P r o j e c t s in their E V O L u t i o n
Diving into the plunge pools of permaculture, true to form, honoring Momma Earth and her resources with attempts to buy nothing new by using what comes, scavenging, salvaging, barter n trading, buying new as a last resort... I started getting a reputation of being resourceful which is a blessing and a curse. 'Hey Matt, could you take this? Otherwise it's heading for the dump...' Everything is hard earned and quite the endeavor, giving each experiment a unique soul defining story to tell. It is a tricksie road to travel with endless confounding moments of total befuddlement, back to the drawing board of redesign, failure after failure, but guess how much you learn along the way?! I feel like the epitome cliché 'Jack of all trades, master of none. But believe you me, better than a master of one!' Hope you join me on this fulfilling never ending journey creating life giving systems...
Our Greenhouse ZenLounge
Loved to Life entirely from salvaged and repurposed materials!!!
Oh the rich history in the making! The stories she could relate! The sweat, blood, tears she has absorbed! Each of her bits have a rich and unknown past with their own stories! Chapters of learning, experimenting, problem solving each befuddling situation, refining her a she refines me. She emanates an ambiance of rustic reverence, cozy, eclectic, welcoming, nurturing...
Our Greenhouse ZenLounge seconds as our workshop and creation space, rocks a Roman air conditioner, a segment of our pond's biofilter aquaponics system, can accommodate 3-4 guests. Her back section houses our surplus materials and our bee colony.
Patchworked thatch work, her lid is comprised of 3 varieties of metal roofing, a couple asphalt single varieties, puzzle pieced windows blanketed with vinyl sheeting...
Quite the whirlwind journey, still unfinished, imperfect, like me... Brother Benhameein nested in this space for 2 years, braving and enduring our frigid Idaho winters and blistering summers without complaint, rugged, resilient, capable, hard core. Rumor has it, he lit only a small handful of fires the entire time. Passionate and dedicated to Momma Earth like no other...
Our Greenhouse ZenLounge seconds as our workshop and creation space, rocks a Roman air conditioner, a segment of our pond's biofilter aquaponics system, can accommodate 3-4 guests. Her back section houses our surplus materials and our bee colony.
Our Lil Hoop House
We created this incredibly versatile hoop house with salvaged work traded lumber that provided the framework, 8 cattle panels for the archway, and salvaged pvc. We created shelves from repurposed shelving grid panels that sweetly nest our seed trays. The arches provide fantasmic trellising for squash, melons, beans, sunflowers and more during the summer months. To extend our growing season we can wrap it all up in plastic to create a greenhouse, giving us an extra couple months to germinate seeds early season, and to allow our maters a lil more time to ripen in late fall. Every extra moment helps, we are surrounded by trees! We have zero full sun spaces. Most our garden spaces only receive a few hours of sun a day.
Describe your image
We angled the shelves towards the sun for better direct sun kisses
An Epic Long Edeavor for an Outdoor Soothing Soak
lap o rustic luxury in the making
quite the long rough road in search for an outdoor, shabby chiq, well deserved bath...
Using what i have procured along the path, in this case, epoxy acrylic paint that sadly failed due to the acrylic and water don't play nicely together in the long run. It all bubbled and started to peel forcing my hand at peeling and sand scrub grinding it all off to apply FlexSeal (as seen on TV!!) in lieu of a costly porcelain reapplication. We shall see how long this coating lasts!
lap o rustic luxury in the making
I've had high hopes for a solar heated outdoor hot tub for a long time, and am still in waiting. As are the rest of the homestead fam, patiently waiting! Lots of layers to put together to make this a reality, add to that, super shady oasis making it tricky for solar heated water to be fully effective and efficient. Filtered rain water system, the solar hot water heater, plumbing logistics, refurbishing a tub that no one else I know of would have tried to revive, nesting on a salvaged wrought iron table frame, with a secondary propane heater below all puzzle piecing it all together, procured part by salvaged part. It's far easier to just buy a hot tub. But that isn't how I'm wired anymore.
My bigger picture design incorporates the water flowing from the 'clawfoot' cascading into a plunge pool some friends gifted us. Source willing, this will be reality versus a mere pipe dream tub utopia...
Solar Hot Water Heater Experiments...
The quest for capturing, harnessing, filtering, heating, and channeling rainwater in our super shady space proves to be an elusively thwarting dream...
