small-scale: life in an ecovillage » Environment

Retiring this blog

Brian — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 02:14:32 +0000

Well, I think I’m going to retire this blog.

It hasn’t gotten much attention in the past year, as I’ve shifted most of my attention to The Year of Mud, and soon, The House That Millet Built. Those two are more than enough to keep me occupied, as far as the personal blogging is concerned. Plus I can get most of what I want to say out through those venues.

So please continue to follow along at those websites! Life at Dancing Rabbit continues, but my interest in writing about it has shifted to those two venues for now…

Thanks for following.

Glimpse of community life at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage

Brian — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:47:55 +0000

Fellow Dancing Rabbit Member Nathan Brown will be interviewed in an Awake Now Radio interview. Check out the description here:

Back by popular demand, Nathan Brown joins us for a second guest appearance to take us on another fascinating journey to Dancing Rabbit Eco-Village in NE Missouri. During this show, we will focus upon: What Nathan loves about his life at DR; Personal growth work that he does; and his business as a business consultant/coach, and how his business ties into his life at Dancing Rabbit. Nathan’s work/play serves and promotes The Great Turning from our current Industrial-Corporate Age toward the formation of a Life-Sustaining Age. Nathan Brown is a eco social entrepreneur, healer, & social change activist living at Dancing Rabbit Eco-Village.

Tune in on September 2, at 4:00 p.m.!

The Ithaca farming and food scenes

Brian — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 18:56:49 +0000

I recently visited my friend Sean up in the Ithaca area of New York state for a few days. It’s a great little community up there. I’m a fan. There are strong progressive / environmental / farming / natural building / permaculture / local foods scenes. It’s definitely something of a hotbed.

Sean recently got himself 70 acres of land with two friends to start a food forest / farming community called The Good Life Farm, and it sounds like quite an exciting prospect. We toured the property, and I met his comrades Melissa and Garrett. (I also found out that I had met Melissa’s sister Ellen at Dancing Rabbit earlier in the year when the Burning Kumquats made a visit. What a small world! I love the intermingling of circles that I have encountered while living at DR.)

Over the visit, I had the chance to see a local natural builder’s light clay straw home in the works. It was a two floor timberframe beauty with fantastic woodwork, with materials coming from the surrounding land. Inside was an utterly gigantic masonry stove, complete with a little pie-baking oven along the back side. Gorgeous. It was inspiring to see. My exposure to natural building projects had thus far been limited to Dancing Rabbit, so it was great to see projects in a different part of the country.

Other visit highlights included eating roadkill deer meat. (It’s not too uncommon to find and eat roadkill, although of course your average Joe probably wouldn’t be into it. But as long as the condition of the animal is sound, it’s good eatin’. Really.)

We met up with Chris of EcoVillage at Ithaca to share stories about her community and my own, which was fun. It’s always a welcome opportunity to talk with folks from other intentional communities. (And I found out that I’m not the only one that doesn’t like ‘EcoVillage’s’ name.)

I contemplated if I would enjoy living near Ithaca throughout the trip. There are tons of great people, lots of local foods, natural building, permaculture, etc. stuff happening. Plus it’s more like my type of environment what with the greater wealth of wooded land. But towards the end of the three days, I realized how much I had come to appreciate northeastern Missouri. There’s something appealing about being in the middle of nowhere. I’m not sure if I could really explain it. Maybe it’s that I love the complete absence of city lights in the distance, which is not the case in this area of upstate NY.

Anyway, good times.

Five ways to prevent global warming

Brian — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 15:08:13 +0000

I tried out something a little different with my latest Planetsave post. Instead of writing about the usual super-niche topic, I addressed global warming with Five Ways to Prevent Global Warming That Big Media Won’t Tell You. It is also in a writing style totally different from what I am used to doing, so that took a lot of adjustment.

The problem (for me, anyway) with writing for Green Options is that the pay is performance-based, and unless you get a certain number of pageviews per month, you are essentially making peanuts. I’m currently re-evaluating the types of things I am writing about (or would like to write about) to try and determine if I can actually make any income through Green Options.

