I never really thought about it before, but our families goal to move from a fully city hooked-up house to living completely off-grid, took a giant leap forward once we moved into our RV.  The interesting thing about RV’s is that you need to understand where your power comes from, how much you use, where your water comes from and where your waste goes to, all the time.  When boondocking, or dry camping, or RVing without hook-up, you are constantly aware of your power, water and waste.  Although we had never RV’d before, we knew that we wanted to play with alternative power and try boondocking as much as we could.  I had lots of questions about how we live in regards to power use.  How long could we go, with the single 110 W solar panel and 2 6V batteries?  How much water do we need, could we recycle grey water (water from sinks)? How long would it take to fill our waste tank?

I must admit that it does not take too long to answer all of the above questions.  Although water is vital item, there are a number of places to get decent, drinkable water.  The bigger variable was the sun.  We found that it was much more difficult to boondock around San Francisco, compared to Tucson (in Winter), because of the access to reliable and intense sun.  We also found that it was much easier for us to run our fridge off propane than electricity, because of the large load or draw it required.  The power issue made us think a lot about the appliances  that we use.  For example, instead of using a coffee maker, we use a kettle and coffee press, or instead of electrical appliances, we have tried to switch to hand operated appliances – which, by the way, are a lot more difficult to find these days.  However, after whipping cream by hand, you really, really enjoy it.   I am sure that this will help us reconsider the equipment comforts that we have become accustom too.

Oh what a path we are on.  I must admit that there is a fast learning curve, but endless information about the slow lifestyle.  We are finding that taking on little bits at a time are helping to not get overwhelmed and are amazed by the interconnectedness of what we are learning.

I have always hated drywall, but this article that I just read helps to steer me even further away from the “flawless” wall paneling. Have a read…

http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/weblog/index.htm

We missed this one on our tirp by a hair – too bad. I thought that Crestone was in New Mexico, instead of Colorado. Anyway, the site has great links to books, websites, an “Ask an Expert” page, which is really good, and a write-up of all types of alternative construction types.

http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/index.htm

Enjoy.

The title sounds geeky, but what it really means is that you do not have to dig so deep to place your foundations on your house, shed, garage, etc… Less digging + less $$$$$.
The principle is to minimize the heat loss through the foundation and then hence raise the frost level around the house. Check out the following links:

http://www.thenaturalhome.com/frostwalls.htm

http://www.plastifab.com/news_events/articles/shallow_foundations.html

I came across this website and video while looking for more information on passive houses and earthships. I love what they have done, but can’t imagine the bus tours showing up at the property. I had to laugh at the folks with their cameras and name tags – then I remembered the tours of sustainable homes that I just finished (at least “I” didn’t have the name tag).

http://www.bluerockstation.com/index.html

I must admit that even I, a relatively alternative house thinking guy, thought that earthships were a little out there.  If you’ve seen Mike Reynold’s “Garbage Warrior”( www.garbagewarrior.com/ ), you’ll know what I mean.  However, today I must say that I am eating my words, beliefs and even conservative thoughts about house building.

Our family and some friends (Steph, Emma and Oliver Sangha), just stayed in the Phoenix and Corner Cottage (http://www.taosearthships.com/) in the earthship community outside Taos, New Mexico.  The two earthships (car tires pounded with soil and then plastered over) were available for rent for anyone who was interested – and you bet their was interested people – we were just able to fit in one night in each.  We started off in the elaborately detailed and decorated Phoenix building – 3500 square feet, 3 bedrooms, two baths, kitchen and greenhouse (with a pond, fish, turtles and many birds, plus banana, lemon and other trees).  The building was completely off-grid with only back-up propane for stoves and hotwater (I think).  There is no heating system, other than the greenhouse, passive solar and skylights for regulating temperature.  We were in the building during mid March with lows of 35-40 F, and the building kepts a cozy 70F during the waking hours – amazing….  There was a mix of earthen floors, flagstone and other local stone tiles.  The bathtubs were formed with concrete, beer cans and wire mesh.  The walls were plastered with clays (mixed with straw) and stucco, used appliance metal and other such oddities.   Each room was a show stopper.  We all commented on the fact that your eyes could not rest with all the amazing details, plants and incredible views/vistas.  To top off our experience in the Phoenix, we even awoke to see Mike Reynold’s himself directing his staff in the greenhouse – very cool, even the kids were speechless.

