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Off the grid. They have their own wind turbine and solar panels. Unfortunately, the turbine had been damaged by high winds and has yet to be repaired.

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Wind turbine and clouds.

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The landscape.

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My little tent in the landscape. They own 44 acres so we were allowed to spread out (as long as we didn't disturb the foxes).

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Straw-bale house. This house is so lovely I've had to soften my dislike for the building technique (I thought the thick walls made such structures clunky).

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The southern exposure on the straw-bale house.

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The fort. Built in a weekend, this is Peggy and Jo's home away from home.

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The front door. This building was not built to code and you kind of have to crawl in. The straw-bale house and the earthship in progress both follow the building code and are properly inspected, etc.

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Inside the fort. The walls are plaster on dirt. You can get away with this here because there are no termites.

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Prettinesses.

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Last year's project was this bike shed. I love the artistic details.

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One side of the Earthship being built. The tires are filled with packed dirt to create a thermal barrier against the wind on the north and west sides of the building.

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A close-up on the tires. Some of the tires were cut to fit. Later, they discovered they could squish the tires instead which saved labor (tires are hard to cut).

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These tires on the inside of the building have rebar set into them to act as tie-ins to the interior walls that will be built out of adobe.

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The southern exposure on the earthship-to-be. Utilizing available light is part of earthship design. When finished there will be planters all along this wall for year-round gardening.

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They bought an digging machine. It is more cost-effective to buy a machine and sell it later than to rent one when needed. They used this machine to dig out the space for the earthship and in other projects.