Creating environmentally designed habitats for sustainable living in Costa Rica and beyond…
As a 31st birthday present to myself I decided to build a garden. I've been reading through The Permaculture Garden by Graham Bell and thought the design for a German Mound looked interesting. I cleared out the first layer of top soil and collected a bunch of sticks and other "woody material". I chose a …
Accessing the palm fronds for the thatch roof turned out to be one of the easiest things we’ve had to do so far. There’s a property nearby owned by a friend full of the right kinds of palms, so we simply had to have a chat with the caretaker there and negotiate a fair price …
Continue reading "Building in Nicaragua – Palm Fronds for the Thatch Roof"
The video footage of the Eucalyptus plantation experience and the start of the roof assembly.
The house progresses rapidly. It’s amazing how quickly the eucalyptus posts can be assembled into home shape. Our nine supporting pillars were bought, cut, delivered, and cemented into place within four days. For the rest of the roof structure we needed thinner diameter eucalyptus and drove a few Kms down the main highway towards Chinandega …
Continue reading "Building in Nicaragua – Eucalyptus Plantation Politics"
A video summary of shopping for the eucalyptus posts that will become the pillars for our cabana in Nicaragua.
The search for a sustainably built home has led us all over the place in the past months. We’ve been learning a lot about various green building methods and materials, from hay bales, to clay, earth ships and bamboo.   We want to build a home-base in Nicaragua and decided that the giant grass, …
While visiting the Rio Muchacho farm we met a silvaculturalist (tree specialist) named Noah who suggested we check out the Jama-Coque Ecological Reserve. He gave us some vague directions and we followed a dirt road through some squishy mud, left our rental car in the care of a pack of pigs, and hiked into the …
Continue reading "Hiking the Jama-Coque Ecological Reserve in Ecuador"
Holly Beck and Kim Obermeyer tour the Rio Muchacho Organic Farm in Ecuador, milking cows to make cheese, carving mate bowls, climbing huge trees, and checking out the bamboo structures. http://www.riomuchacho.com
Eco:Design:Life 