Ann's Blog (4)

http://www.simondale.net/house/index.htm You are looking at pictures of our family home in Wales. It was built by myself and my father in law with help from passers by and visiting friends. 4 months after starting we were moved in and cosy. I estimate 1000-1500 man hours and £3000 put in to this point. Not really so much in house buying terms (roughly £60/sq m excluding labour). The house was built w… Continue

If you can drive a nail into a board, you have the skills to augment your water supply. Drilling companies charge thousands of dollars to tap ground water sources that you can often reach yourself with a few common tools and about two weekends of work. Methods ranging from digging to blasting are used to reach the underground layer of fresh water that lies beneath dry land. Most of these are too technical, expensive, or dangerous for the average person. However, at the turn of the century the U… Continue

Info here: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-Homesteading/1970-07-01/You-Can-Drive-Your-Own-Well-April-1970-Popular-Mechanics-reprint.asp

TO DRIVE A WELL you need quality equipment shown above. You'll speed up the job by first boring hole with a post-hole digger (above right). A sledgehammer can be used for driving, but a tripod and pulley ar… Continue

Earthships are earth-sheltered autonomous buildings made of tires rammed with earth, which are usually arranged in "U" or horseshoe shaped modules. Each tire is rammed full of earth manually using a sledge hammer. Windows on the sunny side admit light and heat. The open end of the "U" shaped structure faces South in the northern hemisphere, and North in the southern hemisphere, so that the house will catch maximum sunlight in the colder months. An Earthship is designed to interface with its envi… Continue