We. Have. WALLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I could either stay in Richmond and be sick, achy and contagious, or I could go to the net zero off grid modern house kit and be sick, achy and contagious.
Easy choice.

I just could not bear to be away another week, knowing that Bobby Hirsh, the carpenter, had reused and built actual WALLS out of VMI's old basketball court. Honeychile, this t'ain't yer Chinese drywall...

So I grabbed a box of Kleenex and headed out, sick and feverish, to the net zero passive solar SIPs house kit.

We rounded the drive and saw the field was still covered with snow... yet in the distance, the house kit shone happily, a beacon for our car to aim for through the mud.

We tumbled out, and the children and dogs proceeded to do exactly what I feared: splash through the mud puddles, roll in the snow (and no dry change of clothes with us), and chase each other, slushing through soil and ice, round and round the prefab. *Sigh*

As I surveyed this certainly disastrous scenario, Handsome Husband slipped away to peek inside the house kit and returned quickly: "Wow."

I hurriedly went to inspect. 
So: A year ago we had purchased VMI's basketball court, and now here it would be in our prefab as walls? Creating rooms with recycled, beautiful 100% maple floorboards instead of using drywall?!? Handsome Husband warned me that due to our carpenter, who is a Mennonite minister, being called back to Haiti (where he and his family lived for five years before moving here), he had not been able to completely finish the walls. But who cares, I just want to SEE the walls!

I could tell you all about it, but... c'mon and see it for yourself.
I was taping when I walked in for the first time, and it probably conveys to you more than anything I could type. 
(I love how I keep trying to be informative, glib, and then I see the walls and GASP...)

Prefab Green Home Update: Recycled Reused Wood On The Walls!


Prefab House: Interior Walls: Recycled Reused Wood: VMI's Basketball Court!

We told Bobby to cut wood inside since the temperatures have been so frigid this month, and to leave any scraps behind so we could recycle them.  In preparation, Handsome Husband had moved all the furniture in the corner and covered it all with a sheet. So we spent the day in the prefab house kit sweeping, sorting wood scraps, sweeping some more, dragging back the furniture piece by piece, and... sweeping.

Y'know, all we do out there are chores it seems, but we are all SO HAPPY, so busily content, feeling the sun on our faces, smelling the crisp air  that only happens when it has touched snow, seeing progress as we proceed on every little thing we do in the prefab house kit.  We are so grateful to all of the craftsmen who have helped us, and it is so satisfying that we also have a hand in it, that our children will remember this slow process as we move towards our sustainable goal.

 

To refresh your memory of this journey: We started with purchasing land, then awhile later bought a 1960s camper where we would brave the spring ticks, the summer heat, the late autumn frost (all with our children still in diapers)... then the house kit was erected and suddenly we had shelter, REAL SHELTER.

And now we have walls.
And even CLOSETS.

For the first year ever, we have been out there in 1. January and 2. February, and out there, in the dead of winter, 3. *comfortably*!

If I hadn't been so feverish I would have suggested we stay and spend the night.  But I also know I need to get better and that the better thing to do is install the ERV / off grid systems so we can seek respite even more efficiently and comfortably than the makeshift ways we've been visiting for years.

But in the meantime...? We appreciate every. single. thing. 
And don't miss what we lack in the prefab house kit, because we've never had it there.
Makin' something outta nothin' is not a hobby, it's a philosophy.  I am fine with my children being raised how to be comfortable, knowledgeable and practical in raw weather and conditions, and I think these experiences make them better for it.

 

Construction Waste: What A Waste!

I could not help but recall our own prefab house kit construction when I read in the paper that a local landfill wants to quadruple the amount of construction debris it receives.

Here's an idea: Instead of increasing landfills to accept more waste, how about if we get the construction industry to WASTE LESS?

"The landfill can currently accept a maximum of 900 tons of waste per day. The proposed modifications would allow up to 3,500 tons of waste per day and increase the capacity by about 25 percent to 2.6 million cubic yards."

The majority of  the landfill's intake is construction and demolition waste. WHAT? What ever happened to
1. creating less (how about zero?) waste, and
2. re-purposing and reusing materials instead of just demolishing?

I called the modern prefab house architect David Day to have him weigh in.

"In new construction, you can recycle leftover drywall, concrete, etcetera; there are a lot ways to recycle materials instead of putting it into a landfill. Better yet, don't buy and cut unnecessary materials.

