Oprah Disses A Modern Practical Home, I Rant About It, It Ends Up On TreeHugger! Which Brings Us To The Kitchen.

For the record, I do NOT have time to watch television.
*Ahem.* Ok, I do not have time to watch television a lot.

Honeychile, I found this video of Oprah touring a modern home on twitter, bay-bee!

I was so floored and embarrassed by Oprah's reactions to her host's tour I couldn't stop talking about it.  I admire Oprah - how can you not admire someone who overcame so many odds to become one of the most powerful people, ever?  And she really does SO much good. BUT her reactions throughout each frame of this video make me *cringe* - not only was she impolite to her host, it is clear she did not even try to understand the practicality and beautiful design of small footprint living.

Small footprint living extends beyond architecture. And this is where TreeHugger's Lloyd Alter brings us back to the modern, green living kitchen... read it all here!

Ironically the fridge we will have in our own prefab green home is the same size (maybe even smaller) as the European family in this clip. Like them, we embrace small footprint living, and that is reflected in the kitchen: we cook our own food, and cook daily, purchasing much of it from the Amish store or friend's farms or grow it ourselves... so no need for a big fridge. The fridge is for mostly any leftovers of a meal + a few items.

The freezer, however, *WILL* be much larger... why?
Not because I intend to stock up on frozen pizzas and buckets of hors d'œuvre from Costco ; ) (um, yeah- right) but because when I buy lamb, I buy A LAMB. And there will be venison to store.

Mr. Alter also sums up some aspects we embrace in our own line of prefab passive solar house kits:

From the article:

"1. Bedrooms are for sleeping.
This is an extreme example, but there isn't even a master bedroom, the parents make up a sofa bed in the living room. The kids share a very tiny one.
2. There is storage for everything.
If you can't hide it you don't own it.
3. Minimize the use of drywall
It appears that every surface in this apartment is either glass or a built-in with a laminate face; almost kid-proof. Drywall is really a paper faced wall with a hairy surface that collects dust and mould; glass and laminate clean up easily."

I also agree strongly with Mr. Alter's fourth point, that you have much to gain by living in the city.  But we have land in our blood, in our heritage, and focus on preservation though purchase of rural property.

I just can't stop watching this video...

The dining room view, stunning, and the host modestly introduces the view with,
"We like to spend time together as a family here..."  Oprah responds, "Well that's wonderful. That's all that matters..." (as if she were implying, "well, 'least ya got *that*...")...


More:

"But this is their whole bedroom? This is their whole bedroom. You're kidding me."
"That's your whole refrigerator?" ... "But that was your whole refrigerator... right there."
"Is there another floor? Where do you sleep?" ... "I saw the bed? This is the bed! That was just...charming...?"

I could never imagine Oprah walking into a low-income row house and making these same comments.  

Why is it okay to question people so who choose to live efficiently?

 

Prefab Green Home Contractor Meeting Rescheduled.

I have just rescheduled the meeting (previously cancelled due to snow last week) with our contractor in the prefab green home for Saturday.

Of course, the next comment from my coworker, Amy, was, "Did you hear they're calling for more snow?"

We. Shall. See.

In the meantime, we had Gwendolyn & Damon Pearson over for dinner last night.  You may already be aware of Damon Pearson, our Princeton-trained architect, partner in the fabulous design and fabrication firm, Tektonics, and designer of our sister modern prefab site, Green Cabin Kits. 

We have some upcoming big news on those prefab green homes – we are now modifying them to be fabricated like the rest of our prefab house kits (modern prefab at Green Modern Kits, and prefab cottages at Green Cottage Kits) – already passive solar, and built with SIPs, the prefab cabins will now be fabricated at plants throughout the United States, not just Tektonics.  We will be publishing those new designs in January.

I am also adding new voices to Green Cabin Kits – the Pearsons.

Gwendolyn will provide a counter point to the industrial and prefab design / technical voice that Damon, as the architect, will add.  Oh, she will be off topic (and likely off color) – but leads such an interesting life as an environmental educator for a national nonprofit that I want to share her daily musings with the world.  There were *so* many tales told over the table last evening it certainly could provide fodder for months of postings!  (Ask her about the bucket of eels…)

Of course, when there was a wane in conversation, we always had the dogs to entertain us… (see below video…)

That’s all I can say for now… in the meantime, I hope you enjoy the food pics from dinners this week!

And more exciting news on all our prefab house kits coming after the New Year.

