If you have a backyard covered in grass, it may look a little boring. While large, grassy yards were once a sign of opulence and wealth, they’ve become something of a suburban paradigm. While large, grassy areas are fun to run around in, or entertain on, adding some biodiversity and … Read more
A haybox cooker is a box full of insulating material that keeps a meal hot enough so that it cooks without having to keep it in the oven or on the stove for hours [1]. It’s a bit like an insulated thermos flask, except rather than coffee or soup it … Read more
The Native Americans of the dry American Southwest creatively solved the problem of farming with very little rainfall by independently inventing and implementing the dry land farming agricultural technique. The ancient Anasazi people as well as the long-present Hopi, Tewa, Zuni, and Navajo tribes continue to use the innovations of … Read more
Many articles exist out there about “going green” at home. Stressing, small, easy-to-follow steps concerning conservation, such as installing a low-flow toilet, or switching to compact fluorescent lightbulbs, these tips only scratch the surface of a very large problem. They also assiduously ignore a major cause of global climate change: … Read more
Over 400 million tonnes of metal are recycled each year[1]. Almost all metals can be turned back into metals of equivalent quality, but steel, aluminum and copper take the lion’s share of metal recycling. Recycling metal has benefits for everyone; it saves energy; uses fewer natural resources (why dig more … Read more
Fireplaces have been used to heat homes and dwellings for thousands of years. As our understanding of technology expands, so do the ways which we use existing resources to help keep our environment clean and sustainable. More recently, the wood burning fireplace has expanding into using clean burning ethanol fuel. … Read more
In many ways sustainable living is a return to the old ways of doing things. Unlike other construction materials such as concrete, wood, and steel, mud house construction is not environmentally destructive and it is relatively inexpensive. Mud House Construction: Learning from the Old Ways Just because a construction process, … Read more
The concept of food forestry can be overwhelming to a typical household. A food forest is an edible landscape modeled after the ideas of layers of a forest including a canopy formed by tall trees, shrubs, vines, low groundcover, and all of the associated wildlife. Planning a food forest in … Read more
Clay, or “earthen” ovens are simple in design. Using wood to fire them and the insulating properties of bricks and clay to absorb and then radiate heat, you can cook anything in an earthen oven that you could cook in a conventional oven. One easy and common thing to cook … Read more
I’ve been speaking with various people lately about how social networking has developed. Here’s one take on the matter. First, people connected with people from their past (such as Friends Reunited or Reunion.com). That’s interesting but only for a bit until the curiosity factor wears off. There aren’t many reasons … Read more
A cabin’s a fine domicile. No fantasy of a simple backwoods existence is complete without one, billowing woodsmoke in a gently falling snow. Abraham lived in one that he built. Look how he turned out. Henry David Thoreau built one and lived the ultimate self-sufficient story for his time. If … Read more
With environmental education and awareness came the need for more eco-friendly and sustainable building methods. It called for people to think out of the box and come up with what we are able to implement today. Alternative building methods have become more popular due to their often lower cost, novelty, … Read more
‘Do as I say, not do as I do.’ Political instability in the Middle East, increasingly hard to extract fossil fuels, and fears around global warming mean governments are telling us to save energy, and the planet. But in the next 20 years energy consumption will increase by 60 percent … Read more
I’m currently overlooking the lovely Tivoli Gardens in downtown Copenhagen, and there’s two things that have struck me on my trip so far. Firstly, it’s the sheer number of bicycles on the road – there’s easily more two wheelers than four-tired gas guzzlers speeding around the city, and my jog … Read more
Foraging for food is an ancient aspect of the human condition but to most urban dwellers it is a concept and a skill long lost to history. Many view foraging as a “primitive” and “uncivilized” way of living but this ignorance of the wide variety of edible plants simply leads … Read more