Mud Home News, April 2024
How I Made my Wattle and Daub Wall, Mud Building PDF Updates, and an Off Grid Mud Opportunity in Nevada.
Hello dear Mudsters,
As we gallop into spring and the daffodils and tulips wave their heads, I’ve turned my thoughts briefly back to my nobbled old barn in Asturias. This month I’ve created a photostory outlining the evolution of a special feature in it. A curved wattle and daub wall.
Making a Wattle and Daub Wall
Wattle and daub is a beautiful natural building technique, and it’s probably the easiest method to undertake single-handedly. You connect with the woodland around you to create the wattled lath, and it feels as though the trees themselves beckon you over to be part of your structure. It’s a very meditative activity.
Wattle is basically a wall of woven twigs. The most common trees used are hazel or willow. This is for two reasons. First, the whips are nice and bendy. And second, hazel and willow simply love to be cut back, and will grow back healthier and stronger afterwards. It’s a building method you can really feel good about because everything benefits. In many ways the process is just like basket weaving, but on a massive scale. You can take a look at how I did it right here:
How I Made My Curved Wattle and Daub Wall
Mud Building PDF Updates
The Mud Home has been running for 12 years now, and in that time I’ve written a heck of a lot of natural building and off-grid inspiration articles (over 100 to be precise). The entire Mud Home how-to has been compiled into 7 fully illustrated PDFs complete with hundreds of photos.
Every year I update the PDFs. If you’ve already purchased them, you can access the latest updates here.
At present, the entire batch of these PDFs are just $45 plus your local tax, but the price will be increased in May. So if you want to grab that bundle at the 2023 price, go for it now.
Jehane’s Off-Grid Mud World in Arizona is Looking for a Co-Creator
If you’ve followed the Mud Home for a while you’ll know all about Jehane, the incredible octogenarian earthbagger. Jehane is the founder of the very inspiring 3 Moons off-grid mud dome world in Nevada. It’s a brave and inspiring project with multiple earthbag domes, huge bottle walls, and a centre for those wanting to taste off-grid living in the desert.
Two other artists have since joined Jehane at 3 Moons. It’s a place very popular with Mud Homers, and many have visited and volunteered there over the years. But just like me, 86 year-old Jehane is in transition and moving on. As a result, she’s looking to let go of her share of 3 Moons to a like-minded resonant soul.
The 3 Moons team are looking for a fellow earth-lover to join the team and continue to build and co-create this intentional community. A share in the project is for sale for somewhere in the region of $70,000.
Here’s what Jehane says:
3 Moons is 2-plus acres with a well and solar panels. There are 3 little earthbag domes to date, 2 vintage trailers, trees, and the beginning of gardens. We are three people: Me (ancient), and Lafae and Divina, who are both middle-age artists. It’s a space of wonderful workers, earth builders, musicians, and singers.
Come join us and create! We’re an hour west of Las Vegas and an hour-plus east of Death Valley. For the past 15 years we have been building up with volunteer helpers who come learn and experience. We welcome people to overnight at this funky, magical spot! Experience the spaciousness and silence under the stars.
If you’re interested you can contact Jehane at jehanetogo@gmail.com
Many thanks to everyone who supports The Mud Home, all the free email courses, and this newsletter. I’d especially like to give a big hug to Linda H. and David Via, who became paid subscribers last month. Paid subscribers and patrons also have access to the Mud Home Podcast.
If you enjoy The Mud Home and benefit from the oodles of free information and inspiration, do consider becoming a paid subscriber here on Substack or Patreon to keep this mud boat afloat.
Here’s a snippet of what Mud Patrons and paid subscribers have supported this year. These things are only sustainable thanks to your funding.
The entire Mud Home website;
The Mud Home newsletter here on Substack;
A 10000-plus email list, so that I can connect with people in more depth without relying on the whims of social media algorithms;
Ad-free, click-bait free, genuinely useful content;
Informational and inspirational social media posts.
Thanks for being a beautiful part of The Mud Home project. If you love this newsletter, do share it!
Very best wishes
Atulya K Bingham