Earthbag Permaculture Center in Romania

Baza Ulmu permaculture centre from Resilience Images on Vimeo.

“Video documentation of Wwoofing experience the county of Maramuresh, Romania. We travellled to Romania in the summer of 2013. Thanks to the wwoofing website wwoof.ro (willing workers on organic farms) we were able to visit one of the first earthbag building sites in the country.

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Strawmark Strawbale Homes and Buildings

Strawmark -- custom strawbale home builder in New Zealand
Strawmark — custom strawbale home builder in New Zealand

Strawmark built the home in yesterday’s blog post. Be sure to see their stunning gallery.

“Straw houses the way of the future?
With the aftermath of devastation in Christchurch, the focus is now more than ever on safe, affordable, ‘Earthquake’ strong housing.

We are happy to say all our homes within the quake-ravaged area have stood the test, and passed with flying colors, with no damage reported.

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Barn Earthbag Stem Wall

Earthbag stem wall with bond beam and wood framed vertical walls
Earthbag stem wall with bond beam and wood framed vertical walls

“A barn is probably the number one project we are going to try and accomplish this year. The pig pen and chicken coop we had built last year worked ok for our needs at the time, but we are going to need something a little more permanent.

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In Milo, a home is built with the Earth

Kara Taheny, a University of Maine graduate, is building a bio-benign, passive polypropylene earthbag house in Milo.
Kara Taheny, a University of Maine graduate, is building a bio-benign, passive polypropylene earthbag house in Milo.

“MILO, Maine — An unusual home is being raised in a Milo neighborhood populated with average suburban homes. Teacher and mother of one Kara Taheny is using polypropylene earthbags to create a bio-benign, passive home that’s made with bags filled with dirt from her land.

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Feedback on Building with Rice Hull Bags

Chiang Dao Roundhouses B&B
Chiang Dao Roundhouses B&B

Numerous structures have been built with rice hulls over the years. We’ve previous reported on the Rice Hull B&B and Paul’s Rice Hull Earthbag House. Up till now we’ve had little to no feedback on their effectiveness over time, particularly when it comes to moisture damage. Richard Gingris who’s been reporting on projects at New Life Foundation forwarded me the following email discussion with Maggi at Chiang Dao Roundhouses B&B. With this positive feedback from Maggi, Richard will be recommending building with rice hull bags at New Life in the future.

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