Our stay in the Corner Cottage was an eye opener for me.  I have always thought of building an underground house (which is usually only 1/2 underground with the southern half exposed), but thought that the amount of concrete for the back wall was excessive and too expensive.  However, the use of tires and pounded earth became a real alternative for me after staying in the Corner Cottage.  This building was more conservative in size, form and expression (to use architectural terms) – 1,200 (?) square feet, 2 bedrooms, kitchen and 1 bathroom.  The amount of nature light and regulated temperature was amazing – we only turned the interior lights on after dark and never felt the need for additional heat (and the nights were windy and cold outside – freezing temps.)  I actually found it too hot at night and wished I would have opened the skylight to let some heat out.  I was truly impressed with the “feel” and “energy” of this house, and how user friendly it was too.

I met a number of the workers on the earthship community land and talked, talked, and talked their heads off with my questions about earthships – to my amazement, there were mostly receptive to my questions.  I even picked-up a copy of Garbage Warriors and 5 of Mike’s books on earthships for our up coming library of alternative house construction in Ottawa – Coming Soon…  I am still trying to slot all the information I have gathered and learned from our trip into my brain.  Although I can say that a lot of my recent house sketches have included earthship styles in one form or another – I must say they had a very big impact on me.

To add to our experience, our group returned to the house (80’s typical wood-framed stucco’d to look adobe house) in Santa Fe and I was amazed at how cold, poorly lite and uncomfortable the place was.  To think, this is a house that meets the building code and likely represents a majority of the current building stock in Canada and USA – that is sad.:(

O.k. at times, when I have not showered and shaved for a while, I can look a little scruffy, but scary…..

Today, we arrived in Las Crusces, New Mexico and pulled into a KOA RV Park to swim, internet and meet up with our friends due in on the 18th.  When I was signing-in, Erica noticed a poster describing a “Horno” or clay oven that one of the guests built on the property.  As, I have been studying or at least admiring the clay ovens at each place we visit, I decided that this one was worth a photo and look at.  Tiegan, Ryland and I walked over to the oven to check it out and passed by a party of RV’ers in progress.  While admiring a decent example of a clay oven, two children about Kea and Tiegan’s age wandered over from the party.  The kids told me that the party was for “some old guy”, and the oven was built by “The dude in that RV”, pointing to the RV next to the oven, but they didn’t know what it was for.   I told them what I knew about clay ovens and that they make “wicked” pizzas (got to speak the lingo of the kids ya know).  When all of a sudden the kids mom yelled over, “What did I tell you kids about speaking to strangers when I was not around.  Get over here!”  Wow…..  I thought that was a little uncalled for.  A little paranoid, maybe???  Poor kids, all they wanted to do was escape the boring party, talk to some new people and visit with kids their own age.  I hope this is not how we are raising our next generation – fear strangers, talk to no one, don’t use your judgment……

When we started this trip, I thought it would be interesting to visit a number of intentional communities or cohousing and ecovillages.  Mostly to research how they were set-up and find out more about people’s experiences.  However, the reality of our trip did not fit that well with tracking down contacts and arranging tours of specific communities and traveling down country lanes in the Barth.  However, all was not lost.

As we traveled between US State parks and private RV parks (to get our balance of getting away and staying in touch), we started to notice something.  RV parks are a great example of intentional communities.  Many people (mostly seniors) have used RV parks as winter gathering places, where they reconnect with friends and invite family to visit.  The parks offer recreation rooms for shared meals, dances, music, sewing circles, church groups, etc..,  and many other shared facilities like pools, showers and laundry.  Guests are able to be social when they want too, or stay private within their RVs.  It seems too, that different RV parks cater to different groups (e.g., golf courses, desert settings, beach settings, 55+, etc…).

