Once again, it’s been a while. I’ve been busy making considerable changes/additions to my life and have been somewhat on the fence about sharing those in a blog. Not because of any privacy issues but because this is, after all, primarily a blog about natural building and sustainable living, though my political views occasionally figure. Suffice to say I’ve been distracted by my other pursuits and made the decision to let Canadian Dirtbags slide for a while.
So what are we planning for the building season? Well, a greenhouse addition for starters. Someone had asked a little bit back whether we intended to go ahead with original plans to add a greenhouse and I believe I hemmed and hawed over the decision. I am getting somewhat tired of building all the time and wasn’t sure whether “more building” was something I was entirely into. I also have an extensive garden to tend that I haven’t had much time for, and plans to incorporate bees, and perhaps ducks and geese, maybe even a goat or two, plus- ooh la la- some time for me perhaps. So much to do, so little time! At least in Canada where all of the seasons but winter are short.
Having said that, we decided that food production was too critical a matter to slack off on. Especially since some of the changes I’ve made in the last while mean that we’re no longer purchasing any refined or processed foods and are instead going with Michael Pollan’s suggestion to, “eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” (If any of you have read “In Defense of Food”, let me know what it was like- I haven’t read it.) And since we are juicing as well as eating, we are going through a lot of produce.*
We have pretty much settled on, but not yet purchased, the Rion sunroom. It is not (in my books anyway) cheap but it will save considerable time scavenging and framing to just buy the thing new. We are leaning towards the 14’ model, since our summers are scorching and winters are lengthy. Anything larger than that could be an utter waste of space.
We will be building the back (north) side of the structure with earthbags for ease of construction and to provide some good solid mass. We haven’t finalized the plan yet but will be building with the intention of integrating an aquaponics/hydroponics system at a later date. Shane is quite interested in those things and I’m happy to leave him to it. I have seen the results of growing produce hydroponically, as opposed to traditionally, and they do seem to outperform.
If you have seen the pictures of the house, the completed structure will look just like that but with a greenhouse extending 14 feet on the east side of the building, connected by a central foyer. The entire back of the building(s) will be bermed and the long stretch along the south will have an extended garden. I’m excited to see the plan complete this year!
riongreenhousekit.com photo
*I will write a post later about how to use veg pulp from juicing. We’ve found so many uses already!
On a totally unrelated note: I hope that many of our readers will be joining in the One Billion Rising movement today. When one in three women on the planet will be beaten and/or raped in her lifetime, this is a global issue- not a ‘female’ one. There have been actions all over the world today- including in Manila where 15 blocks were shut down for the mass of women and men dancing in solidarity! If you have not heard of this revolution, I encourage you to visit the One Billion Rising website.
So nice to see ur guys vision coming to fruition. I’ve been asked to help out with a small eco village in tulum mexico that some friends of mine are creating…hoping to get down there before the year is out. They are doing earthbag construction there as well…very inapirational
Thanks Vince! And WOW- an eco village in Tulum! You’re always involved in so many interesting projects- that’s awesome!
Hi,
I’ve looked at your site many times and silently rooted for you long enough, so that being said, way to go! I hale from north of you and was interested to see someone from Alberta building with earth bags. I love reading about alternative building, done a little myself. I built and ran a 12x70ft earth sheltered greenhouse for years. Earth sheltering was done using Mike Oehler’s psp method (50$ and up underground house book) and the front foundation was earth pounded tires. I tried growing in bags, bins and bales; learned a lot. Green housing is fun (having spring come “early” in this country is such a bonus), but it is a steep learning curve. This far north, light plays such an important role in decisions about greenhouse design. If you got any questions about greenhousing, drop me a line, I don’t claim to be the expert, but maybe I could tell you all my (cough) mistakes!
I think that’s how experts are made- through mistakes, right? Having done some things wrong in, like, 15 different ways I’m pretty sure of myself in some areas.
12×70′! Holy sh*t! That’d be a dream greenhouse! Shane was really into Oehler a while back but of course we were busy with so many other things and we’ve never actually experimented with his method. Down the road it would be great to have more than a single greenhouse though. Just out of curiosity- how’d you find grow bags? I was thinking of trying some potatoes (outdoors) in them this year but not too sure because of the (very) dry environment.
And thank you for opening the lines of communication- I undoubtedly will have questions down the road!:)
Looks brilliant, but as you say pricey. Though not attaching it to your house is a pity, because, if you painted the “house wall” black you could probably divert some of the heat for use inside the house?
It will be attached, and we do intend to tint the back wall a dark color, but it will extend the building rather than overlay the current structures. To be honest, I have no idea what the heating potential will be- we may have to supplement heat in the room for all I know. Like everything else, all the research in the world won’t tell us exactly how this will work more than actually trying it. So fingers crossed!
Wow, I have been reading your blog on and off for a couple weeks now. Like you, my wife and I researched Earthships to the point of obsession, but as we near our date of possession of 80 acres of beautiful SouthWest Manitoba forest and pasture land, my thoughts seem to keep coming back to Earthbags for their natural curved form and beauty, and especially to the economics of it all. As well, we would like to incorporate M. Reynolds’ grey water practices and solar gain dynamics into our earthbag home, but the biggest thing troubling me is the permit and building codes. How did you get around or involved in passing the rediculous codes set out for you?
Very curious to hear back!
We moved to an area where it wasn’t an issue. I think people automatically assume that codes will be the same everywhere and apply for permits right away but if you ask your county (*first*), it may not be a problem.
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