Our Solar Hot Water Heater System has seen and undergone many surgeries. The original stacked rain barrels toppled due to poor foundation work. The housing frame was initially too compact to facilitate a gravity fed system and had to be expanded. The 3" ABS drain pipe shmelted in the hot sun, warping the pipes, also rendering the gravity feed attribute useless. Replacing the ABS with 250' of 1/2" dripline created too much pressure for the quiet pond pump to circulate the flow. The 1/10HP pump replacement is insanely noisy when it cycles, and pushes the water too quickly for it to heat properly. The first water filter was too dense with layers of sand, gravel, volcanic rock and biochar causing rain water to overflow the filter and spill onto the ground. Let's dive in a bit deeper...
A rock solid foundation will save loads of time, my first double stack here toppled during the wet winter, gratefully not maiming anyone. Level prep and pound solid your base, create a platform high as possible for gravity feeding capabilities. I eye-bolt lag anchored the top rain barrel with salvaged heavy gage electrical wire to the house for peace of mind. Using blue plastic 55 gallon barrels isn't the easiest, but they are plentiful and only take up a small footprint in this configuration.
We were gifted 4 10' lengths of ABS drain pipe from some dear friends and I knew what they would become, having a decent volume capacity to store and heat a lot of water at once.
We created this biochar in our wood stove, more on that in another moment. I placed a nylon satchels full of biochar in the top of the filter and where the water enters the tub. Biochar is like activated charcoal for a fish tank filter system that absorbs a fair amount of funk. We will add it to our compost when it needs changed out, it's a phenomenal soil amendment.
A rock solid foundation will save loads of time, my first double stack here toppled during the wet winter, gratefully not maiming anyone. Level prep and pound solid your base, create a platform high as possible for gravity feeding capabilities. I eye-bolt lag anchored the top rain barrel with salvaged heavy gage electrical wire to the house for peace of mind. Using blue plastic 55 gallon barrels isn't the easiest, but they are plentiful and only take up a small footprint in this configuration.
The Cottage's FairyTale
Her murals are a blend of me, Ryanne and Gideon, a past sweetheart and her kids, and a fellow I met living in the streets who I invited to stay and help around the place. Under the murals, the sheetrock was tape and textured and primed by another gent I met also living in the shelter, also staying with us for a short spell.
The kids experienced some unique moments staying in the Cottage during her evolution, bundling up tight during cold winter moments with terra cotta pots stacked with candles underneath to take the bite out of the crisp air. Bless their tough beautiful hearts for enduring the ride. 🥰💪🤸♂️🤸♀️
The nicest laminate on the Cottage floor became the Loft's new covering, which is a huge upgrade from straight up plywood with a rug over it.
Her murals are a blend of me, Ryanne and Gideon, a past sweetheart and her kids, and a fellow I met living in the streets who I invited to stay and help around the place. Under the murals, the sheetrock was tape and textured and primed by another gent I met also living in the shelter, also staying with us for a short spell.
Once upon a time, our now precious cottage was a typical 14'x20' single car detached garage...
The Cottage, to me, represents youthful liberation, Never Never Land Little House on the Prairie simplicity, exit from the matrix rat race chasing the "American Dream". Spirit inspired her creation and evolution. Far more phantsmic and practical than its original purpose, She is now capable of comfortably hosting four curious guests in fine(r) rustic fashion, eclectically eccentric, cozy and capable.
Our Bungalow's Soulful Journey
Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!!! 😆🤩😍🤙🏽🙏🏽🌟 the bungalow is loved to life, ready to be nested! What a process!! Reutilizing scrapped materials requires much more love, patience and skill set than using fresh milled, nail-mortar-dirt-cobweb-splinter-warp-gnarl free brand shiney new materials. Which I was very aware, and grateful for all the lessons along the wondrous neverending journey. But the Labor of Love beams it’s beauty, shines all the brighter, and Momma Earth is ohhhhh sooooo grateful 😊 As am I. 😆 For the Loving Helping Hands, gifted/work/trade/exchanged second chance magic! Thank You 🙏🏽 All!!! So very much. Feels oooooohhsoooooo good! Freed up some bandwidth for more magic! Haaaaah!!!
#simpleliving #tinyhome #sustainability #resourcebasedeconomy #urbanhhomesteading #offgrid #intentionalliving #savemommaearth #creatingheavenonearth
Pretty fully self contained tiny home, equipped with a kitchenette and tub/shower with on demand propane hot water heater, a compact-ish wood stove, queen sized sleeping loft, an open living space with a double sliding glass door opening into a quaint heart bricked patio nested with a horseshoe garden that is hydrated from its greywater system, nesting next to the Mother Cluckers' Layer... Mmmmmmmm
Once upon a time I built a 12'x16' shed, learning how to do so helping my back then father in law build 2 very similar to this one, using brand spankin new lumber and materials from a box store...
