natural building

Record Traffic on our Blog and Free Plan

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Welcome to our Natural Building Blog. Like the title says, we’re experiencing record traffic. Most new readers are going to our Earth Sheltered / Underground House Plans page. First, I’d like to encourage new readers to search our site for low cost innovative building ideas. There’s over 1,460 blog posts on many different topics. Our … Read more

Ancient Food Forests

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Food forests are the most productive agriculture system in the world. They have the lowest labor and highest yield. Food forests produce more food, medicinal plants, fiber, building materials, fodder, spices, herbs, flowers and other beneficial plants per square meter than any other farming method. Imagine how much work goes into tilling, planting, spraying and weeding row crops such as corn every year. In stark contrast, food forests are virtually self-sustaining once established. They’re also less vulnerable to pests and swings in weather.

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RV Living

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RVing offers an affordable, alternative, adventuresome lifestyle, as well as providing shelter while you build a permanent home.
RVing offers an affordable, alternative, adventuresome lifestyle, as well as providing shelter while you build a permanent home.

We try to cover a broad range of topics about low cost, sustainable living. One option is RVing – living in Recreational Vehicles. The cost of RVs has dropped substantially over the last few years from what I hear and so this may be something you’d like to look into. You can live in an RV while you build your home (and be mobile in the duration), or live on the road.

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Plumbing and Electrical Summary for Earthbag Houses

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Embed anchors for electrical boxes between courses of bags as you build.
Embed anchors for electrical boxes between courses of bags as you build.

These topics have already been covered in various posts on our blog, but I’m pulling everything together here for easy reference. Our blog now has 1,460 blog posts and it’s getting more difficult to find things. For those building an earthbag home, the bottom line is plumbing and electrical is 99% the same as conventional construction. The few differences are shown here. Everything else you need to know can be learned from library books or pocket guides. I prefer simple electrical and plumbing pocket guides because they show only what you need.

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Modified Raised Bed Gardening with Wood Chip Trench Composting

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This ingenious system rapidly converts wood chips into large quantities of fertile topsoil filled with earthworms and beneficial fungi and microorganisms.
This ingenious system rapidly converts wood chips into large quantities of fertile topsoil filled with earthworms and beneficial fungi and microorganisms.

“A major issue in sustaining vegetable production is maintaining high soil quality in the face of common practices that work against it. Vegetable growing often involves intensive tillage, cultivation, exposure of almost-bare soil to the sun and rain for long periods, and heavy traffic from people and equipment. All of these practices tend to destroy soil organic matter and soil structure while increasing soil compaction.

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