The first cut is the deepest..

OK, it wasn’t all that deep, and as Al said: “It doesn’t even really count as a cut, in ground like this,” but it happened anyway, yesterday on the vernal equinox. And actually, from that point where he put the spade in for the pic, we need to dig down a further six feet, or [...]

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: [...]

Hero son

Best thing a computer-addicted son could say to his mother, when she’s worrying about how to power his new off-grid house (heard yesterday):
“It’s ok. I’ll just read books.”
Bless! He would, as well. For a while.. then, when the novelty wore off, he’d want his old bedroom in the original house here keeping as a computer [...]

Don’t read this if you’re eating

… or otherwise squeamish.
In fact, if you’d rather not think about anything to do with toilets, do yourself a favour and pass this one by.
If you’re quite sure you want to stick around, I’ll tell you that I’ve been reading about sewage systems and composting loos, in an attempt to work [...]

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 [...]

A highly technical plan (NOT!) and some more grass. And some books. Maybe.

Here’s our latest, highly untechnical layout plan for the field, cobbled together by Tom and me on a whiteboard during a conversation yesterday about what might end up going where.

We’re working on the bit to the left up until next summer. The fluffy cloud shape in the middle of that section is the tree [...]

Lessons learned, decisions made and lots still to decide

Lesson number one: When clearing land, do not simply pull out all the top growth of a big area, then expect to be able to go back and only have the roots to deal with. Because by the time you get back to the beginning, the top growth will be right back where you started [...]

Electrickery

(as my great grandmother used to call it.)
Tom did some calculations yesterday, with our recent npower bills and the figures from Hugh Piggot’s Windpower Workshop, and worked out the following facts:

Our household burns the equivalent of 10 100w lightbulbs’ worth of electricity every hour! He thinks the computer monitors are the main culprits. I’m [...]

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 [...]

Grand Designs Live

Is anyone watching Grand Designs Live this week? Kevin McCloud, building an eco-house within 6 days. With the help of Bill Bailey! Though, judging by last night’s performance, it’s a good thing so much of it is prefabricated.
I loved the Scottish cottage they featured and was very inspired by the fact the owners had done [...]