Someone near us is building an earthship and they want you to come and see what they are doing!
If you have seen the movie ‘The Garbage Warrior‘ then you know what the heck I am talking about. If you haven’t the movie begs the question what do beer cans, car tires and water bottles have in common? Not much unless you’re renegade architect Michael Reynolds, in which case they are tools of choice for producing thermal mass and energy-independent housing. For 30 years New Mexico-based Reynolds and his green disciples have devoted their time to advancing the art of “Earthship Biotecture” by building self-sufficient, off-the-grid communities where design and function converge in eco-harmony.
The Burkholders are building an earthship in Darfield BC and are sharing their journey and the story on their blog. Also they could use some old tires. Not random tires but fairly specific ones to simplify their constructive process.
"They MUST be 245, 235 or 225 as we use them like bricks so the thickness has to be the same. Diameter (anything after the R on the tire) doesn't matter. We certainly appreciate any donations of these sizes! And after going around the tire shops for the last 6 months, there is certainly no end of tires....a real eye opener."
We would love to go out and visit when they start constructing walls and would like to arrange a group of people who are interested. I imagine they are pretty busy so showing a larger group around once would take up less of their time than a whole bunch of people lots of times. Comment or post here to express your interest and we’ll make it happen!
I’d be very interested in visiting their site sometime in July or August, preferably on a weekend.
Hi! I’m Sandra Burkholder and my husband Chris Newton, and our kids, Katie, Stephen and Helen Newton, are building the Earthship in Darfield, B.C. We would be happy to have visitors, or helpers. Please email me at sandra@northriverloghomes.com if you are interested.