The deep breath before the plunge

.. is how Tolkien described the quiet waiting before the Battle of Minas Tirith, if I remember correctly. It’s a great analogy for that tense yet calm anticipation of major activity and ok, so we’re not waiting for a battle against the orcs of Mordor here, but it is something that really matters to us: [...]

Studying and thinking

The bad weather has definitely kept me out of the field, these past few days, but we have been using the time to study and think more about the first build in Spring.
I think it’s probably going to end up being quite similar in size and style to Simon Dale’s hobbit-type house. You can [...]

Someone’s been off-grid here before

Interesting things we’ve found in the undergrowth #467154219:

I do remember there being some troughing on that shed and a downpipe, so putting the sink there next to the old wartime vegetable plot would have made sense. It would have stayed fresh with regular rainfall and any overflow would have just slopped over the top. I [...]

The Green Parent: this month’s inspiration

This is not just any shameless plug for the magazine displayed in my sidebar here… this is an off-grid plug from the heart (…for the magazine displayed in my sidebar here.)
It’s always a great read, but the June/July issue of The Green Parent got me especially inspired from an off-grid point of view. There’s a [...]

In the vernacular

I’ve been reading this beautiful book for inspiration and instruction:

The Author, David Pearson, (about whom, more here) talks a lot about building in the vernacular, and this has made me rethink our choice of building materials.
This area has long been quarried for its Millstone Grit, which is a sought-after building material due to its hardness [...]

Inspiration

I’ve been collecting images that resonated with me, in planning this project. Here are some of my favourites so far (click on pics to expand) :
The following are from the Cascadia Cob website:
      
From the Earthship site:
  
From Simon Dale’s site:

From Treehugger.com :

From Green Building Guide:

From Davidreport.com :

I’ll be posting more images to inspire me (and their sources) as and when I come across them.