 

 

Modern Reused Bed For A Modern Green Prefab Home

We had hot soup at my parents, on an icy, sleeting, miserable downpour of a winter day.
As you could see in the previous post, even the chickens wanted to come inside!

And even better than the delicious soup, we left the children behind!
What to do with the freedom? 

Honeychile we hot-footed it to our favorite Richmond thrift stores, to browse lazily without having to scold and watch and hurry the little ones!

At Restore (RVA's Habitat For Humanity recycled and reused material goods store on Roane Street) we found a pristine Danish modern bed made of teak with drawers underneath to reuse, recycle into our modern prefab green home! We were so pleased with its simple, clean modern lines, the simplicity, the functionality, the practical uses for our bedroom in the prefab green home and... that it cost...
$349.

It did.

We also found a sink!

At another local thrift store we found some large, hardy wine and beer glasses with a thumb print design for 75 cents apiece.

Again, this is in keeping with my careful, treasure hunting philosophy that it is more fun, more stylish, and more sensible to reuse and recycle than buy out of the box.  Seriously, think of the modern prefabs / homes you visit: What are they furnished with? Ikea. Not completely dissing Ikea, but... my home looks like my home because it has no pattern, and why the heck not reuse and hunt through thrift store's treasures so they don't end up in landfills? Serious fun, folks, but it also takes patience and planning.

The patience and planning and scouring for good modern furniture finds is so much fun, and so worth it... we don't look like everybody else, and I love that by shopping at Restore in RVA, I am not only recycling and reusing materials but helping a great cause, affordable housing.

Enjoy! Here's the bed!


And here's more on Restore in RVA:

"Why Should I Shop at ReStore?
Shopping at ReStore is an adventure! Every day we have new inventory to choose from, including furniture, flooring, architectural items, cabinetry, fixtures, wallpaper, appliances and more—at prices up to 90% below retail!  Some items are new, some gently used, and others come from deconstruction.  Not only can you find some beautiful items and great bargains, but you are helping the environment and low-income families at the same time.

It is estimated that Virginia landfills will reach maximum capacity in the next 5-10 years. Approximately 20% of these materials are construction and demolition debris.  In fact, a single Virginia landfill can receive over 50,000 tons of such materials in one year."

 

Another Net Zero Off Grid Weekend In The Prefab Modern House Kit

After a week of rain, the sun broke out and the skies were blue as we headed to the net zero prefab modern house kit!  Still with no systems installed, our net zero off grid prefab was cozy, and lovely to visit.

I know better but I did it anyway: I am starting to slowly drag furniture out there, knowing full well the construction dust that will soon ensue.  Years ago my Handsome Husband discovered this stackable bookcase in a thrift store. He thought it terribly expensive ($30), but loved its soft curves and that it was solid wood.

It was then reused in my home office, then reused in an infant's room, now to be reused by all of us in the prefab house!  I will give it a fresh coat of paint this spring, but in the meantime it anchors the east side of the south room, beginning the interior design and use of that area as I envisioned: the reading corner. 




When I thought we would have a wood stove (no longer necessary as we installed radiant heat in the polished concrete foundation), I mentally placed the stove against the center wall, then a circle of floor pillows and books within cozy, languid reach.  The bookcases you see are open on each side; so I envisioned mid-century Popular Mechanics, books on "How to do XYZ (insert something fun, educational, practical here)" and Countryside Mags facing the casual reading area, then on the other side of the bookcase and facing the south view grouped with the more adult furniture, you can discover high design / architecture magazines and books.

I am still mentally working on these groupings... In the meantime the bookcase will stay against the wall and be a bookcase / kitty cat climbing cave for a certain 5 year old.

The purple Steelcase chair was found for $3, a 1970s contract furniture piece. We have two in purple, and two in mustard.

I added books that we have been collecting:

- Mid-century volumes of encyclopedias and United States history for children (the illustrations are *incredible*)

- Old Countryside Mags (full of reader tips and wisdom!)
- Mid-century Popular Mechanics (again, the graphics rock AND it's fun to learn!)
- Lots of Civil War and Virginia history books, written from many perspectives
- A large volume on historic Charlotte County
- Brochures and guide books on cool Virginia state parks and history sites to visit
- The usual Dwell and Metropolis Mags

Without my having to explain my interior design intent, I turned around and the furniture and area were being used exactly as I imagined.

On Saturday we emerged out of days of cold and rain to see highs of 60ish, and dropping into the low 40something. (40-42)  Inside the modern prefab, *still without systems*, we arrived to find the temperature reading 62; and, after an evening of 40ish, awoke to find the house at 59.