Nevertheless, please check out my writing if you are interested.

Cook with a hot box and save energy

Brian — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 02:28:52 +0000

Whenever I cook rice, I use a hot box. I boil the rice for five minutes, and then throw the pot into an insulated hot box for about three hours, and then have perfectly cooked rice for dinner. It’s a no-brainer way to use less energy.

I wrote up an article for Planetsave about how to make a hot box. You can read about it here: Take Action to Save Energy: Cooking with an Insulated Hot Box

Superheroes bike across Missouri

Brian — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:28:10 +0000

This weekend, I met some Superheroes. These were bike-riding Superheroes who take a month to do public service without any plans or agenda. This year’s location is Missouri, and they started off their ride by visiting Dancing Rabbit, Sandhill Farm, and Red Earth Farms, doing a day of service for each community.

The Superheroes headquarters is the Possibility Alliance community in La Plata, Missouri, which I visited a few times last year. I’m a big fan of what is going on down there: the community is completely petroleum-free, car-free, and electricity-free. I’m very inspired by this living model and the folks who live there, Ethan, Sara, and others.

Anyway, the Superheroes are super inspiring folks – the rides occur once or twice a year and they are totally unplanned – once they hit the road, they decide where to stop day by day. They help folks in exchange for nothing. This is activism at its finest. I could wax poetic about the whole concept, but it feels more genuine being able to actually talk about it. Maybe later.

Although, I had the chance to sit down with Ethan, who lives at the Possibility Alliance and co-founded the Superheroes movement. We had a great talk – about sustainability, radical simplicity, the balancing act of trying to live simply, and trying to bridge the gap between different alternative groups and communities – and it resulted in this article that I wrote for Planetsave.com: Superheroes Bike Across Missouri and Provide Public Service. I’ll write a second article about the Possibility Alliance itself.

Hopefully I’ll be able to go on next year’s ride. I really wanted to make this one ever since I heard about it last year, but the cob house has been taking all of my time, ya know. Next year, for sure!

Missouri rainfall ain’t over yet, apparently

Brian — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:11:27 +0000

It’s been the wettest spring, wettest summer, and perhaps it will even be the wettest fall on record here in Missouri.

Last week we got a whopping nine inches of rainfall, totally separate from anything Hurrican Ike delivered elsewhere. (Thankfully, Ike merely skimmed this part of northeastern Missouri, so we were spared any extra rain.)

It’s really been messing up my building schedule, as I’ve had to delay re-building my reciprocal roof frame. There’s just not much one can do when it’s raining all day and night, and the ground is completely saturated. Thankfully, this week’s forecast is looking solidly sunny thus far…

(Climate change = changing weather patterns? Huh? Who said that?)

Interview in TCNJ Magazine

Brian — Sat, 31 May 2008 23:23:06 +0000

At some point over the winter, someone from TCNJ Magazine interviewed me about living at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. (TCNJ was the college that I attended).

Here’s the article: Alumnus finds fulfillment living in a sustainable community

New DRTV video | Rocket Stoves: superefficient wood heaters

Brian — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:40:38 +0000

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

A few buildings here at Dancing Rabbit feature rocket stoves. Rocket stoves are superefficient wood-fired stoves that can easily be built using readily available and recycled materials.

In this DRTV video that I just wrapped up, Nathan and Tony describe two different rocket stove systems, detailing the inner workings of the stoves and their unique ability to store heat much more effectively than traditional wood stoves. Unlike other stoves, rocket stove flues can run horizontally through cob benches or other cob furniture, effectively storing much more heat that would otherwise be lost.

My own house (in the works) will some day feature a small rocket stove system with a flue that runs and wraps through a cob bed, heating the mass in the winter. (On top of that cob bed will be a mattress, of course, something like a Japanese futon mattress.) I’ll undoubtedly document that more closely when the time comes.

DRTV #6: Seasonal living at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage

Brian — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 16:18:31 +0000

I just finished up the latest Dancing Rabbit TV video. This one’s all about seasonal living at Dancing Rabbit. Check it out below:

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

Human-powered transportation

Brian — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 20:28:10 +0000

Today, Thomas and I went out to the land to collect and transport some of the pin oak trees I’ve cut to the village. We went out with the infamous ‘Cynder cart’ (a homemade handcart), which would serve as our sturdy, two-wheeled transport vehicle.

