Steve Job’s Google of the 60s: Whole Earth + homestead tour by Kirsten Dirksen on October 31, 2011 Steve Jobs called The Whole Earth Catalog “one of the bibles of my generation”. He went on to explain in …
Slow renaissance of medieval ghost town in Spanish Pyrenees by Kirsten Dirksen on October 18, 2011 Fifty or sixty years ago, residents of small rural Spanish towns abandoned their centuries-old villages in search of a new …
Handbuilt teardrop trailer: 60-square-ft DIY home on wheels by Kirsten Dirksen on May 9, 2011 Kyle and Jeannie wanted to own their own home, but they weren’t sure where they wanted to live and they didn’t …
A no-VOC earth plaster for a breathable, bioclimatic home by Kirsten Dirksen on November 29, 2010 Modern homes are often built so air-tight to provide good insulation that they don’t allow for fresh air to enter. …
Natural building: water-resistant earthen floors don’t off-gas by Kirsten Dirksen on November 3, 2010 Earthen floors are growing in popularity not simply because they forgo non-renewable resources, but because they have an aesthetic appeal …
Natural building myths: tiny homes & green roofs by Kirsten Dirksen on October 26, 2010 The most attention-getting natural homes are often small and topped with a turf roof (see tiny cob cottages in Wales …
Earth-built passive solar home: cob (south), strawbale (north) by Kirsten Dirksen on October 18, 2010 Passive solar design dates back over 2 and a half millennia to the ancient Greeks and Chinese; it not only …
Natural buildings don’t melt, no matter how rainy it gets by Kirsten Dirksen on October 14, 2010 With all the videos I’ve done on earth buildings (like the tiny cob cottage in North Carolina or the mudbrick …
Choosing a natural building material: cob, straw, a blend… by Kirsten Dirksen on October 11, 2010 You may find cob cottages particularly cute, but taste isn’t reason enough to choose one natural building material over another. …
Natural building codes: some straw bale, but little for cob by Kirsten Dirksen on October 5, 2010 There’s plenty of historical evidence that natural buildings hold up to time- witness the adobe California Missions or the 13th-century …