We will further insulate the passive solar prefab by adding foam around the exterior of the foundation before infilling the earth around the prefab house, and adding sealant around the windows before finishing the interior walls.

Next we will add more recycled, reused furniture little by little, bringing something out with each trip; and of course start the interior walls and systems.  We thought our first quote for finishing the off grid electrical / plumbing to be high, so we are still gathering quotes. Stay tuned...

 

Prefab Modern House Kit Covered By NBC 12 & Charlottesville's C-ville

Well... While we were off at the beach... the net zero prefab modern house kit was being talked about! NBC 12 covered the off grid prefab house on Tuesday:

See the prefab video here!

Then today, Charlottesville's C-ville wrote about the modern prefab house:

"Little houses that could

Green Modern Kits offers prefab, energy-efficient houses through its website.

Hankering for an energy-efficient, maybe even off-the-grid house that won’t carry an upper-middle-class price tag? Check out Green Modern Kits, a Virginia-based company that offers affordable prefab kit homes through its website, greenmodernkits.com.

Founder Copeland Casati tapped Charlottesville architect David Day as part of the design team for the houses, which are built of SIPs (structural insulated panels) and designed to work as passive solar homes if oriented correctly. That adds up to savings on the front and back ends. And if your aesthetic is more traditional, try Casati’s other site, greencottagekits.com.—E.H."

 

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!)

 

The Cladding Rant: Modern Passive Solar House Update: The Amish And The Internet: Cladding. It sounds like the beginning of a joke...

Modern House Kit Week In Review:
I start with a recap:

For all you house kit enthusiasts, here's the latest news:
The modern metal cladding was delivered to the Amish the Friday prior to this update. They were able to unload it to the brother's sawmill, and I wish I could have been in that huge truck with the driver as he pulled off the interstate into the world of horse-and-buggy.

The driver of the cladding said he had a great time watching the entire operation as he waited for them to unload, using special "Amish forklifts" that meet their religious criteria (you can see pictures and a video of the Amish forklift by clicking here).

Last Monday:
The cladding was delivered to the job site, the Amish had arrived, and a day of work on the passive solar house began.

Except... questions arose regarding the cladding.

So their driver, who is non-Amish and carries a cell phone, called the cladding company.

Who then told the Amish, standing in our desolate field, in the middle of *nowhere*...

...

to look it up on the internet.
...

...

Told THE AMISH.
In the middle of NOWHERE...
To look it up on THE INTERNET.

The contractor (who was visiting his beautiful grandbabies in Florida and was technically on vacation when this happened) called me, I immediately stepped in, and had some gracious, well modulated words with the cladding representative.

You can't tell the Amish (or anyone else on site!) to "look it up on the internet." In the field, you need answers to questions, now.

The rest of the week progressed with occasional rain, which slowed us down...

And just as my thoughts turned to the fun upcoming weekend we would have taking pictures of the shiny new cladding on the house kit, walking you all through it with new video, how super-mod it would look, how sleek, how stunning... !!!...

(Start playing violin here)

...AS my eyes glazed in dreamy reverie of me, in happy dappled sunshine, sporting a floaty sundress, running, arms outstretched, in slow motion across fields awash in golden blooms to hug my beautiful shiny passive solar house kit...

Our fabulous-and-duly-put-out-by-inefficiency-much-less-protective-that-the-Amish-were-being-compromised (I agree) contractor called.


The frickin' cladding people had neglected to include that north clerestory wall section as part of their kit. And other cladding stuff.

Why
why
WHY is this so difficult?

All I wanted was to set up a national manufacturer to offer volume pricing so our customers could get a really good deal on the modern metal cladding if they so chose! ALL I wanted was to save people (you!) money! All I wanted was to make it easy for... YOU. (I'm very put out with YOU, whomever you may be, at this point. ; ) Hee hee...)

Ergh...

So it looks like we will be awaiting that stretch of cladding...
I shake my head...
Good news is, that after this, I will have a turnkey solution for... YOU : ), for the casa ti.

Ya would have thought the nerve-wracking point would have been the actual house kit, no?
When that went up seamlessly, I thought,
"Oh wow, the scary part is over, and it went great! Huzzah! All we have to do is cladding, and interior walls, and systems... but that's all easy!"

And then... came cladding.