There are standard material sizes. If you work within those dimensions, there is no need to cut or waste material. If there IS waste, often it can be reused on the same site or repurposed for something else. There's a whole section in LEED standards about reduction of construction waste.

Copeland's husband mentioned to me the door landings on their prefab house kit were built from the small pile of leftover wood that they reused for the prefab modern house! Even that pile of wood could have fit into the trunk of their car if they wanted to repurpose it elsewhere.

Do we need to tear down buildings to begin with? How often can we rehab and reuse buildings? Think of Habitat for Humanity's Restore Richmond or Caravati's - often there is someone looking for that exact material you want to throw away!

From a builders standpoint, it's a money-saving, good business decision."

It's not just construction waste.
In the U.K. (I can only imagine what it is in the States) more than £12 billion in food waste goes in the garbage every year.  I think everyone needs to rethink waste.

 

Landscape Architecture For The Prefab Modern House Kit: The Root Cellar, and More. Guest Blog Post!

We will begin to have guest bloggers (weren't you tired of listening to me anyhow?), people who know a heck of a lot more than I on the next steps of the prefab SIPs house kit as it goes from a modern house kit shell to a sustainable modern homestead in the years to come.

Please welcome Heather Barber, founder of Topos, LLC, a landscape design studio dedicated to purposeful design through creating unique natural environments in Richmond, Virginia. The sustainable landscape plan by Topos was earlier mentioned here; today, she talks about visiting the off grid prefab modern house for the first time, and how sustainability is connected in the kitchen.

The rest of the post is her own.

turning the page on sustainability and the sufficient garden...

Sustainability and landscape go hand in hand, but to really understand sustainability from a livable principal you must put form in the background and set the focus on function. The two do not have to live entirely separately, but the thing that has driven landscape design for centuries must become secondary to to the primary purpose of function. A sustainable landscape does not have to leave beauty out of the picture, but it is there for many more reasons than just aesthetics.

Let’s take green modern kits casa ti as a prototype for understanding the adaptation of the built object to the site rather than the normal process of site adaptation to accommodate the built object. casa ti is a melding of modern living principles with a centuries old notion of living with the land, off the land, and of the land. casa ti is sited in the middle of rural farmland in Virginia.

At first sight, it seems as though there is a modern box sitting in the middle of this soft, rolling earth...still viable earth that is now a repository for a very static looking building. Understanding modern sustainability will turn this perception on it’s ear. casa ti, a prefabricated green modern kit home is actually a very dynamic part of the earth and a living, breathing entity that sustains the land it inhabits. The landscape that surrounds casa ti becomes a fulcrum that allows the exchange between the site, the building and the family that lives on the land.


So many of the sustainable landscape principals are the functional values that have been used in farming and land use for thousands of years. Many have been abandoned to the contemporary notions of density, aesthetics and convenience. Having the opportunity to attend the first casa ti open house I found it absolutely astounding that many of the local farmers grasp the notion of the sustainable system (being the building, the land, and the functions of the land, the landscape) and yet many of us ‘designers’ don’t really fully understand. I learned a tremendous amount about the importance of function from the resident farmers who came to support casa ti.

It also sparked a conversation with my father, a celebrated Landscape Architect whose heyday of design was in the 60’s and 70’s, pre autocad and plotters and computerized land forming programs. Now in his 70’s, Dad still uses a sepia printer (a ‘brown’ print machine) and a typewriter and still understands working within the natural systems of the earth rather than contriving them to fit the design. All of this being said, I have really re-approached my ideals of sustainable design and casa ti this week.

We are working on many planes with the prefab house nestled in the rural landscape. Foremost, casa ti is a structure drawn from modern design tenets. It is constructed in a way that would blow the doors off of most LEED and Earthcraft rated buildings. The siting (the location of casa ti) in a rural, traditional farming community is a great opportunity and hindrance equally. It allows casa ti to function as intended, as a fully self supporting, energy producing entity that forms a relationship with the land, the profile, the context, the climate, the macro and micro environments. The challenge is finding the craftsmen, the materials and the technology to make it all happen in a natural and budgetary way. It is all a learning process and I am honored to be a part of it.


So, how do we meld the aesthetics and function of the modern style prefabricated green modern kit home with a traditional rural site?

