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Related: Homestead Planning & Design93-Year-Old Homesteader Living It Up In The Wilderness “It’s five miles from the nearest road and that is the main reason I bought this.” Meet Jack English, a 93-year-old legend who lives in a cabin isolated deep in the Ventana Wilderness. While on a hunting trip he learned that an old homestead in the Ventana Wilderness was being put up for auction by the estate of a childless heiress. He put a bid on the property and won.
earth-sheltered home Also known simply as an earth home, a dwelling that is partially or totally underground (see underground home) or that has earth berms around some or all of its exterior walls (see bermed earth-sheltered home). Earth-sheltered homes can be tailored to a wide range of climates and a variety of types of building sites – even flat ones. Combined with passive solar design, an earth-sheltered home can save tens of thousands of dollars in fuel bills over a lifetime. Earth-sheltered homes are comfortable, affordable and energy efficient. And, if thoughtfully designed, they allow in plenty of natural light and are far less of an imposition on the landscape than conventional above-ground houses. They also led themselves to innovative ideas in design and, in particular, the use of organic architectures including curving walls and ceilings that are more satisfying and harmonious as human dwellings.
DIY: Beer Can Into Camping Stove You can whip one of these up in a matter of minutes. They’re so easy to make and they work really well. First find yourself some scissors and a beverage can and then start the above video. This is an inexpensive way to be prepared in the event of a power outage as these stoves give off a lot of heat and have the ability to cook large meals. They also make great holiday gifts for friends and family.
The Universal Principles of Sustainable Development By Terry Mock and Tony Wernke, SLDI Co-founders Follow Terry and Tony on Twitter: Terry @SustainLandDev; Tony @Sustainable4U This article is Part 3 in the Fractal Sustainable Development Trilogy. Part 1: Designing a ‘Big Wheel’ for Civilization Part 2: Like Life Itself, Sustainable Development is Fractal As a comprehensive sustainable development decision model, The SLDI Code™ functions as a completely integrated, fractal matrix which leads decision-makers from the foundation of triple-bottom-line sustainability to sustainable results. This unique model (depicted graphically by the logo to the right) is a result of the input and vetting of numerous sustainable project leaders.
Building a WFO (wood fired oven) In the spirit of off the gridness and in an effort to be more self-sufficient, my wife and I recently tackled a new project at home. We built a wood-fired oven, or WFO, if you prefer. An outdoor wood-fired oven gives us another option for many kinds of cooking. It also provides a great accompaniment to the barbecue. The WFO is a lot of fun to built and use. A Plan For Food Self-Sufficiency - Modern Homesteading Related Content Fresh Storage of Produce For the past few years, we've experimented with different ways of storing food fresh and now we're e... Providing high-quality food for your family year-round takes foresight and planning, plus healthy doses of commitment and follow-through. Whether you grow as much of your food as you can or you source it from local producers, the guidelines here will help you decide how much to produce or purchase.
Incredible Space Maximization in a Small Studio Apartment You’ve seen a lot of ingenious ideas on how to decorate small studio apartments on Freshome. Here is another tiny apartment that manages to maximize space and create a cozy living environment as well. The East Village Studio Apartment comes from JPDA Architects, stretches over an area of 46 square meters (500 square feet) and was built as a little “nest” for the owners who also work here. It has all the utilities a common looking contemporary home has and dare we say a lot more. Biomass Gasification – A Primer I’ve been researching alternative energy sources that could be used during an extended grid-down situation for a while now but haven’t been able to find one that would work well in my situation (limited sun and wind). Well just recently a good friend of mine had reminded me of one that I had long since forgotten (having originally passed over it in a Mother Earth News article a few years back): Wood or Biomass Gasification. What is Gasification? In a nutshell, gasification is the process of using heat to transform solid biomass, or other carbonaceous solids, into a flammable fuel much like natural gas.
17 Apart: Growing Celery Indoors: Never Buy Celery Again Remember when we tested and shared how to grow onions indefinitely last week? Well, at the same time, we've been testing out another little indoor gardening project first gleaned from Pinterest that we're excited to share the successes of today — regrowing celery from it's base. We've figured out how to literally re-grow organic celery from the base of the bunch we bought from the store a couple weeks ago.