If you haven’t already read “The Humanure Handbook” I really highly recommend that you do. It is a simple, clean, and efficient solution to sanitation, responsible water management, and compost production improving your soil condition and your ability to produce food. Here’s Joe Jenkins, the author, explaining the system to a group in Haiti… I [...]
Archive for July, 2010
Responsible Waste Management
Posted in permaculture, soil building, Sustainable living, waste managment, tagged compost, compost bins, compost toilet, humanure, Joe Jenkins, waste management, water preservation on July 23, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Making the Most of Windows
Posted in alternative energy, earthbag, earthbag building, natural building, off grid, passive solar design, Sustainable living, windows, tagged earthbag building, earthbag domes, passive solar design, solar gain, sustainable building, windows on July 20, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
We finally placed the windows this weekend. It was a pretty exciting milestone. As mentioned, we’ve lost about 6 weeks of our already short building season to extremely heavy rain so getting the frames in has seemed a long time coming. The windows are interesting. We’re relying on solar gain as much as possible, while [...]
Dome Progress
Posted in earthbag, earthbag building, natural building, Sustainable living, tagged earthbag domes, natural building, superadobe, sustainable building on July 19, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Tired. Yup. Pretty tired. About 75 bags laid, window frames placed in the living room and kitchen, the front door set in place at the entranceway and several loads of gravel hauled. All in the span of 4 days. I’ll perhaps have something more to say once my energy levels return to normal, but for [...]
The Seed Banks of the World Continue to Grow (via Nogmoseedbank’s Blog)
Posted in Uncategorized on July 16, 2010 | 2 Comments »
I have so much to learn about seed harvesting, and hopefully will know enough to harvest at least some from our garden this year, but I also need to get moving on ordering some seeds. With the intention of expanding our permaculture landscape markedly over the next few years, a good seed supply is crucial. [...]
Dude- your house is on fire! No really.
Posted in off grid, Sustainable living, tagged off grid, preparedness, survival, Sustainable living on July 14, 2010 | 5 Comments »
I have a confession to make. I’ve allowed certain false perceptions about Shane and me to propagate. Okay, not just “allowed” but occasionally encouraged and even delighted in them. I get a giggle out it. God knows I love a good laugh. I’ve been trying to convince Shane to write an article for this page [...]
Extreme Weather Warning: Yeehaw!
Posted in gardening, natural building, permaculture, soil building, Sustainable living, tagged gardening, permaculture, raised bed gardens, sustainable building, Sustainable living on July 13, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Yay- it’s raining and I won’t be able to work on the site today! I mean, “oh darn- I was so looking forward to another day of back-breaking labour in the 30 C heat”. I know- it wasn’t that long ago that I was complaining about the rain and how far behind schedule it had [...]
National Sovereignty- Who Needs It?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Canadian politics, G20, G8, global economy, national sovereignty, state of economy on July 12, 2010 | 5 Comments »
Okay- so I’ve purposely avoided using this as a political forum, instead focusing on the building and sustainable lifestyle side of things. Not that I don’t have some strong opinions. I do- on pretty much everything. Unless the conversation starts with, “so who do you think will win the soccer/hockey/baseball/synchronized swimming/football game?” in which case- [...]
The start of our permaculture adventure
Posted in gardening, off grid, permaculture, soil building, Sustainable living, tagged gardening, permaculture, raised bed gardens, soil building, Sustainable living on July 6, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Our ‘shift to sustainability’ would not be complete without a plan for feeding ourselves. I’m reminded of this every time I visit the grocery store and get sideways looks from the other shoppers while I grumble about the overpriced pathetic display of produce and pitiful cuts of meat, packaged single serving but priced the same [...]
Earthbag dome
Posted in earthbag building, natural building, off grid, Sustainable living, tagged adobe, earthbag building, earthbag domes, natural building, sustainable building, Sustainable living on July 2, 2010 | 3 Comments »
We’ve had probably 3 good working weeks out of the last two, maybe two and half months. We’re breaking all sorts of records for rain in the area. Still, we’ve managed to get a fair amount done during the workable weather. And the rubble trenches we thought might be ‘over-kill’ have served us very well, [...]