Again, we look at many of the sustainable attributes that already lie within the site. The immediate area around casa ti will become an extension of the living space and reflect the modern form / aesthetic. The people who live here want to live in a healthy way without sacrificing comfort and enjoyment and that is an absolute. Clipped hedges, exterior fireplaces, large planes for dining, and family entertainment areas will all be designed to express the modern style. The choices of plant material and hardscape materials will lend to the functionary aspect. The true beauty lies in how these areas are also those which sustain the mechanical, solar, and water treatment for casa ti.

The secondary environs become the threshold that allows the aesthetic transition between modern style and traditional farm style. Open space, groves, and more naturalized land forms set up view shed and flow into the actual working land and forested areas of the site. Again using native plant material and land forms from recycled earth becomes the functional aspect. They lend to the shade value and thermal support of casa ti, and provide sustenance.
Water harvesting and recharging will reduce the necessity for potable water waste on gardens and cyclical necessities within the residence. Vegetable gardens and fruit trees will be planted down hill and irrigated with the traditional agricultural flooding methods. Green walls add to the thermal value of the home and earthen berms protect the home from energy stripping climatic effects. A small pool will be used to house and recharge the water supply. UV filtering and a baffled rill will do the actual recharging. Seasonal crops will be used in the larger fields, always cycled one season with a green crop for essential nitrogen restoration. Seasonal fruit trees, berry shrubs, vegetables will be planted for 3 1/2 seasons of additional food stores.

A root cellar (which has been the most logical, yet baffling part of the design) will serve many functions. It will house the minimal mechanical equipment needed for casa ti, as well as add natural storage for vegetables and fruits, thus minimizing loss and the need for refrigeration.

This lends to another necessary discussion...the contemporary kitchen in a sustainable setting. The things that are of the utmost importance are storage, accessibility to the edible landscape and waste. Composting areas need to be close in order to minimize unnecessary waste in the kitchen, yet need the space and the ‘privacy’ to be their ugly smelly selves. The kitchen is also a great area for the collection of gray water for non potable use, and relatively economical to make happen. The kitchen garden must fulfill a certain portion of the food supply for at least 3 1/2 seasons. Sorry, you’re not going to get much out of this garden when the surprise March blanketing of snow occurs. Enter root cellar...again, the proximity to the house is important, but equally the type is too. Banked into grade change allows light and airflow and doesn’t turn it into the dungeon (horrors), but equally allows the proper amount of moisture to circulate so your carrots and potatoes don’t turn to chalk or worse. Of course, dependent on the size and location, additional venting and drainage is necessary. I’ve found several articles helpful, posted below for your reading pleasure. It truly is fun stuff.

As the casa ti plans evolve, the next chat will be about addressing other aspects of the sustainable site, such as parking courts, natives vs. invasives, and positive drainage for maximum water efficiency.

Relevant links:

• www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s1-5-19-173,00.html
• http://oldfashionedliving.com/rootcellar.html
• www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-Homesteading/1980-07-01/How-To-Build-Root-Cellar.aspx

-- Heather Barber, Topos LLC
    GLA, ASLA
    Richmond, Virginia
     http://www.ToposLLC.net

 

Sustainable Landscape Architecture For The Land Surrounding The Prefab House

Ohhhhhhhh this off grid zero energy prefab house is never going to be done.
Ohhhhhhhh I'm exhausted (but excited).

Ohhhhhhhh. Wait a second: Once the prefab house kit is done, there's more to do:
The Land.

Ohhhhhhhh.

Well, thanks to the sustainable landscape architect Heather Barber of Topos LLC, our sustainable land management plan has been expanded beyond crop tree release and bush hogging.

And if you thought it took long to build the prefab house, wait until we journey years to gently shape the land to function more sustainably.

Great. I just set myself up with decades of more work. ; ) And we have no money.
But the landscape architecture plan by Topos is delicious.

And I mean that literally: There's blueberries and a root cellar in them thar plans!

So, c'mon, what are you waiting for? Let's check it out!