Business Analysis:
I tell ya, it *really* has made me appreciate the architects without whose vision this would be a reality, the house kit factory, the distributor, the engineer, our fabulous contractor... It has all gone SO smoothly, and then you suddenly run into a snafu like this... all of the cladding "this"... it is just hard to understand *why* it happened.

It wasn't just this one vendor.

When I researched, then approached, national cladding manufacturers (not just this one), they all mentioned they were in lean times.

I assumed their biggest hurdle would be to visualize a new business opportunity, to think less of commercial and more of modern residential applications and understand that affordable housing can be really, really beneficial to their business long-term.

But that wasn't the issue.
Over and over I encountered a lack of detail and enthusiasm, the sense that sitting down and really going through an architect's plan, to then write up a diagram for future contractors to easily see where each piece of cladding went where... was too... bothersome?

I'm sorry, but if we start to see these same companies fail in 2009, it wasn't because they didn't have a relevant product. It's because they didn't understand opportunity, service, changing markets and detail.

Let's compare them to the SIPs people.
Even before we purchased the house kit, our local SIP factory offered free workshops on SIP to our contractor (and us, if we wanted!). (Ron, our outstanding contractor, did attend their workshop, an expense we, as our own house kit consumers, gladly paid him for travel and time to attend.)

January 20th Correction: Ron just called me to please change my account of events. With trepidation, I asked, "What did I misunderstand?!?"

He replied, "The homeowner should pay for travel, meals, and lodging to attend these free SIP workshops offered by the factory. But they should NOT pay for the contractor's time."

"What? You didn't charge me?" Now I was feeling REALLY bad and guilty. Here we have this AWESOME contractor who has gone above and beyond any of our expectations. We've made a lifelong friend (actually two, his wonderful wife, Judy), a great neighbor, and here I shirked him for time spent on our project? (Believe me, at this point he's coming out barely breaking even on our escapade.)

Ron corrected me:

"For anyone in the construction industry: The time you spend in learning anything, any new technology, will work for your business long term and be an added value for his or her business: The more diversified you are, the better you will survive long term."

As our house kit went up, the factory was there, aware of the project, available at any time in case there was a question. In fact, they offered to have a service technician come ON SITE for the first day or two to ensure the project went smoothly!
(Which, as it was running so smoothly, we declined!)

If anyone is reading this in the construction industry, I hope you take note.
1. Be open to new opportunities outside of your experience. It might be the best business decision you make. Learn to put your ear to the ground and listen to new business applications for your product coming down the road.
2. Customer service is key. It's not about the sale, it's about the successful, seamless project.
3. Follow up. Return people's phone calls. The SIPs factory checks in on me regularly.
Actually, they check in on all of YOU- those that are in permitting stages, but not under order yet! Thorough, not sales-y, just care about the stories of the people I've mentioned to them!

The cladding? I have *never* had them return a phone call before I called them again.
And not this firm, ALL of them. I met initially with several of them, and not one followed up.
They all went to my contractor.
And he smiled and said, "Well, you'd best go back to your client."

I will still offer them to you, because I hammered down pricing.
Ohhhhhhhhhhh but I will watch them, and warn you upfront.

So sad, I went through five of them, and only after all the research for national fulfillment.

My husband just, reading this, made a great point:
It's not just the SIPs factory. (This I know too well, but failed to mention appropriately:)

Compare it to our Contractor:
On a *local* level, our project manager, our CONTRACTOR, the fabulous and cannot-retire-because-so-many-people-will-need-him Ron Bernaldo, his team (thank you Daniel Esh Construction even though you can't touch the internet because you're Amish! I know these kudos will reach you somehow...) and their subcontractors... Ayyyyyyyyyyy PLUS.

On a national level, Home Depot.
We had ordered the doors and windows through them (that's the thing with the window and door schedule we provide, it's supposed to make it easy on the consumer to order energy efficient doors and windows through national distributors but locally at a good price).

The Lynchburg Home Depot (Ron in millwork there especially, but ALL of them even if I was just checking on an order) were SO customer-service driven... GREAT people. Ron would call me regularly, just to "check in", not salesman, (just as I see myself- I will NEVER follow up on you to sell- heck, I'm happy! But I will check in to see how your soil testing is going, or your zoning decision... I'm a great project manager but would never "sell" something someone doesn't want. Selling? Icky. Project Management? Fun. ) just a good guy knowing a project was in process and outstanding and seeing how the project was coming along.

