Some natural builders may be interested in building houses for profit. One suggestion is to find out what people want in your area. And so we’re going to look at a few houses here. This is what people are buying. These houses are made with brick, concrete and tile, but you could build the same … Read more
Many gardeners are familiar with Mel Bartholomew’s Square Foot Gardening system: raised garden beds of any size divided into square foot (300mm) grids. It’s a very popular gardening system and he has sold over one million books. With this method you can grow five times more plants in a given space with less maintenance. You’ll … Read more
From time to time we answer reader’s questions. Chase: After much research, I am really interested in pursuing a career in natural building, in earthbags, and many other means. I’m not entirely sure where to start, especially since I’m just starting and don’t know much about construction or buying land, but I can’t resist the … Read more
One of the most progressive high school vocational programs that I’ve heard of is on the campus of Taos High School in Taos, New Mexico. Students get a solid background in general building skills (general carpentry, blueprint reading, AutoCAD, green business), but they also get more advanced and more specialized training in green building, solar, … Read more
Our forests are under increasing pressure to supply materials for a growing population. What would you rather have – healthy forests or poorly built, oversized, inefficient, wasteful housing? Time is running out for our remaining forests and so we need to look more closely at options that use less wood, and then, as a society … Read more
It’s going to be just like an old fashioned barn raisin’ at the Green Desert Eco Farm in Rockvale. But instead of using planks, hammers and nails, builders will use lots of feed bags, earth and barbed wire. Richard Hubler and his wife, Kerry, are preparing to build their first earthbag shelter, and they invite … Read more