We also noticed that a number of families are starting to use the RV parks as a means to reduce their cost of living or to be able to keep the family together when one member is on the road for work.  We met more than one family with young kids that were growing-up in the RV park.  Some went to the local schools, while others were homeschooled.  All the kids we met were very excited to meet new kids and find out if we were going to “move in”.

So, although I was searching for more of the “new” cohousing or ecovillage forms of intentional communities, I realized that there are other examples that have been around for a long time, and could be used to learn from.

Maybe next trip we’ll travel by boat to find all the house boating communities.

This was a highlight of my trip – by far.  We traveled about 1 hour southeast of Tucson, Arizona to the community of Canelo, to visit Bill and Athena Steen and their property – The Canelo Project – www.caneloproject.com/pages/workshops/photography.html.     For those who do not know the Steen’s, they co-authored the  Straw Bale House book – the first straw bale house that I ever bought.  Unfortunately, the Steen’s emailed that they were going to be in California conducting a natural plastering workshop and attending a California Straw bale Building Association meeting (CASBA) - www.strawbuilding.org/.  However, Emily, a woman who was staying with the Steens to learn about American natural plastering would be happy to give us a tour.  As it turns out, Emily has been studying Japanese plastering in Japan (of course) and conducted our 5 hour tour of the property and buildings, with a some added input from one of the Steen children.  What an amazing opportunity.  Our kids played with the children and ran around, ate brownies and enjoyed themselves, as Erica and I toured the property.

There are more than 1o structures on the property, ranging from sheds, studios, the main house,  showers and toilets, landscape walls and “art” projects.  Except for the guest house and main house, all other structures are load-bearing straw bale – this means there is no other structural elements (e.g., post and beam, which is common in straw bale construction).  The main house is an original adobe house, with some additions.  The guest house is a stick-built (wood stud) house .

We started the tour, but was then interrupted by the snow or “sleet” storm – what is with this weather in the desert?  We have had rain in Palm Springs, Vegas, Death Valley and now Tucson (Canelo).  Anyway, we took the tour inside to eat (potluck style) and look at past workshop photos.  As I had tonnes of questions on the “Steen’s” approach to load-bearing straw bale, I drilled poor Emily with question after question – which, I must add, she did very well at answering, given that she is not a straw bale expert but has learned a lot staying with the Steens.

When the rain let up we continued the tour, visiting each building in turn and discussing their specifics.  This included the use of bamboo mats and poles for non-bale walls, electrical wiring,  plastering types (clay and lime), curved and straight walls and niches, roof designs, the “art” in straw bale, etc….  WOW!!!!  I can’t believe how much we saw and I think that I’m still trying to absorb the information.  To add a little more information to the pile, we picked-up a couple additional books from their shelves – “Built by Hand”, “Small Straw Bale”, and “The HandCrafted Life of Don Juan Morales” – the last one was a self-published book, which interests Erica and I.

We took a lot of photos during the tour so we’ ll post some on flickr, when we get a chance.

Now I’m excited to play with Ottawa’s clay and get my hands on some bales – maybe Erica will get her office this fall.

Emily also told us about a project called Strawjet – www.strawjet.com/ , where a group invented a piece of equipment that could turn any agricultural waste into building blocks – very cool – I would recommend checking it out.

I found a new website with some good information about strawbale building.  It actually has a free 7 step course, which I am 4 lectures into.  The course, so far, is a little light on new and useful information, for me – as I have read a lot and taken courses before on strawbale building.  But, there is some good articles, video links and a blog.  The site is www.StrawBale.com - tricky one to remember.  Another good one is the Ontario Strawbale Coalition – http://www.strawbalebuilding.ca  or Camel’s Back Construction – www.strawhomes.ca - I have their book, which is a good one, especially for cold weather construction.  Yet another one – oldy, but goody – the Last Straw – http://www.thelaststraw.org/ .

Oh, I have also been looking for schools that teach alternative building and living courses – mostly for my next paying gig, but also for interest.  This one I found looks neat – http://yestermorrow.org/  The Yestermorrow design/build school in Warren, Vermont.  Like I need another reason to lisit Vermont….