He even took the extra effort where this Lynchburg Home Depot doesn't have employee emails (yes I will refrain from saying anything about that as a media company : ) ), so he, on his own initiative, gave me his personal email address and *worked weekends* to receive my files on his personal computer, to discuss them, complete my order... Wow.

Any-hoo, those are my thoughts this evening... rapidly leaving a business analysis mindset for sweet dreams on my pillow, of days in our casa ti to come. Spring comes soon...

: )

Sincerely yours,
Best wishes,
Copeland Casati

 

Modern Passive Solar House Kit with Cladding

Here are the latest pictures of our modern passive solar house kit!

Handsome Husband returned from the land with these pictures of the cladding as it is going up. I couldn't resist just letting this post be pictures / video of the modern house and not the post I had planned- a business analysis on why finding affordable, national distributors of cladding for residential use has been so difficult.

Hope you enjoy our Supa Mod House Kit Update!
As you go through the modern passive solar house pictures, remind yourself that all of this: putting together the structural insulated panels (SIPs), the shiny super mod cladding, the passive solar design... all of this is being done by... the Amish!

Pretty crazy, huh?


Here's a slideshow, click on it if you want to get all up close and personal.


And here he walks us through the affordable green house interior...


And the modern house exterior...

 

Zero Energy House Kit Update! Modern Design Kit Construction Day 6

Please welcome our guest blogger, Ron Bernaldo of Giant Oaks Construction!
Here he recounts Day 6 of our Modern Passive Solar House Kit construction.

"Yes, it was cold this morning... It never made it to 49 today like they predicted...

The lumber we had to buy on this project was more than I thought, if I were going to buy a kit I would expect to get everything provided.

We had a good day today. I want this weather tight Monday, so we will need a great day Friday (tomorrow is Thanksgiving) to make that happen.

I'll start installing windows Friday morning, so it should look spiffy by the time you get here.

We're still waiting to meet with the new cladding vendor Monday.

I spoke to the rubber roofing contractor who says he tentatively can do that low roof membrane next Saturday."

Copeland's note: I will make sure I reiterate very clearly not only with the client but their contractor that yes, this is a *bare bones* kit, for a good reason: Each person will have their own systems choices, cladding decisions (although I am hooking you up with a volume pricing for the metal cladding, etc.) that will customize the kit. At the end of the day, you guys want a kit that's energy efficient and gorgeous, but that you can make look like your *self*!

If, as the factory had mentioned in a previous response, we had included all that framing lumber with the kit, the cost for shipping etc., would have been substantial vs. buying locally. I think what I'll do is really go over that aspect with every new contractor as each project starts so they are very clear on their estimates.

We will go and check out the house Friday... In the meantime, I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

 

While our Net Zero Modern House cures: Eero Saarinen Exhibit at the Virginia Center For Architecture!

While we're waiting for our modern net zero house foundation to cure, I went to the Mod Mid-century Eero Saarinen Exhibit at the Virginia Center for Architecture with our friend Tony.

Y'all are so sick of me blah, blah, blah-ing about the house kit, modern design, etc.

So here's just a bunch o' modern furniture pictures we took!

 

Modern SIPs House Kit: Foundation Work Video And Photos!

Ah, fall. It's been rainy and we all have colds.

So when the 4 year old whined that she wanted to stay home and play "pony"... recognizing that this time of year we pretty much camp every weekend and will be doing so for the next few weeks... we conceeded.

The Boyz, adventurous, strode off to the land; The Girlz, keeping close to home, had a lunch date with Mr. H and the H's two daughters: Three happy girls talking about ponies and unicorns while Mr. H & I split a hot saki and gorged on delicious Asian food. : )

Our modern house kit foam is down, the foundation and radiant tubing are being laid, and pretty much from now on you will quickly see our prefab hybrid SIPs house become complete.

Our fabulous contractor Ron thinks it will take about five days to put the SIPs panels together and frame the windows /doors /interior load bearing wall for our modern house, fyi, for your own evaluation and estimates.






In the meantime, here are some pictures and videos of the land taken by The Boyz... happy and muddy and running loose in the wild. ; ) Keep yer eyes peeled for next week's installment of Green Modern Kits: SIPs House Kit Construction Continues On Our Modern House!

 

Videos and Photos and Press, Oh my! And then... there's the Amish. : )

Today I ordered our super-cool siding (a $5,000 deposit I had saved myself, budgeting tightly, not increasing debt / not taken out on our potential loan, thank you very much, therefore one more thing that will be "paid for"/ saved for/ don't need no debt fer ; ) ), and on Monday the foundation work began.

