Mark R

From what I've seen so far our government (in the United States at least) is controlled by big business. This includes all the major businesses that have the money to force their business onto the citizens. It seems to me the world is run by money and the more you have the more say you have. How do you get the most money? Control the laws in your favor.

If the government had its citizens best interests at heart, things would be much different than today. What I worry about is the day when growing food at home for personal consumption gets regulated to require things like chemicals to  make the said food "safe" for you and your family. It isn't a matter of if, it's a matter of when (unless the people stand up and say enough is enough).

Already, you are not free to live your life even if it harms none. In many areas you cannot legally build a home of less than about 200 square feet. What if you wanted say 150sq ft? Well if you defied the laws and built it anyway on your own land (which really isn't yours anyway) then the legal thugs will come and destroy it and charge you for the pleasure. In many areas you are forced to use city water and city sewage even if you want to use say rainwater catchment or a humanure setup. In a city near me you are legally required to mow any grass you have to less than 3inches. Don't do it for whatever reason and they fine you, come out and mow it for you and then charge you for mowing it. Also you are required to have a driveway even if you don't own a car and have no plans to own one.

I'm not even going into the HOAs and how they dictate your home and life and you pay them for the privilege.

The sad truth is if you don't do something about it, it will get worse. Ignoring the problem and letting "small things" slip by will lead to more "small things" and eventually they will add up to big things. The reason we are in this mess now is because too many let too many small things slip past. Now all these little things add up to major big things.

/rant

I've been contemplating getting into "green building" myself. I'm just an average guy working an average job and have been interested in green building as well as sustainable gardening and food cultivation. I want to escape the norm and also help the world become a better place. However as with original poster, I'm not quite sure what to do to get started.

I presume some experience in various areas would be a good idea (get some hands on experience with building the structures you wish to build, some experience handling all the paperwork, maybe some schooling). It may also be a good idea to network with others of like mind.

I'm always on the lookout for Mrs right and the type of woman I find most attractive is one around my age (26 in May) and doesn't mind a little hard work and getting a little dirty.

Someday I will have a homestead and when I do I will be working hard on it to keep it up and don't want a woman who is afraid to get her hands dirty lol. If you squeal at the site of bugs, animal poo, dirt, hard work etc.. you wont do well around me.

I'm not expecting any replies to this post but hey, who knows?

This may or may not interest people here but just in case...

Important information about a virus on the loose

Dunkelheit wrote:
Small mounds maximize the growing space. The bigger the plant the higher you place them on your little mounds, e.g. strawberries at the bottom, then lettuce, then tomatoes on top.

I've not heard of this one, thank you for pointing this out.

One of the issues I've worried about is internet in a rural setting. So far it seems the options are very limited on what you can use to access internet from a rural location. Right now I'm in the suburbs but someday wish to get some land and I want it far from cities, however I like my internet lol.

I'm also a very heavy internet user as I love to watch videos on how to do things. I wouldn't want to see how much bandwidth I use in a given month so using anything with a restriction would be a waste of my money.

Maybe someday rural broadband internet will be common?

Not sure if this is the proper board to place this so if it isn't please forgive

What are some known ways to grow as much produce in as little area as possible? I know about this way of growing potatoes but what about other plants?

The ways I've heard of so far include:
* Growing tomatoes in an "upside down" planter
* Growing potatoes as mentioned above
* Growing cucumbers/vine beans up a trellis

What about things like watermelon, corn, herbs in general, yellow squash, zucchini etc? I ask because I'd love to know of others experiences with growing produce in small spaces.

Neat little heater but I'd like to see a rocket stove mass heater that is semi-portable (can be moved). Seems most I have seen are set in place and cannot be moved.

First off I'd like to say hello to all here. I'm new and this is my first post but not my first time to these forums.

Anyway I've been thinking for awhile about housing designs and such that are sustainable, off grid and use local materials where possible.

I've thought about an Earthship type design but I don't like its concrete use. I really like the idea of cob homes as well as straw bale homes.

I'd like some input and discussion on a sort of hybrid home that is a mix of straw bale, cob, earthship like and similar. Like any issues to be concerned with using cob and such in place of concrete? Think it can be done?


Just to note I am fairly new to most alternative building methods and materials but have looked into cob and straw bale a bit. Forgive me if this post seems odd or something as I'm going on 4 hours of sleep with about 14 hours of awake and it's about bedtime lol.