All Blog Posts Tagged 'earth' (23)

Great! Just found the188 page complete version of Gernot Minke's 'Building With Earth'. This is a fabulous book, from a man with a long history in green building. Great read. Plenty to munch on. Free download!!

Next, I'll be seeking out the English version of his book on Green Roofs. I've seen the Spanish book, it's loaded with…

English/Español/日本語

When we began this community the vast majority of members spoke English. Recently more Japanese and Spanish speaking people have joined. So, Konomi and I, are going to post all of our blogs in the three languages.  All members are free to post in their preferred language. I have just added a forum to…

Yesterday we visited our friend Cristiano Giordani's land, with our next door neighbours and their dogs. He…

Felix Vargas, who lives up in the north of Chile, where it is much warmer and drier, is building a large earthbag structure and he`s doing a very impressive job, thanks to the help of more than one or two…

A month or so ago I entered Wiser Earth's, Earth Day Living contest, and two days ago I got a message to say that we had been chosen as the winners, for our work here in Patagonia to create a sustainable lifestyle, through our home and gardens.…

After a fabulous festive Christmas in Frutillar, with sophistiocated food galore, we are back home and loving the…

There is no separation between us, our house, our garden, our land, the surrounding nature and view now we connecting…

Recently we have begun working on a new poly-tunnel where we will grow warm climate vegetavles and fruit and…

We've based our house design along the lines of the ancient Icelandic Turf House. And now we have finsihed the North side wall we think we're doing a good job. Eventually we will cover the roof with Maiciya, the ten thousand yeal old volcanic rock we find a meter below the surface of our land.…

Some of our friends have been asking for photo's inside the house, but we've not been concentrating on the inside, rather making sure the house is prepared on the outisde, for the winter storms, which will appear fairly soon. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago we had a visit from our friend Lucio, who…

Photo # 1 First we grade the earth slightly away from the house. Then we place the insulation and next the plastic sheeting that will take away the water and allow the earth to become warm and dry. The expanded polystirine extends at least three meters beyond the house, but will not be used on the floor inside. These things are crucial as the heat the house gathers from the summer sun and the fire will be stored in this dry earth and released through the…

We're only 80 kms from the ocean and yet we hardly ever see any seafood! La Junta is a cowboy town and everyone eats beef and sheep - except us. There was a lady who sold fish from a small hut for a couple of months but she's dissapeared to more fishy climes, so it came as a small miracle that one day Konomi went to the local store and lo and behold a huge bag of King Crab Claws fresh from the nearby pacific. Just US$10 for the lot and a nice change for us and Cliff, who's…

The North West corner turf wall is almost finished. Soon turf will be placed over the earthbag retaining wall to protect the bags and to provide a footpath. The pile of earth to the left of the wall will be a terrace planted with herbs. This will be the first of the many terraces that will enable us to utilize the rest of our land in the form of a food forest. Already the house is dissapearing into the scenery. Following the North walls completion we will begin the…

A VERY HAPPY KONOMI WAVING TO THE WORLD OUTSIDE OUR WINDOW - HELLO SHEEP!

窓から世界へ向かって手を振るーハロー!羊たち！

Actually we don`t allow sheep on our land anymore, following our recent planting of trees, flowers and berries - though they can still be seen nibbling on the other side of the fence.…

LAMB AND MATÈ FOR YUJI

Yuji loves Patagonia, the lifestyle, the mat'e, the nature and the animals. It's lamb season and many are hopping about the fields - this one however lost it's mum to a bad dog and so has to be reared by Victor Hugo, our Valle Quinto neighbour and his wife Rosa. Both Yuji and…

PHOTO: Leaving the valley after our last trip with our neighbours.

Konomi is at home, drawing the plans of the four dome home we plan to build with Yuji. he loves it here in Patagonia and we took him to Valle Quinto where we have a four hectare patch of wilderness. The valley is vast and glorious with only eleven families spread over many kilometers of woods, rivers and mountains. our friend took us to see some of his land, but the…

Building a house in an environment that can be extreme has it's rewards - this view of Melimoyo Volcano is one of them. We hope to be moving in to our Earthbag cabin at the end of June and look foreward to the view of the Volcano when the mountains are covered in snow.…