From Heather, the landscape architect of Topos LLC:

"casa-ti is a remarkable example of how far prefab residential architecture has come. this greenmodernkits kit home is located on 55 acres in a heritage area in the western portion of virginia. the most exciting yet challenging thing about the casa ti project is that it contradicts any idea that the landscape is a stayed design, or an anchor for the architecture. we are taking a very historical site contextually speaking and turning it on its ear...creating a post modern design that connects the home with it’s expansive environs. i think the opportunity to design a functionally sustainable, yet whimsical site plan for casa ti is a true honor and an evolutionary process. we are talking about the first kit / prefab modern home that is completely ‘off-grid’ / fully sustainable in the state of virginia.* this shows that the greenmodernkit home can translate anywhere, in any capacity. it is my job and again, opportunity, to create that threshold between the prefab sustainable home and the environs in which the owners choose to site it. this is a luxury for me. i can take a very simple form of architecture, which has it’s own inherent beauty in that it’s simple, and connect it to it’s site through the landscape architecture. whether it is urban, sub-urban, or farmland, the modern pre-fabricated homes that are greenmodernkit homes do, in fact speak the language of their location. and it’s a language that is very sensitive to the people living in it as well as the environment."

[ *Heather said we're the first off grid prefab in Virginia, I haven't heard of any others, but I don't know for sure if that's true... will research, but no, I haven't heard of any other modern prefabs that are off grid here... ]

Wow, Heather, I'm honored by your words! When Topos originally inquired into what our landscape architecture would be, I laughed and replied, "Um... a bush hogg, Handsome Husband and a shovel?"

I thank Topos immeasurably for giving OUR FAMILY the opportunity, through their experience, to turn an abandoned, briar-filled plot into, one day, a sustainable farm.

So... let's go through it:

• Starting with field #1, Topos created a figure 8 access road which allows us to easily navigate the drive, house, and shed while maintaining the field. This eight acre field was previously farmed. By bush hogging it regularly we have been reducing the briars which had cropped up before we bought it, and will start planting cover crops to enrich the soil this fall. Wildlife such as quail will be encouraged through allowing patches to not be mowed but to create the habitat quail, turkey, and rabbits enjoy.
• I also envision field #1 being used to grow potatoes and garlic...
  
• Field #2 is downhill from the house kit. Rainwater will easily help irrigate it.

The area around the prefab house is geared for high traffic and fun...
more on that in a minute!

• Back to Field #2: Being downhill, rainwater will naturally run towards this plot, and if you can look closely Topos has created furrows and a collection area for water- which is the way they used to irrigate fields in times past.
• Not only will we be using that existing field for crops but it will also harbor fruit and nut trees, and a berry hedge.
  
• This area is surrounded by woods that had been cut-over twenty-ish years ago. Lots of pine, cedar, but a surprising amount of diversity in the trees- poplar, birch, hickory, walnut...
  

Ok, let's get to the prefab house kit area:

• Pavers made with recycled fly ash for high-traffic areas in poor soil areas
  
• Cisterns for rainwater collection
  
• Baffle (you always wanted to know what a baffle was, didn't you?)
  
• Root Cellar
• Terrace for High Traffic Areas
  
• Retention Pool (more on what this does later...)
  
• Blueberry Hedge
• Berm to lounge against while watching Casa Blanca projected onto the side of the prefab house like David Day always wanted to do with a bunch o' friends
  
• ...and more...

I will go into this, and more, later, but in the meantime need to pack up for another camping weekend in the prefab house kit! In the meantime, check out Topos, a modern landscape architecture firm!

 

Itchin' for Prefab Off Grid House Kit Completion!

Hope y'all are having a great weekend and had a great Fourth of July!



This is the latest in the prefab house kit journey I thought would have been over with and completed last year. But as we are taking a frugal "pay as you go" / incremental approach, it just takes longer to achieve. This goes against my "Point A" to "Point B" nature. ("Are we done with this already?") But it has also taught me some valuable lessons, and this whole experience has made my life better.

Ron is framing the interior walls, I will ask him to send some pictures if he has time... and our next steps for the prefab house kit will be to get final estimates from the electrician and plumber for off grid systems installation.

I want to talk about something I have been chewing on over these weeks: With every change of direction and pause, our course might change, but it frees us to new experiences.

I was thinking about that over last weekend, which we spent on the Bay.

Two stories:

• Story 1:
  This spring we eagerly awaited the annual return of The Amish Childrens' Stand (their stand is open from March - November).
  For over four years, our ritual has been to, after traveling for an hour and almost at the land, stop, purchase our cookies, bread, and relishes, then unload- and remain- on the land.
  
  Finally, after several checks to see if they had opened yet for the season, we drove past and saw the stand, open! But as our car slowed, we realized it was not the Amish family but another farmer selling flowers and not the food we love.
  