Bungalow from the Mother Clucker's perspective...
Pretty fully self contained tiny home, equipped with a kitchenette and tub/shower with on demand propane hot water heater, a compact-ish wood stove, queen sized sleeping loft, an open living space with a double sliding glass door opening into a quaint heart bricked patio nested with a horseshoe garden that is hydrated from its greywater system, nesting next to the Mother Cluckers' Layer... Mmmmmmmm
Thermal Mass Rocket Stove
Been dreamin' o creating one o these efficient, dreamy works o yummy heat radiating art for quite some time! Finally, after several pull apart, dismantlings and reconfigurings, we have one! Dive into the deep myriad lessoned rabbit hole on a quest for a multi-purpose wood burner, cook top, hot water heater, warm snugglebug lounge space!
Our Pond's many Iterations
The amount of vibrant energy, diverse Life in every sense, creating a precious and soothing magical ambiance that harmoniously sings, "Water is Life!" Our inceptual pond was a humble simplistic hole we dug in the yard that we lined with a sheet of plastic and a cheap harbor freight pond pump. A glorified outdoor goldfish bowl...
Our pond's aqua-morphasis...
Investing in a quality pond liner will save copious amounts of frustration, time and energy. Figuring out how to catch fish you can barely see to transplant them in a relined pond is no simple matter. But, using what you have when you have no othe alternatives will get a pond in your sphere sooner than potentially never. And loads o lessons along the way!
Helping some new friends transition to vagabond RV rubber tramps, they gifted me enough retaining wall pavers to add some depth to our shallow OG Pond. Shallow it was because we refused to cut any large tree roots, we dug low where we could.
Ponds, build one! So so worth it! Many how to zines, books, videos out there to help you create something even better than what we have, you'll be glad ya did!!
Investing in a quality pond liner will save copious amounts of frustration, time and energy. Figuring out how to catch fish you can barely see to transplant them in a relined pond is no simple matter. But, using what you have when you have no othe alternatives will get a pond in your sphere sooner than potentially never. And loads o lessons along the way!
Back Patio Lounge Space's Sweet Protective Lid
Years and years of winter wear and tear took their toll on our back patio, to the point of rotting out the foundation joists of the house. (which was repaired years ago) This upgrade 3 years ago has created a whole new protected work, playful lounging connection space. All orchestrated into Life with nearly all repurposed, salvaged and work traded materials. Only 3 pieces of lumber were purchased, along with the fasteners and hardware. Total cost aside from the time and labor, 200 buck'a'roos!!
Random Smaller Projects
Homesteading needs are continual, need is the mother of invention, learning tricks to be more efficient, always in the process of discovery and growth...
Our Mad Solar Scientology
Click on the images to dive into the electrical vortex rabbit hole we've been energized by...
Solar Soda Pop Can Heater
This simplistic lil clever contraption can be found on YouTube, as can anything, to harness and channel free heat! On a dime! We made 2 of them with repurposed windows and lumber, Rhino Rush cans, cardboard for insulation, remnant plastic, black high temp spray paint and some caulk. The thermometer read 180ish degrees on a 65 degree day! Sweet passive solar heat on a dime...
Cut your 2x4 or 6 lumber to the dimensions of your second chance window size and make a box frame. Line that frame with cardboard to capture and retain the heat you're harnessing. Line that with plastic...
Lay a bead of caulk that you will set your window on in the frame to seal out moisture. Get clever how to install it on your house or place it on blocks, make a shelf for it to rest on... Attatch the duct work to and from your living space into the heater. Adding a low watt fan near or on the cool air intake will make it more efficient in circulating more volume and heat transfer!
This simplistic lil clever contraption can be found on YouTube, as can anything, to harness and channel free heat! On a dime! We made 2 of them with repurposed windows and lumber, Rhino Rush cans, cardboard for insulation, remnant plastic, black high temp spray paint and some caulk. The thermometer read 180ish degrees on a 65 degree day! Sweet passive solar heat on a dime...
This is a super simple efficient and effective space heating alternative that you can add to any living space, chicken coop, greenhouse, workshop to make it more inviting and livable in the colder months. With utilities on the rise, this is a wise venture into the resilient homesteader's repertoire. A fantastic entry level project to hone some basic carpenter skills and light engineering that will pay of huge dividends indefinitely!
Another's annotated pop can endeavor...
https://thegogreenspot.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/diy-soda-can-solar-heater/