Uprooted, an eco/travel blog

Sustainable logging at its most ridiculous.

My arrival at Earthship Biotecture kicks off a green-building adventure in the high desert of Taos, New Mexico.

Even the best ideas can be taken too far. The story of a beautiful home, and how it was lost.

My first night in Taos, I stayed in the Abominable Snow Mansion, an HI hostel.
Happily for me, I moved along the very next day.
I mean, look: when you stay in a hostel, you know pretty much what to expect. Shared rooms with bunk beds, lots of young people with interesting accents and stories, common areas [...]

Springtime in Taos is a lot like winter in most places, except maybe harsher. People are full of stories about it:
“Oh yeah, you’ll be out working in short sleeves and then suddenly there’ll be snow and lightning and then the rest of the day you’re in full-on winter gear.”

So, in my last entry I showed you what a viga run looks like. But there’s plenty I didn’t show you! Including the fact that the entire escapade took place at R.E.A.C.H., the original Earthship community founded in 1989.

R.E.A.C.H. (or “Rural Earthship Alternative Community Habitat” if you favor flavor over brevity) is a PRIVATE community, [...]

Sustainable lumberjacking in New Mexico is an adventure that must be seen to be believed.

Bottle Brick Bathroom, originally uploaded by Earthship Kirsten

If you’ve been following my Earthships adventure, you know that it is actually possible to build houses using garbage. Can and bottle walls—literally walls made out of mud or cement, with cans or bottles set like bricks—are one of Mike Reynolds‘ time-tested innovations, a building technique that can [...]