  Where to find the Amish children?
  We were told they now operate their stand off of their homestead.
  
  Their homestead is the same distance from our land as the original location; but now, instead of stopping off the interstate, visiting the stand, then ending up (and remaining) on the land, we now have a new course:
  
  Unload on the land, unpack into the prefab house kit, run about, then head down a beautiful country road below our property to their homestead; a direction we would not travel unless to go a further distance to Charlotte Courthouse, which we now can explore and enjoy as part of our weekend perimeter... enhancing our interaction with the community and area.
  
  All those years camping in the 1960s Scotty camper, stopping at the Amish stand, then tumbling onto the land and remaining there? We were so happy! But insulated.
  
  Story 2:
  
• After a lifetime of driving from Richmond to my parent's house on the Bay, dropping our suitcase, and heading for the water, we were suddenly compelled to search for our own, rowdier pool. I mean, if you were my aunt, would YOU want a bunch o' chilluns running loose willy-nilly all the time? We decided to seek more chaotic waters... and give her a break from our dishevelment.
  
  I asked friends involved with a local boatyard if maybe, just maybe, they might create a "family pool membership" for those who didn't need a boat slip but just wanted to use the pool that were already customers.
  They did.
  And it opened a whole new world for us.
  
  We are now part of the boatyard community, where you see the same families often but also meet new people passing through from all over the world. We now drive through the town, which means again that we are integrating ourselves more instead of, like on the land prior, insulating ourselves.
  
  And we're having a heck of a lot of fun: at the boatyard pool, by using shared community space (very smart growth, no? : ) ) you can strike up friendships and conversations over all sorts of stuff - last weekend I was swinging my legs in the pool with another woman, our children splashing us, while discussing the cemetery industry! (And yes we discussed green burials.)
  
  When we have dinner at the boatyard, strangers and old friends come together, each with their own dish, to create a FEAST, and a special evening full of interesting, kind people and fun.
  

These are just two ways my intended, efficient path has diverged this year, making my life richer. How about you?

Next up:
Pictures of interior framing of the house kit, zero energy systems installation, and landscape architecture!!!

Yes, I got the landscape architecture plan this week and am SO excited to start talking about it soon... all I can tell you now is that it involves blueberries... and a berm. : )

 

Last Look At Prefab Zero Energy House Kit Before Framing

I headed for the hills mid-week to take a last look at the prefab house kit before interior framing begins. I admit I fear I might miss the look of the structural insulated panels (SIP)! You might have seen in the previous post my aunt left the particle board "as is" in her own gorgeous home (3rd video down in the post), and I find it appealing.

If we hadn't already found the gorgeous, recycled VMI floorboards to reuse in our interior, along with other recycled finds, I would be seriously considering just painting the SIPs on the inside and calling it a day.



Here's a video of a last walk through the wide open / no interior SIPs prefab house kit:
(I'm sure it will take awhile to download, I tend to go on and on a bit...



Once interior walls are built, the off grid energy efficient systems will be installed: solar energy and heat, rainwater collection and filtration, and more. I guess I will no longer say I'll be "camping" in the house kit... : )
Instead, we'll simply be off grid, zero energy, prefab-ulously done.

 

Modern House Kit Update- Architect David Day & Family Visit The casa ti!

We were SO excited for David Day and his family to visit! As you may know, the green building architect David Day is the designer of our zero energy, passive solar casa ti house kit.

Now finding our land is not easy. I had emailed a map, but felt it best to take my new recycled dirt bike from Richmond Re-cycles and pedal down the drive to the road for a trial spin to see how visible the yellow rope we hung as a marker was for a car. Imagine my surprise when, as I returned to the house kit, I heard a gentle beep behind me, turned around, and there was the Day family right there, already on the land!

They tumbled out, and the children promptly found the dirt hill, sand, and creeks. They have been very busy making "a campfire," "a kitchen," (on the sand pile) and "food." Yes, sand, twigs, and rock food which was served to us and was *absolutely delicious,* while David Day and his lovely wife Kerri sat down with Handsome Husband and myself for a beer at the picnic table to discuss the off grid house.

David was very, very happy with how the house kit had been completed, by the way, and I have asked him to give an architect's response some time later this week to share with you. I just loved seeing him smile as he walked around the modern house he designed, and when he got HIS camera out and started taking pictures... that was a moment I'll always cherish.

