especially come harvest time. And all the learning about canning and preserving and growing year round in one of those sunken greenhouse things. Exhilarating!!!! I guess they had a rather lengthy discussion around the dinner table one night re my potential life choices. I have begun to convert, if not fully converted my mother to the idea. My brother has softened enough to actually sit and listen to my ideas and entertain my questions without becoming aggressively antagonistic. I see improvement! I don't think my sister will come around until the house is done and we are sipping fresh from my garden summer cocktails while lounging in my pallet deck furniture. :) She's not an easy sell, but neither am I. We are stubborn irish girls and I love us for it. :) Just a blog about facing adversity and everyone giving you that sort of sideways glance as if waiting for the punch line when you tell them you're wanting to build your own alternative house. And you have no building experience. And you own and operate a small business. And you have two kids under age 10. Nobody said it was gonna be easy. But what truly fulfilling life accomplishment has ever been easy?!?!? No one rants and raves over social media when they returned their books to the library on time. Speaking of books...will post this week about what books I'm reading to further my head knowledge for this project.

[honey-im-almost-home]

Not the fastest moving adventure

So what’s happening now? I went and saw my first strawbale house this past weekend in Shutesbury, MA. It was really quite beautiful. It was being used more as a storage unit than a home, but I enjoyed being able to see one in person and touch the walls. Sorry to be so critical, but I saw a lot of places where it seemed like attention was not paid to little details. I’ll be interested to see more houses and learn if that’s the nature if the beast or more of a personal preference. Either way I fell in love even more so.

Meanwhile I am continuing to read read read on alternative building methods, how to plan contract and build your own home and more. Lots and lots of research and I’m really having fun learning about the ins and outs of a home. Gathering info is a slow and not very thrilling task but I am enjoying the experience.

[honey-im-almost-home]

One step at a time.

A little explanation as to why I'm blogging about this whole journey, cause honestly I figure who really cares, but I didn't find a whole lot of blogs about the day to day process of researching and building a strawbale home. Granted I am not a big blog follower, so will have to delve a little deeper and see what I've been missing. In the meantime, a little about my story leading up to this point. I want to have a small self sufficient farm to raise and grow healthy food for my kids. I found out a few years back the things that are in our food. I was/am appalled. GMOs, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, neurotoxins, sugar, preservatives, chemicals, and did I mention sugar?!? In. Everything. So I decided to start a garden. Except the tiny sliver of yard I have only gets sun for a few hours a day. One thing leads to another, I discover strawbale construction and fall in love. One problem....I have a hard time hanging pictures without issue. So I've got my work cut out for me. First....learn what basic power tools I will need. Learn what they do, then use them. Successfully. So my first protect is repurposing a beautiful tv cabinet into a stylish new snake enclosure for my girl, Stella. I spent some time yesterday researching tools. I have an idea of what an impact driver should do. Pretty sure it's just a heavy duty drill w more oomph behind it. Will let you know how it goes and will post pics of the tank before and after. For now, I have to take my first step and focus on just that one, thinking beyond that can get overwhelming. After all, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. ~ Lao Tzu

[montanalocal]

STRAW BALE HOUSE FOR SALE (312 elk cr rd heron mt) $310000 3bd 1999sqft | montana.allembru.com