Green Living

Straw Bale House in the City, Part 2: Building a Test Wall

By Adam D. Bearup, Hybrid Homes

Straw bale home building requires a unique set of considerations when applying for building permits. When a developer asks this author to design a straw bale home in Michigan, he must work with the city building permitters and inspectors to educate on straw bale, and hits a few brick walls in the process.

Wattle and Daub: Ancient and Simple Natural Building Technique

By Tom Keeling, Fazenda Tomati

Wattle and daub construction is a fantastic natural building technique that has been used to build internal and external walls in homes for centuries. It is great for the beginner builder as the more wattle you weave, the stronger the wall gets. Follow this wattle and daub primer to get started.

Amazing Fire Tower Cabin Stays True to History

By Lloyd Kahn, Shelter Publications

Fire towers that guarded 1930s Montana lands represented a romantic ideal of life to this builder’s family. Fire lookouts were always in the most inaccessible, most spectacular locations. They were a place where life and relationships were condensed to their essential elements, where nature overwhelmed and embraced those lives. The fire tower cabin had to become part of those landscapes.

Straw Bale House in the City, Part 1: Designing to Code

By Adam D. Bearup, Hybrid Homes

Straw bale home building requires a unique set of considerations when applying for building permits. When a developer asks this author to design a straw bale home in Michigan, he must work with the city building permitters and inspectors to educate on straw bale, and hits a few brick walls in the process.

Repurpose Common Household Items

By Carole Coates

Sometimes we overlook the best household tools, because they were created for some other use. Here I share some ideas for giving new life to old objects by repurposing and reusing them in unique but practical ways.

90-Day Extreme Green Challenge: Family of 6 Tries Tech-Free Living

By Kerry W. Mann, Jr., HomesteadHow

We’ve decided we are going to give up all of our electricity, appliances, smartphones and more. We are going to fully convert our entire home to a non-electric homestead.

Live a One Earth Lifestyle with These Resources

By Jan Spencer

Gaining a better idea about the ecological and social footprint of our personal lifestyles can be useful to motivate us to downsize. A One Earth Lifestyle survey can tell us how many earths would it take for everyone on the planet to live that lifestyle. Discovering the results can be a jolt. This blog explains the meaning of a one earth lifestyle, suggests an on line place to take the survey and the blogger shares his own one earth survey results.

Tiny Homes and Intentional Living

In this episode, we will be discussing alternative housing and considerations to make when going tiny!