Now that we have a little more shelter than my beloved aluminum teardrop camper in which we have camped for four years through all seasons, we are starting to finally meet more neighbors. Earlier that day, we met Peter Scott, a neighbor whose family bought over 100 acres on our road over three generations ago. He met Handsome Husband on the road as he was trying to make the driveway more noticeable for the Day family to find, and we invited him in for a tour of our passive solar house. I was wondering what an old school guy would think of the off grid house but... he loved it! He totally got it! He walked around and nodded his head as we explained the passive solar functionality, the practical concrete floors that also provided thermal mass, our plans for landscaping. We loved his deep knowledge, ready smile, and stories of the generations of families and land along our road- we learned his family used to farm what is now our land, and that it was traditionally planted with grasses and corn. We really hit it off with Mr. Scott- especially when he started talking about barbecue, and how his family starts at 4 a.m. to begin their roasts, and the detailed traditions they have in creating each community barbecue... I know we have found a good friend and look forward to having his family over when we have friends over and cook for a crowd!

Now this was also the first time we had visited since Handsome Husband sealed the floor. It made ALL the difference- I will never need a vacuum cleaner, a push broom EASILY cleaned the dirt and dust after a busy weekend neatly into a pile, easily finished with a dustpan and brush. We will probably add one more layer of sealant after the inside construction is finished, but really, it could last for years as is. David Day also mentioned we could wax it as well, something we might consider.

The weekend was mild, but at night it went down to the 30's. Inside the house kit, still with no systems installed, it remained 58 degrees. According to Handsome Husband, the zero energy house lost only six degrees from sundown till sunup. By 8:30 the next morning it was already 60 degrees. I wonder if that was not so much due to the sun rising, as it was still early, as much as the fact that little children and dogs were racing around like atoms colliding in the zero energy house! You really do understand the passive house reports where body warmth is pretty much all that is needed. With warm blankets and comfy clothes, we could easily not have to use our solar energy to heat the house except for very few times of the year.

We had a lovely weekend, but again felt the deep desire to "just move in!" The good news is that the interior begins again after Easter - and no, we can not wait. : ) In the meantime we dragged out an old trunk I have used since college in New York to keep kitchen things in, and a portable closet given to us when friends moved away to store coats and pillows and sheets in, so that we don't have to keep carting everything back and forth.

In the pre-dawn, as I listened to the coyotes howl (coyote here are the size of shepherds), I admit that as much as I miss camping in my camper it is nice to have my family safe within the modern home's strong structural insulated panels...

Oh, by the way, I have some good news regarding house kit tours / annual open house days! Keep September 26-27th on your calendar, because I am going to line up some fun farm tours, a house kit open house and more around Charlotte County's Heartland Bike Tour. There is so many history sites and cultural things to do, and you can even ride your bike, camp out, and more! I also plan to have regular "open house" days seasonally where I choose a date where interesting, fun & historical events are going on in the community so you can not only tour the house kit but make it a destination weekend in Virginia. Within fifteen miles of the land there is founding father (Patrick Henry's Red Hill), civil war, and civil rights history so plenty to see and learn.
So stay tuned...

On our way home, I thought it would be fun to take some photographs to show y'all our little town...

And on the drive home, I took pictures of the landscape, reminding us all why we all need to preserve and value these landscapes and see it as a national resource. Just an hour away, development encroaches with mass grading, ticky-tacky inefficient developments, and no respect for what may be our most valuable asset, our land. Remember: without local farms there is no local food...

So here are our house kit, little town, and driving home pictures, below! I hope you enjoy!
(I added lots of comments to the pictures so if you see something that interests you please click on the picture to see a larger version with comments.)



Our little town:


And the pretty scenes we pass:

 

Green Building Is Dead

I just read a post by Paul Eldrencamp entitled, "Green Building Is Dead."

When I first skimmed it, I indignantly thought, "Well maybe he should try making buildings that work." Then I read it again, and again... and stewed on his credentials... and I have to say I agree, and am very much looking forward to reading his posts on this subject.

As a longterm fan of, and volunteer for, historic preservation groups and history nonprofits, I value historic preservation and how it can benefit a locale's charm and become a resource, promoting character vs. another bland "could be anywhere" cityscape for the community.

