Earthbag Houses, Organic Food and Self-Sustainability

Yes! All my favourite topics right now. With the land my partner and I now have (or are soon to have) we can finally bring to reality our dream of living in an earthbag house. Basically it's a house made entirely out of bags filled with dirt, like the stuff they use to stop water during a flood-I'm sure you've seen them. We would personally be finishing off the exterior of the walls (as well as doing the floor) with adobe, which is basically a mixture of earth, sand and/or clay and hay or manure. You can dry it out in the sun and buff it to perfection. It's also very clean despite what it's made of. A lot of buildings in the south are built from this stuff-picture mexican villas. I'm thinking dome archways and circular rooms.We were thinking of doing a sod roof as well.


courtesy of tinyhouselistings.com

I really think this type of dwelling would suit me best. I always felt out of sorts in a regular house-kind of like a cat living in a birds nest. It just ain't right. When I was younger I told one of my friends to kindly put me out of my misery if I ever ended up living in a normal house with a green grass yard and white picket fence. Now when she comes to visit I can't help but feel ashamed of my living situation-and pick up on her occasional wonderings about what I think of living in a 'normal' house. I mean don't get me wrong, the house we live in now is pretty run down and there's no sign of a white picket fence, but it's still too much for me. I'd be happier living in a hole under a root in the forest.

We've found a great location for the house on the farm-in a wooded lot right in the middle of the acreage. We hope to begin building it sometime next spring. In the meantime Fred is going to practice earthbag building by creating for me a 'witch hut' as we call it. A small room in the woods where I can have my cauldron-yes I said cauldron- for making various teas and other concoctions, and also meditate and study my plants.
*note I'm going to the Plant Spirit Medicine Conference in Vancouver in a couple weeks, check out their website and you'll know more of what I'm talking about when I say 'concoctions'. http://spiritplantmedicine.com/

The lamb farm is presently organic, and that is one thing that Sue, the woman who currently owns it, wants to remain the same. We have no issues with that, we have bought all organic food since we got here (never having had the option in NFLD) and never want to go back. Some people don't believe in organic, most of my extended family members being a part of this group, but I am avidly against GMO's and don't want any near me or my kids. I'm also glad to avoid all the extra hormones, antibiotics and pesticides, but GMO's are my main concern. I just don't trust them, plus I like to keep my lifestyle as old-fashioned and close to nature as possible.

Fred and I are planning to become as self-sustainable as we can on the farm. We know we can grow all our own produce, with exception to some more special items, but those will become something like a bi-annual treat. We are also going to be raising all our own livestock, starting with chickens. We're in the process of building a coop right now, and will have approximately 30 chickens. That's enough so that we can eat one chicken per week if we continually breed and hatch more throughout the year. It will also give us about 2 dozen eggs per week, most of which we plan on selling to the B&B next door or at the local farmers market. Over the next year or so we will be building a large greenhouse (insulated so it can take us through the winter) and purchasing various kinds of livestock. All the goodies that we produce will be organic with the added bonus of being free-range and grass-fed when it comes to the livestock.

We aren't connected to the town sewer system, we use well water and a very convenient septic system called a septic field, in which the sewage literally flows out into your backyard. Well, it flows underground in a special field constructed of layers of rocks and covered with dirt and grass, so you'd never know what it really was.

The only technology we use within our home is the fridge, stove, computer and lights. This usually costs us about $30 a month, totally reasonable, and if we had to, we'd use a root cellar and fire to store and cook food, and beeswax candles (there's some beehives in the backyard). The computer, well, I could give that up if I needed to.
We're also getting into canning so we can use as little fridge space as possible and help us get through the winter with some canned veggies. It's also very convenient if you're in a rush to have a pre-made canned meal that you know is healthy (unlike like store-bought pre-made meals) that you can just warm up and serve.

Right now we don't actually heat our house, we just pile on the long john's and sweaters.But when we live in the earthbag house we will have a wood stove for heat (and will still try to use it as little as possible).

That's the plan so far, and I feel really good about it. Like I said, I want to be as old-fashioned and close to nature as possible, because it makes me feel so much better and it just feels right. I think we're on our way here, finally!