Strange and powerful day today … started out beautiful snow white and sunshine. I brought in the chainsaw, sharpened it and went to work. Finished a tank of gas and went to reload it. Couldn’t get it going again … it started but shut down numerous times … then wouldn’t start. Not good! Read the [...]
Author Archives: iamronen
Snowstorm 1
I’ve been home alone for the past two days and so I am also alone in my first snow storm. This morning started out wet – it was slushy – a mixture between snow and rain … and muddy. The prevailing outside color was brown (the previous snow had already melted). Then the slush became [...]
Cuevas de Sol
A well documented studio Earthship in Spain – the first I’ve seen with partial earth walls with tires added only above ground.
Water – Digging
There was quite a bit of digging (manual and machine) involved in our water infrastructures. I can point out for distinct efforts: (1) a cement box for the pump; (2) a cement box for main supply valves; (3) a long trench for a water pipe and electricity; (4) getting water in and out of the [...]
Is It Possible to Build an Earthship in Moist, Freezing, Expansive Clay Soil?
We have beautiful, heavy, clay-rich soil. It’s great for cob (which explains the local proliferation of cob houses), great for earthen plasters and earthen floors but it seems to pose some challenges when it comes to underground construction such as Earthships. I hope in this post to outlines the challenges and what solutions I have [...]
Solunit Rocket Stove
Elaborate images of a rocket stove building project with a very nice cob finish to it.
Solunit
Nice images of cob / earthbag / strawbale construction in what looks like a desert landscape.
Brats, However …
Sam (an American living in Cluj) wrote an excellent post about Romanian people. Sam is a city dweller while we live in the village – so sometimes I feel that his take on all things Romania is a bit tainted by his perspective. This time I think Sam nailed it: There are a few tough [...]
Earthship Belgium
One of the more vibrant and informative of the European Earthship sites.
How to Avoid Spacer Blocks in Earthship Tire Walls
I came across these two excellent illustrations of how spacer-blocks can be almost completely avoided in rammed-tire walls. It’s one of those cool smart and simple things. It comes complement of Earthship Belgium from an excellent post on how to efficiently organize and build rammed-tire walls. Both of these solutions rely on the use of [...]