First, we had to drag the 30 foot long trees out to the edge of the woods, and then strap two at a time to the cart with bungee cords. These were heavy suckers. Some were heavier than others, but each weighed at least a couple hundred pounds, I’d imagine. I’m not really sure how much, but they were heavy. With the heavy ends strapped in the cart, we each pulled at the opposite ends of the secured trees to cart the whole mass up a slope, down a path, over a dam, upslope again, through a field, and then into the village. (It was quite far.) The cart bore the majority of the weight (with the careful positioning of the logs), but it was still extremely physically taxing. We managed two trips before calling it quits. I sit here now with muscles sore and stretching to keep from tightening up.

It’s very gratifying to do very physical labor with simple tools. Few people would choose this method of working. Here, we often use what we have, simple tools and human power to achieve what we need. Our dependence on resources is much narrower when we are able to do work by hand. I hope to continue with this philosophy of handwork throughout the construction of my cob house.

Lumberjacking

Brian — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:29:47 +0000

The days have been packed recently. A few days ago, I began cutting down pin oak trees for the living roof of my cob house. On Tuesday morning, Dan lent me a hand and we took down three trees in an hour and a half, despite the ground being quite muddy.

This morning, I went out alone and cut down a tricky tree more centrally located in a dense patch of pin oaks. It was very tough to bring down, since it was hung up in the tops of the trees. I walked back to the village, and thankfully Liat offered some help, and together we shook and pulled and dragged the tree down. This afternoon, I cut a smaller tree and easily toppled it. That leaves me with five total trees thus far. Hopefully I will be able to get at least two rafter poles from each. I need between twelve and sixteen of them.

The patch of land that I have been doing the cutting is very dense with pin oaks. Some are growing mere inches from one another. Pin oaks are tall and straight, making them appropriate for the reciprocal roof I want to build. The toughest part of the job is not so much the cutting, but the toppling of the trees, since they are so tangled with their neighbor trees. All of the cutting has been done with a bow saw, a hatchet, and a smaller saw for branches. It has been gratifying work.

Unfortunately, I don’t yet have a plot of land for my house. I have been in talks with another member here who is interested in letting go of his warren, since he has determined that it’s not worth the cost to him for the small amount of gardening he does on it. So there is that possibility. Because it’s not definite, I have not bothered with transporting the trees back to the village. (A damp ground doesn’t really help with that, either, though, which is probably the real reason I haven’t carted them back.)

We shall see.

Spring is coming

Brian — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:54:08 +0000

Today is the first day that I’ve truly felt that spring is arriving. Ok, well, the second day, but this one feels much more promising. Last weekend, on a 70+ degree day, we could see flock after flock of Canadian and snow geese flying north. A week or so earlier, the red-winged blackbirds, the first birds of spring returned.

It’s been cold this past week after that unusually warm weekend, so those couple days of warm weather were more of a tease than anything. Today felt pretty good, with a temperature somewhere in the 40s, but the energy was different. It really felt like spring was officially creeping up on us. People were out and about and working. Liat here started digging a trench for her schoolbus-turned-house, and I lent a hand for a while. Kids were running amok and playing outside. Green grass shoots are popping up out of the ground. And Skyhouse visitors and a guest recently showed up, a very sure sign that it’s almost that time again.

I anticipate this spring season. I am excited about being able to spend more time outside. Spring will have definitely arrived when the ratio of time spent outdoors to indoors is greater.

This week, I plan to start the next DRTV video. I should have started sooner than I am, but the idea behind this latest vignette is to highlight individuals’ plans for the upcoming season, how they have been preparing, how they’ve been keeping busy throughout winter, etc. Hopefully this video will shed light on the how life here is much more in sync with the seasons than elsewhere.

The latest cob house designs

Brian — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 21:23:44 +0000

In an earlier post about my cob cottage plans, I mentioned that I had some new design ideas. I’ve done some thinking about a new shape for the house, this latest (and perhaps final?) design being more like a spiral. (Or a scotch tape dispenser if you think about it.)

