Hi, I am currently broke as a joke and renting a trailer in missouri. But I have big plans for my future, I want to go green. I already reuse reduce and recycle, and conserve anything that I can. I am looking into buying land in about 5 years when all my kids are in school and I can get a full time job to fund a earthship or another type of self sutainig green living. What I am looking for is suggestions on where to look for land, and ways I could build my own earth ship as cheaply as possible. When I envison a eco community or green living i see a bunch of rich people.. Is it possible for poor people to live this way?
Right now I am in st charles Mo. I was hoping to stay wiht in 50 miles of here.
Great question! It’s been on my mind for years! I have the same dream but I’m also broke. And I live in Santa Fe where real estate is impossibly expensive! Earthship houses are great, I’ve seen them up close here in NM. However I’ve been told they want you to buy "The Plan" (the official design and layout of the house) if you’re going to call it an Earthship "tm". I’m sorry I don’t know anything about land where you are. However in thinking about building a supercheap house, a good start would be reading this book (link below) which you might find used on Amazon or at the library. He build his original house underground for $50! I’m imagining a sod roof house for you like "Little House on the Prairie"! Have you done much reading on permaculture? Google Bill Mollison + permaculture if you’ve never heard of it. Learning the concepts of permaculture will help you look at a site and see what it would be like and what you’ll need to make it work. Good luck!
Excellent, You can build cheap, dirt, tyres, 2nd hand glazing units, a bit of damp proof membrane, sods and you’re there. I have no idea about land, find a cheap area with a bit of surfing and ask locally I expect. on this side of the pond land is cheaper away from grid connections.
Your environmental effectiveness may diminish if you do too much travelling with your children. with you affordable home in the middle of nowhere. You should also consider the socializing effects on your kids of the other people who will be around them
You already are ‘green’ you could be ‘greener’ than those in the eco-communities, don’t be fooled by the superficial. How much better might it have been for those in the eco-communites to have stayed where they were as good examples of a better future. What percentage of the poulation will be able to live in this sort of community, It is a fraction and so can only be a tiny fraction of any solution.
The oyster needs a bit of grit to grow a pearl.
If it’s the community bit you’re interested in then;
http://greenbristol.blogspot.com/
Yeah, it’s possible. Good luck to you.
Sure it’s possible. There are advantages too. Mother Earth is a good provider. They’ve been having a big land auction here, but I wouldn’t recommend Jackson County (because of the real estate taxes). In rural areas, you can often find farmland up for sale for the taxes, which are very low in some places. Roughly, what part of the State are you in?
I’ll research St. Charles. Pretty low on the flood plain, is it not? Seeing the wonderful responses, it occurred to me to share this link. I think it’s a necessary element of doing this successfully.