THE MUD HOME
  • Home
  • Building
    • Earthbag >
      • Rubble Trench Foundations
      • Earthbag in Extreme Weather
      • Earthquakes and earthbag
    • Earth Plaster
    • Using Lime
    • Cob
    • Straw Bale
    • Wattle and Daub
    • Inspiration
    • Off-Grid Living >
      • Off-Grid Prep Course
    • Mud Building Blog
  • Books
    • Dirt Witch
    • Mud Ball
    • Mud Mountain The Book
    • MUD BUILDING PDF PACKAGE
  • About
    • Contact
    • Mud Home Facebook Group
  • COURSES
    • ATULYA's In Person Workshops 2025
    • Perfect Earth Plaster Online Course
    • Lime for Beginners Online Course
    • MUD BUILDING PDF PACKAGE
    • The Off-Grid Roadmap
    • Consultation
  • Blogs
    • Mud Home Turkey
    • Barn Life in Spain
  • My Projects
    • The Earthbag Home in Turkey
    • The Barn in Spain

mUD MOUNTAIN BLOG

                                                                         
Back in 2011, I found myself camping alone on a remote
Turkish hill. There was no power or water on the land.
It was the start of an adventure that profoundly changed
my beliefs about what is enjoyable, or possible...
Get Mud Mountain the book.

Where am I going?

22/3/2016

11 Comments

 
The sky is a little standoffish this cool March morning. A field of ploughed cumulus. Neither up nor down. Sort of in between. As if it can’t quite make its mind up whether its cloudy furrows will bring forth sunshine or rain.

The apricot tree, however, has had enough of fence-sitting. The pink buds she’s been holding onto so tightly slipped through her fingers today. The first blossom of the year is now out. And this is nature. This is life. Cycle upon cycle. One phase begets another, and another, and another. And each year, although spring inevitably follows winter and winter follows autumn, the garden climbs higher. The trees stretch taller. ​
Picture
But what’s this got to do with The Mud Series, and my writing? Well, because everything evolves in seasonal phases, including The Mud and myself. Mud Ball hasn’t yet been out a year, and happily many have been asking about the sequel. Naturally, I’m writing. I’m always writing. I love the feel of words carving pictures on the screen, and the memories they attempt to preserve.

There are three specific phases (or seasons) to my Mud adventure: Transformation (winter), Empowerment (spring) and Independence (summer). Mud Ball is the second part of that trilogy. It describes the spring of this adventure, the visible burgeoning of a new home. The very speed at which my house appeared had a spring-like magic about it. One minute there was nothing, the next an earthbag house. Building my own home granted me many gifts, but one of the most striking was an unshakeable sense of personal power.

However, there was a winter before that spring. When I first moved onto this land, I was depressed and lost. The garden of my life seemed to have shed every leaf. As I’ve stated many times, this off-grid lark was never a dream of mine. I was thrown into it. Yet that psychological winter was perhaps the most magical time here. I still hanker after those wild woman moments, and fantasize about reliving my ‘lost in the woods’ soul journey. You see, it was because of the powers I learned over those houseless months – commonly disbelieved magical powers and forgotten ancient skills – that I’ve lived happily alone up here for five years. This piece of land changed me into someone completely new. Moving off-grid and into nature will change you. It will blow apart everything you thought you knew about yourself. And just like a seed on the verge of germination, you either let go of the husk of your old form, and transform into a plant, or you die.

So the story I’m two thirds of the way through now is a prequel. Dirt Witch delves into those six months under canvas, before the earthbag adventure began. I was terrified of boar, more terrified of snakes, and the first few weeks were spent cowering inside my tent after dark. I didn’t know how to use a spade, nor did I have the faintest idea how to grow a plant. Connecting with ants, scorpions and geckos wasn’t even in my galaxy of experience.

After Dirt Witch and Mud Ball, there is of course the conclusion to the tale. Those who read Mud Ball will know, at the end of the earthbag adventure, I had to return to Taiwan and teach. Those six months focussed me. After that, I aimed to become independent of the system, survive without money. Did I manage that? And to what extent? What does it really mean to be independent, after all? Can we ever be? These are the questions I wrangle and wrestle with in the final part of The Mud Series, just as I did in my life.

