Psychelectric
Curiouser and curiouser
After some months of research and investment my girlfriend and I are making a huge push towards our goal of sustainability and self reliance. The ultimate goal is to be able to use this land (a little over 3 acres) that I was very lucky to get quite cheap, to produce an abundance of food so that I can later give back to the community. Likewise if I can get sustainable energy systems set up to help network others in the community to do the same. This would be my goal, but as with anything, one step at a time.
I am going to pick up the finalized drawings for the house tomorrow. Given that I have to wrestle with building codes and other criteria we have decided to build a monolithic dome. According to what I have read such buildings are about 30% more energy efficient than a standard home, likewise they are resistant to abuse. Since we live in an area prone to tornados and violent storms, having a home that can take the impact of a tornado will be quite useful, and will last without the need of too many repairs later in life.
The plan for the utilities would be to have a septic system and a well system. Initially we will have to be attached to city power, but slowly we plan to bring in solar and maybe other energy systems to wean ourselves off the grid. We also plan on minimizing and utilizing efficient appliances to reach this goal. Also in addition to the well, I do want to set up cisterns to collect rain water. Our city does have limitations on the size of rain collecting cisterns, but what they don't know will not hurt them
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Once the house is built the first thing I will do with the land is to have a friend of mine (a quite skilled carpenter with a knack for sacred geometry) build a greenhouse (a geodesic one). Then we will attempt to set up a couple of beehives on the land utilizing local bees (my carpenter friends wife, is a skilled beekeeper). Also on this land is a very tiny pond which I may use to grow lotus. That is what we are pushing for, and I set up the major step next week with dealing with the contractor. Which is intemmidating as I have never done anything like this in my life, my existence as an adult so far has been the vicious cycle of work a job and then pay rent, but I am ready to end that phase of my life and move on to something better.
In all honesty there are so many things I would love to do with this property, but, I don't know fully how to go about many things. I'm a suburban raised boy, making the push to be a man of the land. I have a very small garden on the land I currently live at, a tiny backyard with wimpy yields. My thumb is still a bit brown.
So with all of that being said, I'm just looking on advice and maybe some wisdom. There are situations that are sure to come up that I have not thought about. Also in relation to the nexus, in the long term I would like to grow plants, not only for their nutritious value but for their medicinal (entheogenic) value as well and share them with those in need.
So for this home I truly want to be as self reliant as possible in everything. I have recently learned how to make my own soap (a calculated chemical reaction of lye and oil) and I have read that you can make your own lye, by leeching wood ash (we plan on building a brick grill outside) in water. So in that regard does anyone know of other ideas on sustainability?
I am going to pick up the finalized drawings for the house tomorrow. Given that I have to wrestle with building codes and other criteria we have decided to build a monolithic dome. According to what I have read such buildings are about 30% more energy efficient than a standard home, likewise they are resistant to abuse. Since we live in an area prone to tornados and violent storms, having a home that can take the impact of a tornado will be quite useful, and will last without the need of too many repairs later in life.
The plan for the utilities would be to have a septic system and a well system. Initially we will have to be attached to city power, but slowly we plan to bring in solar and maybe other energy systems to wean ourselves off the grid. We also plan on minimizing and utilizing efficient appliances to reach this goal. Also in addition to the well, I do want to set up cisterns to collect rain water. Our city does have limitations on the size of rain collecting cisterns, but what they don't know will not hurt them
![Winking face :wink: 😉](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/nexus/unicode/64/1f609.png)
Once the house is built the first thing I will do with the land is to have a friend of mine (a quite skilled carpenter with a knack for sacred geometry) build a greenhouse (a geodesic one). Then we will attempt to set up a couple of beehives on the land utilizing local bees (my carpenter friends wife, is a skilled beekeeper). Also on this land is a very tiny pond which I may use to grow lotus. That is what we are pushing for, and I set up the major step next week with dealing with the contractor. Which is intemmidating as I have never done anything like this in my life, my existence as an adult so far has been the vicious cycle of work a job and then pay rent, but I am ready to end that phase of my life and move on to something better.
In all honesty there are so many things I would love to do with this property, but, I don't know fully how to go about many things. I'm a suburban raised boy, making the push to be a man of the land. I have a very small garden on the land I currently live at, a tiny backyard with wimpy yields. My thumb is still a bit brown.
So with all of that being said, I'm just looking on advice and maybe some wisdom. There are situations that are sure to come up that I have not thought about. Also in relation to the nexus, in the long term I would like to grow plants, not only for their nutritious value but for their medicinal (entheogenic) value as well and share them with those in need.
So for this home I truly want to be as self reliant as possible in everything. I have recently learned how to make my own soap (a calculated chemical reaction of lye and oil) and I have read that you can make your own lye, by leeching wood ash (we plan on building a brick grill outside) in water. So in that regard does anyone know of other ideas on sustainability?