Nice Straw Bale houses!

I really like this video above. There are great ideas, too, for people who are wanting to know about green living.  I didn’t realize that straw bale structures dated from the 30’s in Nebraska — but this Swedish video below is really cool.

There is a second part to that Swedish vid that shows more about how they plaster the walls.

Here is the link for the first video — and a modern concept for the desert, here.

The straw bale concept really interests me, as does adobe.  I love the way the roof catches water for the cistern.  Totally ecological.  My house, which dates from the 30’s used to have a cistern as well.  I just think there are ideas we can go backwards, towards.  And these worked before when life was much simpler.  The rounded smooth surfaces of the straw bale houses remind me of the adobe structures in California and New Mexico.

17 thoughts on “Nice Straw Bale houses!”

  1. Watched these earlier today, and they are great. I loved the picture of the house in the desert. It was peaceful thinking about building something.

    thx

    song!

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  2. Just finished reading the Arizona law at a legal site, and do not support it. Do not support it.

    So many young people who came to Arizona , came when they were young. They have never lived anywhere else. They have attended our schools, worked in our businesses, and some have attended our colleges. They are us. This is their home. There is no where to go in Mexico. There will be young mothers afraid to take their sick children to the hospitals. There will be people afraid to call the police when a crime occurs. If I took my next door neighbor to the grocery store, or the doctor, knowing she is here illegally, my car could be impounded.

    Not that it would stop me.

    If money is the problem, maybe the IMF would use our taxpayer dollars to help Arizona, and California, instead of Greece.

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    1. Song, I know. It’s the same in CA. But, I also understand how the infrastucture has failed in so many states. It really has. I just know that the econoomy is driving this whole deal. That’s the nightmare. Many people who lived in CA sent $$$ home for years — it wasn’t used here to fix the schools and roads and so forth. That should have been addressed, years ago. Nightmare. It is. My poor state. It reminds me of Germany Song. Scapegoating. Who is next? That’s the bad part. No country in the world is as generous as America has been — that’s the truth. Here is hoping that those in charge at the top address this immediately. They have to. You are so right with what you said above, too.

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  3. I think I know what you’re saying here about scapegoats and Germany, and all of it centering around the economy. Here, in Az, I think it was that rancher who took water to the people coming in, and when he was murdered, I think that set it off. It’s like that isn’t it? How a blanket then gets thrown over everyone because of what a few do and then some people judge everyone by the few. That becomes the lens they look through and it is very dark…that lens. Then comes the retribution, payback time, and the loss of sanity. Clearly the loss of sanity, and the ordered,measured and reasoned approach to the problem, an awareness of cause-affect and the ability to see the outcome when the rock hits the water–where the waves will lead.
    Now every word on both sides of the issue is a rock, that reverberates, and no one is being circumspect or wise. Sometimes when something is wrong you cannot change it by force or by threats, you can only change it by wisdom, by multi-level awareness, and by right action, all with aforethought, hindsight already, considered.

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  4. Yes, Robert Krentz, a very respected rancher. You see, then there were calls for the National Guard on our borders including Governor Bill Richardson/John McCain, but people don’t realize that Obama set up a commission of 10 Governors and himself now, who decides IF States can deploy their own National Guards instead of the Governors of the States who used to have that power. He took it away.

    And we still don’t have the National Guard. Which is not what you are reading about, or people are talking about.
    I don’t support the bill, however because I read it, and I think it is very harsh. I gave you my reasons above, just a few of them.

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  5. The Grand Canyon? the Grand Canyon is breathtaking– beautiful, and Northern Az? Of all the Canyons in the West, it truly is the most beautiful here. Many years ago I camped one summer in the White Mountains by a trout stream. I’ll never forget it.

    Then went to Brice, Zion and the Grand Canyon. I climbed to the top of Angel’s Landing. Beautiful.

    here:

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  7. cloudy day here. The sky was dark blue. Seemed more like a fall sky, than a May one. I thought about you coming someday when it’s safe.

    On another note, heard yesterday that Al Gore bought a home in California? What was the name? I think it was near SB.

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    1. I just looked it up… yes. Let’s see — Romney in La Jolla and now him. Maybe they are all planning for it. And she is trying to buy it, politically.

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  8. People like Romney, Gore don’t move TO trouble. Government gave $3.4 billion in smart grid grants. Gore is with Silver Springs-and works with Kleiner Perkins. The high tech cash came to California from DC. Tesla Motors, etc.

    See: google>>>>>>Bloom Energy

    Don’t have time to go into this labyrinth. I think the question here is who will control the smart grid, Bloom energy. In 5 to 10 years houses could be supplied with electricity from a little box, just like they are already supplying energy to giants like Google, E-bay, etc.

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  10. Thanks for the comment you left on my blog. I do hope you eventually end up in Abiquiu, I can’t think of a more beautiful place to live. I simply adore Ghost Ranch. I just did some photos for them, actually, in exchange for a couple days stay. Real estate prices aren’t too bad in Abiquiu. I’ve looked into it myself and found a small house to rent for $800 a month this past year. I didn’t take it, but hey, not a bad price in order to try the area on for size.

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    1. I got to your post by searching New Mex in WP! I just really would like to get a place there for the open space of it all. The LAT had an article on the tiny house guy ages ago…
      Sopapillas! I want one but they are not to be had out here, unforch… I remember how much I loved New Mex. Loved it. Have always wanted to see Ghost Ranch. Thanks for coming by — funny our gen has arrived at same ideas en masse — almost all your links are stuff I have been thinking of as well –!

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