Friday, January 30, 2009

Straw Bale Homes And Other Alternatives

Straw bale housing is hundreds of years old, sort of an old school housbuilding method actually, but it's considered alternative housing now. I was interested to see this article about planned public housing projects with straw bale construction in the UK.

I've long been fascinated with dome homes. I like these because they're not covered in shingles. This company sells kits for attractive dome homes that aren't gloomily shingle covered, and they also make kits for 10-sided round homes with a more conventional roof. I like that better because it seems less likely to leak. The company's based in Illinois, but someone has built one of their "Decahomes" in Virginia. Sometime this spring I'd like to go up and take a look at it.

This company is building a dome subdivision in the mountains of N.C., and they have a dome rental cabin up there too. I'd like to go spend a weekend in it sometime soon.

So, if I had a house and garden, I'd definitely plant some of these this year. I'd most likely buy the seeds from here. And I'd want to get some fruit trees and native bushes from here.

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