I am also a fan of what has been recently termed "Refab." Lloyd Alter's take on Refab Philosophy is practical and right on the (frugal waste-ye-not) money. (You may have noticed that I'm BIG on practical livin'...) ; )

I sell buildings.
I sell buildings that are passive solar design, that are supposed to function, to work.
How do I reconcile this with my preservation / non-waste philosophy?

Maybe we should look at crop tree release.

If we approach construction as we do crop tree release, we might be able to help our industry flourish by removing the ineffective, non-functional "weed" buildings, while preserving the ones that are of value. In crop tree release,

"...woodland owners have many different reasons for owning and managing their woodlands. Some desire woodlands that provide habitat for a variety of wildlife. Others want a woodland that supports particular types of recreation such as hiking, hunting, and bird watching. Still others want to harvest timber and non-timber products from their woods for home and farm use or to provide periodic income. Most aspire to maintain or improve the health, vigor, and attractiveness of their forest. For many private woodland owners, the ability of their woodlands to provide these and many other values can be enhanced through crop tree management. " (from http://ohioline.osu.edu/for-fact/0050.html)

Now I'm no timber-er. But using crop tree release I will better the woods and land, benefiting the wildlife and strenthening the ecosystem.

Maybe we should look at construction business models:

• Does your business sell to people who come to you with an existing need, where you provide a product that will work for generations or
  
• Do you develop blocks of buildings people might not need or want that do not take smart-growth or passive solar design into consideration?
• Are you building to just sell or fufilling a specific asked-for need?
• Does your business mass grade soil on land parcels?
• What does your business do to reduce waste?
• Do your architects design for the product (i.e. the width of a SIPs panel) utilized vs. cutting, creating waste?
• Do you encourage reuse and recycled materials when possible?
  

These are my first thoughts, and I look forward to musing over Mr. Eldrencamp's writing more. What do YOU think?

 

Passive Solar House Kit - In it, we camped!

Still no interior walls (Ron is off building his pastor's house who needs to move in by Easter), but that did not deter us from camping in the house kit.

After four years of camping in the tiny-but-fantastic 1960s aluminum Scotty camper, I have to admit it was nice to lug a bunch o' the camping equipment from the Scotty to reuse in the open, spacious off grid modern house. As I pulled the practical, necessary camping equipment we had relied on for years from our beloved camper, I looked at it anew and realized that a lot of camping equipment is not eco-friendly! When we bought the necessary equipment years ago, it was because the folding chairs, storage tubs, cutting boards, machete knife cases, blaze orange hunting hats/gear were IMPERATIVE to have in an isolated place when camping through all seasons.

Now, in the comfort of the house kit, I'm looking at all this and thinking, "Man. If someone made environmentally friendly affordable camping gear they would make a FORTUNE!"

(Hmmmm. HMMMMM...
...
Nah, I already have too many jobs. But YOU do it!)

I was gone all Saturday at a social media conference nearby, so when I returned the mattresses had been blown up, the sheets and blankets were on, the "solar soldiers" (as we call the solar exterior lights) charged from a day in the sun, and two happy pipsqueaks were jumping and playing in their new passive solar living space.

Just seeing the queen-sized air mattresses in the still-not-framed-in bedrooms gave me a better idea of the room dimensions. Setting out the beds, the card table, chairs along the east side, really gives us a sense of the future finished space. It's perfect. It's open, filled with natural light, yet warm, cozy, interactive without being cramped. I can't wait to see it more furnished. It's getting very hard not to jump ahead and move in.

It had snowed over ten inches earlier this week...
The ground was wet and there was mud.
Oh, was there MUD.
A LOTTA mud.

I swept muddy dog tracks, children tracks, my tracks, his tracks.
(This is starting to read like a Dr. Seuss book, no? Say it ten times quickly.)
Aaaaaand was grateful we had chosen the smooth take-it-all concrete instead of frou-frou bamboo.
(I would have spent the rest of my life trying to protect that floor. It would have been awful. I would have been miserable.)

Yet, just days after a major snowfall, it was so warm this weekend we opened wide the doors wide and WOW could you feel the cross breeze- I can not wait to spend time here in spring! The dogs naturally gravitate to the passive solar sunbeams in the concrete thermal mass- and love surveying their kingdom from the open doorways while listing against the frame, half awake, in the sun.

