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we prefer the pace of life, here. It is a family-oriented culture. Food is also cheaper and easy to find produced locally. Lots of reasons. We couldn't really afford the US anymore, and we didn't want to go into debt.

yes, we are currently building its roof, probably finish next week. Another option would be to through in some small fish like minnows or bluegill to take care of the insects.

More photos We are moving forward with the Food Web model system. We have started construction on the barn's water. It is a 7,000 gallon rain catchment system. We've been experimenting with liner-tanks for large capacity water storage, and this one is coming out great. The basic concept...

What is a Food Web? The Food Web is a holistic approach towards small scale food production. Basically, it's a way to increase efficiency and yields by integrating your livestock. If you are going to raise animals on your homestead, you should design connections and interactions between them...

do some searches on earthbags. There are a a few good books on that style, and they work well on flat land. There are several websites with example plans and getting started guides, as well.

here's a photo of the roof and end wall going up: http://www.velacreations.com/shelter/building-materials/concrete/item/51-percrete.html Compare that to the other photos where there is nothing, and you will see that the roof comes from the house and rests on the Rapidobe wall. We don't have...

the "steel beam" is just a 3" cpurlin. It doesn't add strength to anything, just gives us a way to tie in the roof. The earth is the strength. I will see if I can get some more photos of the finished structure. If you look around our site, I have lots of photos of the whole house.

the link is to our structure that was built using this method. There are photos throughout the text. Here are more photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/velacreations/sets/72157628554400001/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/velacreations/sets/72157629337022610/ The original link with photos and...

follow the link on the original post for our structure built with this method.

yeah, it is load bearing. It is compressed earth. The more you tamp it, the more load it can carry.

you'd be surprised how much vegetation will help disguise a structure. Make your berm house then cover the berm with plants, and it will blend in fairly well.

yeah, you fill the bags with dirt and tamp them down. Check out Mike Oehler's book, the $50 underground house. That is what inspired me. My system is easier than his, but they both work, and they're both super cheap.

cool! let me know if you need any help. Also, check out earthbags, it is a similar technique.

This is how to get your BOL bunker set up for cheap and easy. It's a really simple construction system using dirt and billboard tarps. You could do this even in a very remote location, as the materials required are very lightweight. The basic design is posts, then stucco mesh, then thick...

you might look for used old bricks in your area. I see a lot o them around certain cities, and they would probably be super cheap or even free.

You didn't offend me at all, though I was a bit confused. No worries! Sweep, then mop with water. Same as tile. Yeah, I think you could use thinner brick, and I'd imagine it would still be pretty cheap. These bricks are 6" wide, 12" long, so 1/2 square foot. I believe we paid about $.15...

no, the sand doesn't work loose, mainly because of the sealant. Traditionally, this would have been boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits, and then maybe waxed every few years. We use a modern concrete sealer.

it feels great! it is softer than tile or concrete, harder (and more durable) than wood. The bricks are Compressed Earth Bricks, and are 4" thick, same as any normal brick. Compressed earth blocks are cheaper than fired bricks, and you can even make them yourself. We have references on our...

It's not an ad, we don't sell anything. I thought folks might find the information useful. For cleaning, we just sweep and mop like tile or anything else. The sealant makes a hard, tile-like finish that can be cleaned very easily. It is really easy to maintain. We've had this installed for...

When considering what material to use for a floor, few people look beyond a concrete slab, with something like tile or carpet as a finish. For us, however, there were several factors that made a stabilized compressed earth brick (SCEB) floor far more appealing, including cost, skill, and time...