Houses in Trees

If you go to www.messynessychic.com you will find a delightful array of archived photos of various kinds of shelter carved out of tree trunks, mostly from the giant sequoia found on the west coast of the U.S. There are also some descriptions of who created them and how they were used.

Hermit Dwellings Among Boulders in Greece

Hermits clamped their dwellings on to Meteora boulders in Greece. Meteora has been considered a holy place since the Paleolithic, several millennia before Christians were attracted by the area’s majestic boulders. Later, monasticism flourished since Byzantine times, during which at least 24 monasteries were founded and maintained. Today, only six of them are inhabited. Meteora  … Read more

A Natural Building Network

Over a decade ago there was an active Natural Building Network that maintained a website with a membership directory where natural builders could find each other and communicate. There was a board of directors that coordinated the organization as a non profit membership association promoting natural building principles, materials and practitioners worldwide. They supported ecological … Read more

Are Adobe Houses Sustainable?

Building with adobe — a material created by mixing clay-rich soil with straw, sand, and other organic materials — has been in use since 8300 BC. It is popular in arid and semiarid places where wood is scarce. The word “Adobe” derives from the Arabic “al ṭūb” meaning “the bricks.” Adobe buildings are low energy, … Read more