“This is what I did recently. I got the idea from Cody Lundin’s house. My apartment doesn’t get much sunlight and almost no direct sunlight. So I basically placed a mirror outside my window on the patio. The sunlight bounces off the mirror and hits the ceiling and lights up the room. The quality of the light is great. Costs: $6 mirror at Home Depot, almost nothing. I googled this exact topic and found almost nothing. I thought it was super neat.” Thanks, Mark Lazaro
General
Rex’s House Update
“Heres the skinny [from Rex],
I’ve been working solo on the house for the last 3 months which has slowed progress. Which can be seen as a negative or positive. Its given me a chance to breathe after blowing out of the gates like a ball of fire. I’m currently finished the Lueders stone shower and river rock bathroom floor. I’ve also built a Lueders stone stove area, so the stove has all rock around it. The padobe kitchen bar and sink areas are done. The flexibility of the padobe has been pretty sweet as anything I’ve tried thus far has worked pretty well.
Life on a Self Sufficient Farm
“This is a photo video of my life on a self sufficient farm in northern Kentucky. We cook on a wood cookstove, and live without most of the modern “toys” that almost everybody has.”
Cottage Industry Appropriate Technology
This blog post lists numerous low cost appropriate tech devices that can be made at the cottage industry scale and sold for profit. As the economy continues to erode, a lot of readers are looking for ways to make extra money. The following list has some ideas to get you thinking. There are many appropriate technology devices, and many different ways to make them. A complete list would fill a book (see Field Guide to Appropriate Technology), so use this blog post as a springboard to discover additional items. Search YouTube for instructional videos.
Living in the Future: a new film on low impact homes
“Living in the Future is an Undercurrents series about Ecovillages – community and low impact living. We explore people creating sustainable lives across the World. We show the people growing their own food, building their own homes and learning to be self sufficient in preparation for peak oil and climate change.
Hardwood Kitchen Island on Wheels
Here’s a brief description of a project I built years ago, back when I made custom woodworking projects.