Read about it over at Huffpo!

It would have been impossible to convince anyone ten years ago that such would be the case, but the sprawling tract housing that surrounds most of America's cities has been almost completely abandoned...

Back in the last millenium, we had a hankering to get our fingernails dirty and tell the Man to shove it, so we took a small inheritance and purchased some acreage out in the woods with the idea of living a modicum of an independent life.

 Here it is, the first week of 2010, a new decade no less. Can't say I expected it to arrive so fast or painlessly, but the world constantly surprises. Stephen and I just arrived home from a trip to Georgia and Florida, where we tried to get back in touch with nature; a bit. When I start to wonder exactly why it is we do what we do (that is, dedicate much of our time and energy to resource conservation), a trip to a national forest, wildlife refuge, or even our local greenway and park system helps me remember.

Here's a link to some data on a solar electric system Rebekah installed with Honey Electric Solar this spring. Good data for you solar nerds out there!

Rebekah and I recently had the pleasure of helping the Abundance Foundation create their carbon-free office. We ran simultaneous workshops on installing an off-grid PV system (Rebekah) and constructing a solar air heater, detailed instructions of which can be found here:

sites/default/files/Abundance_Solar_Air_Heater.pdf

 Here's a bundle of oyster mushrooms I found walking in the woods the day before Thanksgiving.

It takes more than getting rid of the coal-burning furnace and putting up some solar panels to make an old home into a model of sustainability. You also have to get rid of a lot of toxic waste. Our home hit the trifecta: a leaky oil tank that had contaminated yards of subsoil in the backyard, German siding covered in years of lead paint, and a bunch of asbestos wrapped around the pipes of the old boiler/radiator system. But hey, it was cheap!

Stephen will be teaching a how-to on solar air heaters starting Thurs Oct. 15th at Durham Tech's Orange County Campus. Also, Stephen has been working all summer on helping update Solar Energy International's Building for the Future Online class. It starts on Oct. 12th and runs through Nov. 22nd. It's a comprehensive class that looks at all aspects of sustainable building, from a tight envelope to passive solar design and natural cooling. Rebekah will be teaching the SEI  PV design and install class at the McKimmon Center in Raleigh starting Dec. 7th, and a two day off-grid solar workshop & hands-on install in Pittsboro the weekend of Nov. 7th, sponsored by the Abundance Foundation.

Hope to see some of y'all in person or on the interweb!

Cheers,

Stephen & Rebekah

The last three Septembers I've made it up to my friend Matt Bua's property in the Catskills of New York to help him out with his b-home project.

"Architecture is inhabited sculpture."
- Constantin Brancusi

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