Last winter I had the chance to visit an earthship like none I’d ever seen before. Earthships are living buildings that are adapted to their environment to make use of climate, water, and waste products. When people think of earthships, they usually think of the desert southwest of the US, because that’s where they originated and where many of them are built. In this video we visit an unusual version of an earthship, still off grid, still adapted to its environment, but very different from what you normally envision when you think of an earthship.
Off grid water systems that meet most household needs can be set up with relatively little expense. A DC pump, a solar panel, batteries, and a pressure tank are pretty much all you need to get cold water into a house or to a field for agricultural applications.
I knew something was wrong with my system because the pump would kick on every ten to twenty seconds while I was using the water. Normally it should be kicking on every few minutes of extended water use. In this video I do some troubleshooting to figure out the problem and fix it so that I can extend the life of my pump. You might have the same problem sometime with your system.
Everyone who has a cistern looks forward to that day when they have to empty it and take the plunge into the depths of the earth to clean the gunk out. Even if you have a roof wash system, sediment inevitably builds up over time when your water comes from the sky.
I’m doing the dirty job of cleaning the cistern at Morel, one of the tiny houses at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. I’m pretty sure this cistern has never been cleaned, so it’s got some serious paleolithic buildup in the bottom.
I started an experimental vineyard 8 years ago at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage and have been developing a method of growing grapes organically in the Midwest. Nearly every commercial vineyard in the country outside of the West Coast and Southwest is highly dependent on chemical herbicides and pesticides. Continue reading
I’ve had a hoop house at Dancing Rabbit for over 5 years. In that time I’ve grown thousands of pounds of salad greens, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers. In this video, I take you on a little tour of my hoop house and its irrigation system. It uses entirely caught rainwater, solar power, and gravity for irrigation. This hoop house has allowed me to extend the growing season and provide the community fresh local produce year round. Continue reading
This video will show you the systems I’ve set up to collect rainwater and use it in my house. With water scarcity being such a big issue in many parts of the country and around the world thanks to climate change, overpopulation, and overconsumption, more than ever American households need to set up more sustainable systems for water use. Continue reading