Check it out:

Originally, the design was more like a rounded rectangle, with the entrance in the southeast, opening directly into the room. This time, the door is in the northeast, opening into a curve of the house. This gives me a little space for shoes, jackets, etc., and it also means that people won’t immediately see the whole room upon entering. It’s a more gentle transition from outdoors this way. I’m pretty excited about this. It changes the feel of the whole building.

I also settled upon a reciprocal roof design. I don’t have an exact plan yet, but I have a good feel for how many beams I’ll need. I’ll probably get some oak wood poles from our land here if all goes well. Using a cart, I will transport these poles to my plot, and strip the bark before constructing the roof. I’m not totally sure what the layers above the poles will look like, but I’m still planning on having a living roof, probably with an EPDM membrane. EPDM is a type of synthetic rubber product, intended for waterproofing (ponds, for example). I should note that this product is the least exciting part of the roof construction. It’s a petroleum product. Unfortunately, I have not discovered any detailed instructions for creating a living roof without synthetic materials, but it must be possible since it’s been done in the past in places like Sweden. So instead of taking a gamble, I am going to be using EPDM, which is apparently very durable and has a long lifespan. Overall, I intend to use as few human-made, synthetic building materials in my cottage as is possible. EPDM is one exception, though.

Cob house designs and planning

Brian — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:53:23 +0000

Hello readers: to follow my cob house design and construction process, please visit The Year of Mud: Building a Cob House.

I’ve been dwelling on (pun sorta intended) my cob house designs for a little while now, making plenty of sketches and reading lots of different books. As of yesterday, I thought I was fairly settled on a basic design. The roof has been causing me the most anxiety, since that is where I have no experience in either design or construction.

But anyway, I had a salon/discussion last night to talk about my plans and to get feedback. I’ve been talking to a few different folks already, but I wanted to have a group discussion to get additional ideas. As a result of that talk, I am no longer so attached to my original design, and today I am doing some re-thinking, especially in terms of the roof I had in mind. Originally, my plans looked something like this.

It’s a small cob house, with an 11′x13′ interior, rounded corners, with an urbanite foundation and a living roof. The walls are projected to be about 18 inches thick. A 6′ wide porch is on the west side of the house.

The south-facing wall would feature a large sliding window, about 4-6 feet wide for solar gain. The entrance is positioned in the southeast corner. Smaller double hung windows rest in the east and west walls, with a tiny fixed window in the north. Along the west wall is a rocket stove connected to a 4′ wide heated cob bed and bench that wraps around the northwest.

Bookshelves would be cobbed directly into the walls. A three foot deep shelf would be positioned above the cob bed for storage. So. I’m now rethinking these basic plans a bit after learning about reciprocal roofs and seeing this incredible woodland home design.

Originally, I kept debating between using standard dimensional lumber or pole wood for the roof construction. I was leaning towards dimensional lumber since I figured it would be easier to work with, and it would keep the living roof design more uniform and easier to build. However, I did not like the idea of depending on milled lumber. I thought it would be much nicer to find wood poles here on the land and incorporate them into the building instead. But I was intimidated by the prospect of using lots of uneven pieces of wood.

How would that complicate the living roof? However, after talking with Mark of Red Earth Farms I became inspired by the reciprocal roof design, which could easily be made using pole wood. I even made a couple smaller scale reciprocal roof models using chopsticks and oak wood scraps. After doing some web browsing, I have seen a number of photos of natural homes with reciprocal living roofs.

Additionally, I am just starting to overcome my fear of a lack of familiarity with some of the construction process. Why should I worry? This is all one great big learning experience. If I really want to learn, I might as well design the cottage the way I really envision it. Take the bull by the horns. Now I am starting to reformulate my design to incorporate a reciprocal roof, and a slightly different building shape. The basic layout will be similar, but I think this potential second iteration will have a more unique design. We shall see.

UPDATE (7/21): See building with cob on the Tiny House Blog for a feature on my cob house in progress!