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We are very excited to be returning to our village of Nine Mile in the mountains of Jamaica. First of all its cold here in Cleveland and its much less fun to build things out of mud here when it is cold. Second, what we do seems to have more relevance there than it does in the States. When your building materials are all expensive imported things no one can afford to finish their houses. We are told the custom windows for these arches would have been over $1000 (which is why the house hadn't been finished). Instead we used a cheap angle grinder…

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When I first built my earthen oven my brother used his magnificent woodworking skills and scraps from the wood shop he worked at to make me a lovely pizza peel. When he was over last he noticed we had used it nearly to death so this Christmas he brought me another, more personalized one. Writer Martin Pretchel was asked once how we suburban American Consumerists could regain a culture of our own. His was response was to challenge us to start with a table and only put on it things made by people we know and love. When the table is full replace…

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The Chagrin Valley School is a Sudbury based "unschool" on a working farm just outside Chagrin Falls Ohio. Uncle Mud has had the privilege of designing and building almost all of the buildings here including this little gem, made from cob, local natural timbers, and recycled patio doors. The floor is hardwood mill cutoffs embedded in sand. The colorful accent windows are glass bottles and vases and…

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From our field correspondent Grant Melocik "This is for Dr Mud aka Chris M - kept thinking you would have enjoyed seeing whole cities built of cobb in the Moroccan Sahara although the build process now includes engine equipment. Note the solar panels on top of some of the houses at Kasbah Ait Haddou. Too bad they are not modern like us and burning coal aka Trump for electricity."

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https://www.motherearthnews.jp/grow-a-green-roof/

If you didn't like it in the original English maybe it will be better in Japanese.

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https://www.facebook.com/200935456593434/posts/2167060939980866/

Kudos to Tim from Community Greenhouse Partners and Evan and Reed from Case Western Reserve University's Engineering Department for making this fly. I will visit this install on Monday if anyone wants more details.

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https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=941781289362175

Burning Dirty makes people sick, even kills them. Learn how to pollute less.

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In which we visit with Kirk Mobert at Paul Wheaton's Permies.Com lab in Montana and see how the Cyclone Tiny House Heater is working after one year in service.

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Exciting Stuff. The guys from Case Western Reserve University have started installing their Uncle Mud GreenhouseRocket Rocket Mass Heater for class credit. This is a short video just showing the pea gravel mass with its horizontal bell (stratification chamber) but more is coming.

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This is a lovely example of a clean burning cookstove built at Wheaton Labs as part of the 2017 Rocket Heater Jamboree. It isn't technically a Rocket Heater due to its lack of a heat riser, but its insulated double burn chamber allows heated secondary air to mix with any unburned gasses in the upper chamber. Instead of a radiator or bench this stove heats the high-temperature glass cook surface…

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We built this as part of a Rocket Mass Heater Jamboree/innovators' gathering in October of 2017. We were back at Wheaton Labs a year later firing it up and showing people how it works. Enjoy.

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https://www.motherearthnews.com/green-homes/home-design/living-roof-zm0z18fmzsor

This article was published in Mother Earth News in early 2018. It features many of the most lovely green roofs and green roof builders I have the pleasure of knowing, plus a whole lot of useful info if you want to build your own.

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“Whatever questions life throws at us, we are surrounded by answers. Beautiful, simple answers in the mud and rocks under our feet, in the trees we think of as weeds, the junk we throw away. Most of the answers require work, but all the best ones also require play. Play fires the Imagination. The Imagination finds answers. Answers that please your soul in a way that the plastic-wrapped answers we buy at the store can’t.” – Uncle Mud

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https://permies.com/t/71658/Uncle-Mud-Bun-Warmer

We built this weather resistant instant gratification heated bench for warming our butts while sitting around the rocket heater in the cool Montana evening at the Rocket Mass Heater Jamboree in 2017. No waiting for the mass to heat up. Even 105 degree temperature across the entire bench because the heat in the exhaust rises to the top of the barrel tube and radiates out.

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https://www.facebook.com/ryan.kudasik/videos/pcb.2072898389628983/2072843526301136/?type=3&theater

At the end of August 2018 ten of us descended on Ryann and Joy's house near Gettysburg, PA, USA for a weekend workshop of mud and rockety goodness. Even with a couple big old wood stoves their place has been difficult and expensive to heat. A living room (former garage) with a cold concrete floor and good…

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About a month ago Javed posted a link of a tandoor oven, which got me thinking about making one that runs on a clean burning rocket stove. He told me if I built it he would make tandoori chicken for everyone "just like mom makes back home" and of course you have to make naan.

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https://www.motherearthnews.com/green-homes/what-are-composting-toilets-zb0z09zblon

If you are REALLY bored check out the presentation that Dan Chiras and I do at the Mother Earth News Fair motherearthnewsfair.com on composting toilets. Basically I do all the work building one and Dan does all the talking. His "Scoop on Poop" book is a pretty good read if you want to get more detailed about your waterless throne options. https://…

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https://www.abundantedge.com/abundantedge/d9dicdudf7362d9jopygi4uts8i13l

This is an interview I did with Oliver Goshey of Abundant Edge. Enjoy.

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Get your mud on. This is where we started, and this is where we go whenever we can, mud for the sheer joy of it. The kids get it. Join us at a fair near you. motherearthnewsfair.com

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In which we discuss capturing water and making soil underground (where the water doesn't evaporate) using wood chips. You might want to start at the first part of this interview.