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The Straw Bale Yurt Bible

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The Straw Bale Yurt (nonagon – nine sided polygon)
The Straw Bale Yurt (nonagon – nine sided polygon)

“I worked for a couple years ‘til I got lucky on a 160 acre State of Alaska homestead parcel and took up residence there on the Gerstle River in interior Alaska, 47 miles by road from Delta Junction. I cleared the 25%, built a cabin and lived there two years and proved up, while raising my son. Been living on the ranch since about ’97 (starting out in a wall tent, again). Got tired of being cold, and built my own straw bale yurt in ’98. It’s now ’05. I’m still living in it and working on a bigger one complete with plumbing, etc.

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Allan Savory’s Home in Zimbabwe

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“See how Allan Savory, and his wife Jody, live in Zimbabwe, in traditional thatch-roofed mud huts, entirely off-grid with solar cells, LED lanterns, and solar hot water heater. He also goes everywhere barefoot. He was born and raised in Zimbabwe and currently lives approximately half of the year at his traditional home at the Africa Centre for Holistic Management.”

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Modern Homes: Toxic Environment for Construction Workers

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[Insert cool graph showing life expectancy of carpenters in 1960 versus 2010]

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any graphs of life expectancy of carpenters, so I can’t show how all the toxic building materials are almost certainly shortening the lives of carpenters. But I did find some interesting discussion on the subject at the Journal of Light Construction forum.

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Efficient Earth-Sheltered Homes

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This house in Tempe, Arizona, uses earth-sheltered construction methods to help decrease cooling costs. | Photo by Pamm McFadden
This house in Tempe, Arizona, uses earth-sheltered construction methods to help decrease cooling costs. | Photo by Pamm McFadden

“If you are looking for a home with energy-efficient features that will provide a comfortable, tranquil, weather-resistant dwelling, an earth-sheltered house could be right for you.

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Natural Materials in the Workspace

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Bamboo coworking space in Ubud, Bali
Bamboo coworking space in Ubud, Bali

Most of our blog posts are about affordable housing made with natural materials. The use of natural materials in the workspace is equally important since we spend so much time there. This coworking space in Bali is changing the way we work. It’s sort of a business incubator with shared office equipment and high speed Internet for digital nomads or location independent entrepreneurs. The concept seems to be catching on as other coworking spaces are popping up around the world. The bamboo design makes this one particularly inspiring.

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