I went for a nice long (muddy) walk with the 4 year old, watching while she measured creeks with her stick, surveyed the breached pond, and climbed hills with the dogs. A lot of trees had been downed from the heavy snow, so we had to cut some. Don't worry, the ones that fell were scrappy young ones that weren't part of the crop tree release strategy we have. We will never timber; but are trying to help prune and encourage healthy growth of the woods through selection so they can grow strong vs. competing for resources with weed trees.

It was good to hear the frogs.
They, and the bees, have had a rough few years. So to hear them peeping so exhuberantly in March was glorious. (Listen to video, below...)
I remember a few years ago on my family farm noticing that the pond was quiet, the 35' deep pond where I grew up fishing and canoeing and swimming and... listening to peepers. It was so strange to hear the blowing of the wind, the water, and, on that day, no frogs.

Frogs are loud. My entire life had, until then, been filled with the cacophony of peepers and bullfrogs. So to hear the frogs so loudly happy on "the land" gives me hope.

On Sunday, I spent a good bit of time curled up in a chair, reading fifteen year old issues of Countryside Magazine given to us by Ron & Judy while the children and dogs played.

Now HandsomeHusband, I will remind you, is from a large European city. He delighted in the scouting camera he had erected on a nearby tree and what it revealed: two deer stopping by to check out the off grid house kit! I'm including some of that here too.
: )



Here are more pictures, below, than you would EVER want to see of our fun weekend camping in the off grid zero energy modern house kit!
Just click on 'em to get the large version and captions!
(And some videos o' frogs and passive solar musings, below.
Hey, it was a fun, muddy weekend. : )
)

 

Passive Solar Modern House - Energy Efficient House Kit Update

It was in the low- to mid- forties when we arrived on the land and incredibly windy... but inside the modern passive house kit it was a cozy mid-sixty-ish.

Now don't forget that while we may have the exterior weather-tight, we have not yet hooked up systems. So that nice warmth was generated purely by the passive solar design.

This was the first day I have been able to take pictures of the finished structural insulated panels house kit exterior, so I went a little overboard- any of you whom have wondered what the completed outside looks like, well, you have more pictures than you could ever want to satisfy your curiosity. : )

I hope you enjoy 'em as much as I do!

I also apologize for some of the blurred photos- I will take better pictures and buy another 'cheap land camera I can get muddy and not cry about when the 6 year old drops it *again*'- it is clear it has been dropped one too many times.

As I mentioned, it was a very windy, brisk, February day; but inside the modern house it was calm, peaceful. Natural sunlight filtered in and filled the space in a wonderful way.

Really, there's no need for lighting except in the evening in my opinion.

Even without interior walls, the family naturally groups itself in areas of that main common space- we have thrown a fold up table and chairs on the west side where our dining area will eventually be, and some chairs and blankets for sleepy children on the east side where they naturally snuggle down and cuddle with the light falling on them, keeping them warm and secure feeling, as they rest.

I loved how I could (finally!) sit down at the card table and skim a homesteading magazine *while* having a nice view of the children and dogs playing in the dirt, see them, hear them, yet while they ran wild, everything was so calm and cozy where I sat...

Next we paint the west door black, and finish insulating around the foundation by putting foam all around the foundation that is currently exposed in these pictures.

Once that is done, the massive hill of dirt that my children have much enjoyed (yes I rue the day I tell them this) will be pushed back to infill around the house kit.

We also move on to framing the interior, then installing off grid solar and rainwater systems.

But more on that later, in the meantime, enjoy the beautiful day!

Below you will see a slideshow (click to get the bigger version that also has more detailed captions) plus some fun videos I made...

Oh, and yes, my Handsome Husband *did* run out and get us another camera after all these blurred pictures... : )

Ironically because the light was streaming in so brightly from the windows, the camera overcompensated these interior videos so they show darker than what it was in real life. In fact, I think all the pictures are darker as well. I'll take better videos / pictures next weekend...


My dogs were trying to tell me to let them inside as I made this video of the inside...
Look at that last frame, Khan rounding the corner while Pacha is telling me to Let. Them. In!


Here I talk about our vintage camper that, for four years now, has been our sole shelter here. We camp pretty much from early March until late November/mid December in that unheated camper... but cramming four people in there was getting pretty crazy and it is going to make a world of difference to now be able to be here year round in a house. (This video was made *last* weekend hence my reference to the unseasonably warm day- this weekend, it was your typical February temperatures!)