Hi Natasha!
I am in the Richmond area, and I have similar goals to you, but have not yet built any significant sustainable
shelter. I have been reading up on roundwood timber framing, earthbag construction, and
straw bale construction. I was very interested in Earthships (some features in common with Paul's wofati), but I am hearing from lots of east coast natural builder folks that an in-the-ground house is not feasible with the high humidity we have here (Earthship-killer?), and also the termites (wofati-killer?). I have been thinking that may be an oversimplification, and that there must be a way to take advantage of annualized thermal mass (ground is cooler than air in summer and warmer than air in winter) and build in some kind of passive ventilation/dehumidifying that keeps your space mold-free.
I am still in the research phase, and I may try a prototype soon. I would like to incorporate some sort of
root cellar, and perhaps an
underground cistern to use as a heat sink. I think we could find a way to add thermal mass in some way other than an actual in-the-ground house... maybe an earthen foundation under an overhang that catches angled winter sun, but not summer sun. Passive
hot water heating is another interesting feature.
I have seen some nice straw bale and off-grid
energy stuff at
Living Energy Farm in Louisa. They even have workshops on building occasionally. You can also get info about other workshops and events on the
Blue Ridge Permaculture listserv.