Following on from raising the walls of this roundhouse in four days, Floyd and Shane have been focussed on getting this little place finished before Winter. And yep, we’ve all noticed the speed at which things progress when you go from a crew of twenty four to a crew of two!
Mind you, once the walls were up and the bones of the roof were on, this natural building project was firmly into the ‘fiddly bits’ part of the build. So perhaps it’s just as well there were 2 and not 20 people working on it. But we’re getting there now! Progress shots below… Read More »
Last week we built a home. A round, load-bearing strawbale tiny house with a roundwood reciprocating living roof, to be precise. And when I say ‘built’ I suppose I mean that we got it mostly done. It was amazing to be a part of.
I’m going to go into the construction of this building piece by piece, but for this weekend, here’s an overview of the process from bare ground to where we got to, 4 days later… Read More »
Recently Nick was lucky enough to hang out with David Holmgren for a couple of days at Melliodora, the superb small-acre permaculture site that David has established with his partner Su Dennett in Hepburn Springs, Victoria.
Being in the thick of a super-productive, comfortable and energy efficient permaculture system at harvest time was inspiring, to say the least. To add to that, the purpose of the visit was for Dave Jacke to spend time with David and Su while he was in Australia. You can imagine the intensely wonderful conversations that went down! Read More »
Give me your tips. This wood fired family needs some love.
So we’re about to embark on our first full Winter of cooking on a woodstove. In particular, a Rayburn Royal. It has hot spots, cold spots and an oven that cooks everything really well on the left side.
I know there’s HEAPS to learn about this baby, from the best wood to use to what recipes work better in a woodstove oven to what best to use the warming oven at the bottom for… Read More »
February 16, 2013 – 6:00 am
Just a quick note that we’re extremely excited to announce a comprehensive Natural Building course that will be happening at Milkwood Farm 6 – 9 April 2013 with Sam Vivas of Viva Eco Homes.
As you may have worked out, we’re rather passionate about natural building, and the empowerment that comes from having the knowledge and skills to build non-toxic, living homes from natural materials.
If this course had been around when we were building the Tiny House, we would have been there in a flash. It will cover load bearing strawbale building, earthern floors, reciprocal roofs, roundwood building, cobb building and earth and line renders. All with a focus on skilling up the owner-builder to either build their own or be in an informed position to direct a natural building project.
All the details are here: Natural Building: Apr 2013: Milkwood Farm NSW
January 29, 2013 – 5:47 am
When we moved in to the tiny house last August, our design plans for our edible courtyard were vast, and immediate. It would be a riot of color and flavor in no time – citrus trees ripening in the microclimate of the east-facing gabion wall, feasts of greens, herbs everywhere, scenting the air as pollinators buzzed, and my child laughing and playing, surrounded by an oversupply of butterflies attracted by the many small flowers that would be springing from every crack we could see.
I expected all this to take shape by mid spring, or early Summer at the latest. Hey, we’d lived through the build and we had moved in. What more was there to do but garden?
Well, there was life and a farm and permaculture education to run, and egg-cup dinosaurs to make, as it turned out. We hope to realise the design next winter in our quieter months. But in the meantime, bring on the glory of potted interim gardening! Never have I lived in such a happy space. Read More »
January 17, 2013 – 7:00 am
Reading about our kitchen, in our kitchen. Kinda spooky, but mostly fun! We’re tickled to announce that the Milkwood Tiny House is featured in the latest edition of Green Lifestyle Magazine… get it while it’s hot!
As many of you know, the building of this Tiny House has been a looooong labor of love – but 5 years, some false starts, various small disasters, one massive learning curve, one child and one permaculture farm enterprise later, we are living in our small, natural, hand-made home. And now it’s in a magazine. Who would have thought. Read More »
December 8, 2012 – 2:03 pm
Reciprocating roof roundhouses are pretty darn cool. They look gorgeous and they are a very good way to quickly make a strong structure with simple, available materials, the right knowledge and a bunch of willing hands.
We’ve been researching reciprocating roof structures, but hadn’t as yet had a chance to build one. Luckily Harris has been champing at the bit to get a roundhouse up since attending a workshop on them in New Zealand. This last week became the window of opportunity… Read More »
November 20, 2012 – 7:00 am
Rose has moved into the Earthbag Dome at Milkwood Farm and we can now report that it works. There’s the woodstove to stoke up on cold nights, and the rest of the time it’s a very quiet, very temperature-stable bedroom, with only slight hobbit connotations.
One of the things about this earthdome is that it’s very tricky to photograph internally, given that it’s so darn small (yet comfortably spacious, in its way). Prepare for lots of close-ups – hopefully you’ll get the idea… Read More »
November 7, 2012 – 7:00 am
No-one knows how old this door is – it came off a shed that pre-dates Nick’s family taking over this farm… bet you its maker never imagined that it would wind up keeping the wind out of a earthbag dome, high on the ridge at Milkwood Farm…
Shane sanded this door back, oiled it and added some beaut hinges (also scavenged). Then he put a little window in it, cut the top to fit the curve of the shape of the door hole, made a curved door frame (no mean feat) made a step, and there you go. One solid door, good for at least another 100 years. Read More »
