After "finishing" our house, we both vacillated between never wanting to build anything again, and feeling excited about the strawbale workshop we are hosting this summer. Mostly, we feared re-living the most stressful project we have ever undertaken (last year). Happily, things are going really, really well, and this year's project has been far less trying than the last.

For starters, we have a house! Having a cozy, clean place to come home (not our camper) after a day of working on the workshop? Priceless. Having a hot tub to soak in? That's pretty good too. The fact that we're not trying to live in the thing we're building takes loads of pressure off.

Another huge de-stressor is the fact that we've done this before. It's so rewarding how quickly and easily things have been coming together, now that we have a modicum of experience under our belts. Having to learn how to do every. single. thing was stressful and exhausting. This time around? Really not bad at all, and even FUN! We also bought a nail-gun, which really makes framing a breeze.

Finally, we've changed our strategy a bit. For the house-building project, I worked on my own during the week and Tyler would join me during early mornings, late evenings, and weekends. This time, we're only working together, and we're (almost) only working on weekends. This means that Tara doesn't get frustrated at how useless and inefficient a single pair of hands can be, and Tyler doesn't get burnt out having to do a 9-5 and build on top of that. We might even be more productive this way.

The pony wall is done, the window framing is mostly done, the door framing is mostly done. Doors are on their way. Windows are on their way. Wire mesh is ordered. Straw is growing and ordered to spec. Basically, things are really rollin'!