We are in the final stages with our latest book, The Half-Acre Homestead: 46 Years of Building and Gardening. It’s 8½″ square, 168 pages, with about 540 photos of these things:
House/Kitchen/Cooking/Preserving/Foraging/Fishing/Gardening/Chickens/Crafts
It’s a book I’ve been meaning to put together for years, and it feels good to be in the final stages.
Above are two choices for the cover. Click either image for larger view. Whichever image we choose for the front cover, the other one will go on the back cover.
What do you think?
Tags: books, building, cooking, food, foraging, gardening, half-acre homestead, homes, homestead, homesteading, house bus 
Last month, we received this letter:
Hi Lloyd
I wanted to follow up on the email I wrote earlier this week about Luke Larson, a talented historic timber framer.
Luke is currently restoring a corn crib (and several other barns built in the 1700s.) I am sure that your readers would be fascinated by Luke’s outstanding craftsmanship. He would be able to share incredible insight about his techniques, the buildings he saves and the beautiful new timber frame structures he builds.
Let me know if you would be interested in an article.
Thanks!
Rachel (Kaplan)
Here is the article:
Green Mountain Timber Frames, a small company based in Middletown Springs, Vermont, specializes in transforming vintage, hand hewn timber frames into custom homes, studios, additions, and barns. Luke Larson now owns the company and operates it with a dedicated staff of craftspeople and history buffs. Luke is passionate about preserving the history that resides in old timber frame structures, and digs into the generations of folks who have built, cared for, and used these buildings. The structures undergo a complete restoration and are put back up on new foundations, ready to stand tall and true with integrity for many generations to come. Luke and his team are dedicated to preserving the craftsmanship from the past, as well as being students and teachers of the crafts of yesteryear. Take a look to see his current barns for sale.
Spent first night after Equinox on beach in this beautifully constructed little shack. Had a wooden floor!
I like the ephemerality of beach shacks. It’s always a surprise to see them, and they’re never there for long.
There are several additional accounts documenting this beautiful indigenous/vernacular style. These folks seem to be particularly organized and have published a book, that I hope can be sold here somehow or maybe even reprinted in an English language edition. Phenomenal tradition.
–Gazine Grenia
instagram.com/nalichniki
This year marks 10 years since our first teaching trip to Slovakia when we made good friends here, Bjørn Kierulf and his wife Zuzana Kierulfova, who are a major force here in the world of straw and clay building. We’re here doing two workshops: a short 2-day straw bale workshop and currently in the middle of a 3-day plastering class.
Interestingly enough, this is the first time we have taught workshops consisting of mostly full-time builders.
In the photo, Boris Hochel and Zuzana Kierulfova, two of our oldest acquaintances here in Slovakia, Zuzana Kierulfova and Peter Coch Shaman, who is also very active in the world of natural building.
–Bill and Athena Steen
www.caneloproject.com
238828
I was on my way home Thursday after a great day “over the hill.” Early morning latte at Cafe Trieste in North Beach, then breakfast at Bette’s diner, Berkeley with bookpals Kevin & Elise, then across bridge again, go swimming in warm (for us, 60+ degrees) water in Aquatic Park cove, sauna at South End Rowing Club, then Irish coffee across street at Buena Vista cafe (hey, the place is so great, all the tourists don’t even spoil it), meet a fellow SFO native, we talk about the city we still love, and he buys my drink. Great dinner at Fiorella “neighborhood Italian” restaurant. THEN, I stop in at 19 Broadway bar in Fairfax on the way home and heard this incredible band — Sugartown, fronted by Zoe Fitzgerald Carter. And there were like 5 people in the bar. Couldn’t believe it, both the excellence of this band and the fact that no one was there. Sheesh!
If you’ve read this blog before, you may know I’m prone to over-enthusiasm, can’t help it.
That said, I think this is a world-class band, and as far as I can tell, undiscovered.
I had 3 shots of Jack Daniels while sitting at a table in front, only one other person there. Couldn’t believe my luck.
youtube.com/watch?v=LE6cZiPyxqQ
Witty redesign of quonset hut on Alameda Air Base. I think quonset huts are a much better simple design for conversion to homes than A-frames, which to me have a negative interior space.
This was in the ’80s, when I was visiting my friend John Welles at his compound in West Cornwall, Connecticut. One night, for dinner, we went to a neighbor’s homestead, where John had a free pass to the garden. We picked some corn, chard, peas and beans for dinner.
Two years ago, French carpenters Yogan and Menthé flew to California, carrying a few basic tools, and hitchhiked up the coast from San Francisco to Washington, exchanging their building skills for room and board. It’s poetry with wood.
(There’s no motor in the truck; It’s built so as to be towed around.)
Are these guys FUN!
More on these extraordinary carpenters:
L-R, yogan, Menthe, stopping by Shelter’s world headquarters on their way home from their productive trip.
Hi Lloyd,
Thought you might be interested in this Instagram feed by M Molloy (an illustrator with a love of old Irish houses) that’s been gaining a lot of attention here in Ireland:
instagram.com/cheapirishhouses
There are so many amazing old properties just waiting to be loved and renovated.
Best wishes,
Deborah
