“Earthen Building, Sustainable Home Hybrid: In this video, Quinn Eaker, Founder and Director of the most sustainable Community in the State www.intotheGardenofEden.com discusses the importance of true sustainability consciousness and how that may apply to building homes.
low cost
Manual Straw Bale Press
“The “Bali Baler” is a manual press that creates bales measuring 50 cm wide x 50 cm high x 100 cm long (19″ x 19″ x 39″). The bales are a bit wider than the standard bales in the USA. Designing in metric made everything simple and with the 6:1 ratio we were able to build the walls 3 meters high – close to 10′ tall.
Off-Grid Prospector-Style Tent: A Tiny House Alternative
“In this video, we give you a tour of a prospector-style, 4-season tent that is completely off-grid. The tent is built with two layers of weather-proof canvas stretched over a wooden frame and is equipped with a double combustion wood stove for heat, a solar panel to power 1 LED light, and a propane fridge … Read more
How to build an earthbag home for $11.50 per square foot
“Are you looking for a DIY construction technique for building an affordable earthquake-, flood-, and bullet-resistant home? Look no further.
Fruit Walls: Urban Farming in the 1600s
This is an amazing story recommended by Jim, one of our long time readers and supporters. So many things such as fruit walls are being forgotten due to the prevalence of relatively affordable energy.
“We are being told to eat local and seasonal food, either because other crops have been transported over long distances, or because they are grown in energy-intensive greenhouses. But it wasn’t always like that. From the sixteenth to the twentieth century, urban farmers grew Mediterranean fruits and vegetables as far north as England and the Netherlands, using only renewable energy.
Art of living in a Dordogne tiny mud home with living roof
“In a small forest in France’s Dordogne, self-taught carpenter Menthé built his home with a living roof and mud walls, plus hand-carved wood from the surrounding forest shaped according to ideas from 16th century French architect Philibert de l’Orme. The result is a charming and very cozy home that fits perfectly into the woodland.”