Turning suburban backyard into Bronze Age paradise: year-round food & natural lake by Kirsten Dirksen on November 2, 2025 On an ordinary suburban lot in Sebastopol, California, Erik Ohlsen and his family grow nearly everything they eat—fruits, vegetables, nuts, …
Couple’s off-grid living on Nordic island II: preparing for winter at 63° N by Kirsten Dirksen on September 21, 2025 At 63° North, life on a small Finnish island brings long winters, frozen lakes, and a rhythm deeply tied to …
Couple builds fulfilling life & homestead on abandoned Nordic island by Kirsten Dirksen on September 14, 2025 At 63° North — where the midnight sun lingers and winters test endurance at 35 below — a young couple …
Veteran’s underground home in Maine Homestead is affordable little marvel by Kirsten Dirksen on February 16, 2025 Jim’s idea of happiness includes a 1-mile zipline that descends an entire hill and crosses a lake to get from …
Kristie Wolfe restores boat-shaped cabin in forsaken lake by Kirsten Dirksen on August 9, 2021 Kristie Wolfe has transformed a giant potato, a fire lookout, and an earthen hole into homes and now she’s converting …
Done with city life, he’s reviving an ancient housebarn by Kirsten Dirksen on May 1, 2021 Traditional Basque housebarns – “baserri” (“caserío”, in Spanish) – are farmsteads that could sustain the multiple generations of family that …
Towable, off-grid Ecocapsule gathers energy/water anywhere by Kirsten Dirksen on July 26, 2020 Can off-grid, anywhere-living appeal the masses? The Ecocapsule mobile dwelling gathers solar/wind energy, harvests/filters water. It shelters 2 and includes …
Valldaura Labs culls restored forest for buildings & biomass by Kirsten Dirksen on May 3, 2020 When a computer-based, self-reliant city-lab high in the hills above Barcelona designed and built a tiny home, they used parametric …
50 years off-grid: architect-maker paradise amid NorCal redwoods by Kirsten Dirksen on April 26, 2020 In 1968, Charles Bello and his wife Vanna Rae moved onto 240 acres of redwood forest looking to live a …
How will we live? urban prepping & rural resilience’s momentum by Kirsten Dirksen on April 18, 2020 “Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. …
