David and Carrie Chew live in a house made of straw. It has two bathrooms, a modern kitchen and a packed earthen floor. The exterior walls are made with stacked wheat straw bales covered in plaster.

If you’d like to install a raised bed but don’t have the resources to build one, you can achieve the same effect by growing your plants in straw bales. It’s also a great option for those with poor ...

Straw bale gardens are becoming popular with growers plagued with poor soil or limited garden space, said University of Missouri Extension horticulturist David Trinklein. Straw bale gardening combines ...

HOVLAND -- A half-mile down a dirt driveway through woods, a stack of straw bales signals one's arrival at Chris and Cameron Norman's new home. Approach the house, and the scattering of straw on the ...

In the Spring Home and Garden section, which came out in April, I wrote a story about new gardening methods and products and mentioned straw bale gardening. As a gardener, the idea intrigued me, and I ...

Turn those straw bales from your fall decor into a budget-friendly raised garden bed with this simple method. Straw bale gardens work well for veggies, herbs, and flowers but not perennials or larger ...

A new way to insulate homes is coming to Columbia. Greg and Joan Dyer are building their new house using prefabricated straw insulation. Using straw to insulate a home reduces its carbon footprint, as ...

Some gardening tasks (despite being good exercise) are just not very enjoyable. Digging in red clay, weeding and bending over to pick bush beans come to mind as three seasonal “pains.” Enter growing ...