We did our family Christmas at my parents' place on Christmas Eve this year. Here's a slideshow:

I've started a new project. I'm planning to build a small cabin on a wooded lot. Here are some details: Square footage will 384 square feet plus a 192 square foot loft. The load bearing structure will be a hybrid timber frame construction consisting of rough sawn large dimension timbers (e.g. 8x8s, 8x12s) using a combination of mortise and tenon joinery and metal fasteners (e.g. screws). The walls will be 12" thick infilled with light clay straw. Light clay straw is straw coated with clay slip(watery clay) for binding. It has significantly more straw than the cob mixture we used for the T-Brick shed. The result is better insulative qualities. The R value of light clay straw is 1.5-2 per inch depending on how tightly it is packed.   The timber framing components combined with a lattice work of small dimension lumber (e.g. 2x4s) will provide structure for the light clay straw infill. The cabin will be mostly off grid incorporating the following elements: Solar PV m...