So there you have it: the winter, spring and summer on The Mud. But there are four seasons, aren’t there? What about autumn?

Autumn has snuck up on me. I can feel it, despite the lust-driven strides of the tortoises and the pollen dusting my solar panels. I knew something was coming the moment The Wisdom Carob spoke to me this November. There’s no stasis in nature. The seasons roll on. And life always wants us to grow taller, stretch higher, so that our canopies might touch virgin parts of the sky. Sometimes it breaks off entire branches...

So knowing what is inevitably before me, I’m beginning to hoard my mud treasures. I scamper through each day collecting kernels of beauty, wisdom and magic, stuffing them into the pockets of my memory. As the clouds moil and rain drops fall, I inhale each moment. My harvest has been bounteous. My store cupboards are full. I’m ready.
Picture
11 Comments

    Author

    Atulya K Bingham

    Back in 2011, I found myself camping alone on a remote Turkish hill. There was no power or water on the land. It was the start of an adventure that profoundly changed my beliefs about what is enjoyable, or possible...

    Sick of the screen?

    You can now get a beautiful, illustrated paperback edition of Mud Mountain. 
    Picture

    Also available on Kindle and ibook. 


    Picture
    "Beautifully written and inspiring." The Owner Builder Magazine.

    The Mud Home is expensive to maintain and a full time to job to run. If you are inspired by it or finding it useful do consider becoming a patron so that it can continue.

    Picture

    Archives

    April 2018
    June 2017
    May 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    September 2012

    Categories

    All
    Animals
    Building
    Camping
    Earth
    Health
    Magic
    Money
    Obstacles
    Plants
    Solar Power
    Spirituality
    Turkey
    Water
    Women In Building
    Writing


    RSS Feed

Disclaimer: All the content in The Mud Home website is provided for informational purposes only. The author undertakes no responsibility for any person or entity who chooses to use the information on this website. It is not intended to be a standard and should not substitute for the exercise of good engineering judgment by engineers. It is the user’s obligation to make sure that he/she uses the appropriate practices and consults the appropriate experts when building. It is the user's obligation to make sure they are following health and safety guidelines. The author is not responsible for any accidents, injuries or damages to persons or property incurred while using the information presented in this website.

Some blog articles refer to the use of lime. Please note, lime is caustic and can cause burns. Read The Mud Home guide to using lime safely here.

EARTHBAG BUILDING PDF
EARTH PLASTER GUIDE
BOOKS
Newsletter
About Atulya
Privacy Policy

SUPPORT

Picture
Picture
The Mud Home takes many hours a week to run, and costs a lot to sustain. If you find this site useful or inspiring, please consider supporting it so that it can continue.
Picture

Many thanks to all those who've already become Mud Sustainers.

The Mud Home  Copyright © 2013  Atulya Kerry Bingham
  • Home
  • Building
    • Earthbag >
      • Rubble Trench Foundations
      • Earthbag in Extreme Weather
      • Earthquakes and earthbag
    • Earth Plaster
    • Using Lime
    • Cob
    • Straw Bale
    • Wattle and Daub
    • Inspiration
    • Off-Grid Living >
      • Off-Grid Prep Course
    • Mud Building Blog
  • Books
    • Dirt Witch
    • Mud Ball
    • Mud Mountain The Book
    • MUD BUILDING PDF PACKAGE
  • About
    • Contact
    • Mud Home Facebook Group
  • COURSES
    • ATULYA's In Person Workshops 2025
    • Perfect Earth Plaster Online Course
    • Lime for Beginners Online Course
    • MUD BUILDING PDF PACKAGE
    • The Off-Grid Roadmap
    • Consultation
  • Blogs
    • Mud Home Turkey
    • Barn Life in Spain
  • My Projects
    • The Earthbag Home in Turkey
    • The Barn in Spain