We will camp this weekend, so expect more pictures and video soon. : )

My challenge: That what makes this project even more special in my heart prevents me from well-documenting/doing the usual b.s. video/interviews/pushing for publicity it as it occurs because:

Our house kit construction is being built by a team of local Amish!

The Amish refrain from photographs, because it violates their belief that photography is vain/a 'graven image.'

My friends that know and work with them well have been given permission to take images of, say a field where they are working in the distance, for the purpose of showing what a farm looks like (to your right is my friend G's farm who took this picture with their permission); but having just met them, I wouldn't dare impose.

I'm just going to have to work around it, so expect lots of pictures of my VERY handsome contractor Ron instead of "Ron and his crew!" and pictures of us out there when everyone's left. Not quite my original picture of "documentation."

Despite that this is my business... I won't have it any other way: I concede.

I support my community, and am grateful to have the wonderful people who strode beside us as new neighbors, making sure we were exposed to the best craftsmen... Besides, we already have others in the pipeline of building so let them get all the attention! : )
(Ya hear that Ohanahaus and Canada1? ; ) )

Amish are wonderful neighbors. We've enjoyed getting to know the children that man the stand where we buy our bread and relishes weekly, and my children have grown up playing "Amish stand"-- seeing children involved in commerce, involved in helping their family.

I found an interesting post regarding the Amish, and how local communities have accommodated themselves to benefit the new Amish communities, therefore economically benefiting their own business- check out http://amishamerica.typepad.com/amish_america/nebraska_amish_ultraconservative/ - and see that picture of Walmart that even created hitching posts for their buggies! (Yes, of course I have mixed feelings about Walmart! That's what intrigues me further! It certainly says something about the Amish buying power that a large national business would build hitch posts for their buggies!)

If you are curious about the Amish and their views regarding technology, I encourage you to read this: http://www.amishnews.com/amisharticles/amish_tech.htm It really explains the thought behind their decisions, and I have to admit it makes a lot of sense.

An excerpt:

"Rheingold notes that the Amish 'mold technology in the service of community. If we decided that community comes first, how would we use our tools differently?' Or, as an Amishman has said concerning whether a new technology will be acceptable, does it 'bring people together or draw them apart?' Answers to such questions often determine the 'ordnung,' the rules of the Amish church community, often unwritten, about what is and is not acceptable.

But the Amish concern is not just over how technology might change the community, but also the individual. One man noted that it's not just what or how you use a technology, but 'what kind of person you become when you use it.' When I asked an Amishman why an electric refrigerator was not acceptable, but a propane gas one was, he simply said, 'You've never seen a bottled gas television set, have you?' The implication here was not that electricity was bad. The concern was what would come with it --- TV, radio, computers, the internet, and all the influences of the modern world and media. 'Electricity is a hotline to the modern world.' "

And here's a great article on the Amish incorporating solar power within their community!
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_left_story/20080920_Amish_turn_to_solar_power_for_electricity.html

Any-hoo, keep yer eyes peeled, we're documenting (as we can! ; ) ), building, and hoping to spend Thanksgiving in our own net zero house kit casa ti...

Just as you have traveled a journey to get to your green, efficient home goal... our own dream spans generations of hope and dreams (and MOD STYLE!)...

The land becomes named after being abandoned in the 1800s (yes, it *is* Higher Ground.); and we, stewards again.

For the quail we will make sure they have their brush; the woods, crop tree release to free the trees to better grow, healthy. And over the years we will not only improve the soil that was previously farmed, but the wetlands and streams, letting them... be. Not developed, nor sold into parcels when development encroaches.

That is my pledge.

Sincerely yours,

Copeland Casati

 

Akemi Tanaka Modern Furniture Kit for Green Modern Kits!

I am beside myself, laughing! Because the talented industrial designer / mod furniture queen Akemi Tanaka just sent me her furniture kits for Green Modern Kits.

It fits all the Green Modern Kits requirements:

• gorgeous design
• but practical, does multiple things
  
• and affordable

Makes me all crafty-feelin' and ready to whip out a saw and hammer and get to work!
We will be offering our furniture as a flat-pack kit... more on that later...

Why furniture? Everyone knows I'm the thrift store/reuse/recycle queen!
But the reality is that with smaller footprints, we need our furniture to do multiple things.
Just like our house kits, this furniture *works.* And looks amazing. And is expected to last.

In the meantime here are some pics of Akemi Tanaka furniture (note: this is custom work NOT her furniture kits!):