Ernst Gotsch spent years planting a giant 500 hectare (1,200 acre food forest) in Brazil to perfect his techniques. In this video, you can see the results of farmer’s who have trained with Gotsch and are now applying his methods. The results speak for themselves: truly outstanding, world class. In 18 months you can turn unproductive invasive grassland into a lush food forest. The rows of vegetables in between the tree rows pays for the cost and labor of planting the fruit and timber trees, which means the system pays for itself almost immediately.
Uncategorized
The Greenest Building is the One Already Built
I have had some recent email communication with a reader who writes, “My wife and I are nurturing an Academy of Building Conservation, following research by Donovan Rykema that the greenest building is the one already built because of the embodied energy of materials and past investment. We have an embarrassment of riches which I think of as the blessing and the curse; a blessing because of magnificent historic context, and a curse because the sheer number of sites overwhelms available resources. One example is Woodburne Mansion which is crumbling because the County says they lack the resources to stop the leaks.“
I responded by writing, “I agree with you that the greenist building is an old one that has been restored. I live in an old adobe home that I have fixed up. My father, nearly single-handedly restored this building: http://mormonhistoricsites. org/oneida-stake-academy/ . It is painful to see beautiful old buildings crumble to the ground.”
Essential Earthbag Construction Explored at Permies.com
All this week I will be available at the Permies.com forum answering questions about my new book Essential Earthbag Construction. This is an immensely popular and informative forum discussing every aspect of Permaculture. My focus will be earthbag building, but you can find or initiate threads related to any pertinent subject. If you engage in … Read more
Essential Earthbag Construction
A book about earthbag building has just been published by New Society Publishers, titled Essential Earthbag Construction: the complete step-by-step guide. I wrote this book at the publisher’s request, as they are issuing a comprehensive series of essential guides about a wide range of natural building methods and wanted to make sure they covered earthbag construction.
This book is particularly detailed in its description of what is involved in designing and building with earthbags. It also features a lengthy foreword by Owen Geiger outlining many of the recent developments that have occurred around the world.
Replace Old Yurt with Strawbale Roundhouse
Question from Kristen, one of our readers: Any tips or pointers for building a strawbale roundhouse on post and piers?? I have a yurt with a permanent post and pier foundation with concrete piers going 2 feet down and 1.5 feet wide. I want to take down the yurt and build a strawbale house, and since the floor is already round use the layout I have…Thanks for any direction as my husband and I will be doing this ourselves and enlisting our 16 year old son and any friends we can have come help.
Best Materials for Natural Building in the Pacific Northwest
Reader question: I am hoping to start building a home in the Pacific Northwest this summer. I have been reading EVERYTHING I can on building with cob, hyperadobe and strawbales, and am trying to come up with a solution that I can afford and build on my own (I am recently divorced with four kids and no family or friends available to help build).