Ozark Tours

Hello fellow Ozarkians. I have been playing in my permaculture sand box for a decade now and I am looking for some new inspiration. I am interested in coming to see what you are doing and hearing about what you plan to do and what failures you have had. I like things and systems that are built to last rather then tents waiting to be blown away by the big bad wolf, permanent systems. I am primarily interested in the area between Springfield and Fayetteville. If you are interested in sharing cool ideas, let me know and maybe we can meet up bounce some ideas off each other.

Are people from Kansas welcome to share ideas?

All Ideas are welcome.

I know a fella near me with an awesome tree farm that you would find interesting. The guy has been doing permaculture things there for 40 years, since before he even knew the term. He is north of Springfield about 30 minutes. I can give you his name in a PM if you want and you can find him on Facebook. I'd be interested in learning more about your place, I grew up in Nixa. I'm in Fair Grove with 7.5 acres now and I never knew someone was doing permaculture in Nixa. I thought I knew all the people doing permaculture nearby haha.

I'll be vising Lake of the Ozarks this November and would love to hear about the tree farm guy as well if I could...

I’m about 40 minutes from you. Marionville area.  I’ve got tons to share about solar, I’ve got a working rocket mass heater, lots of dreams and lots of failures bahahahaha

Eric Hammond wrote:I’m about 40 minutes from you. Marionville area.  I’ve got tons to share about solar, I’ve got a working rocket mass heater, lots of dreams and lots of failures bahahahaha

Awesome! I plan on putting a RMH in my pace sooner rather than later. I'd love a hand if you are interested in that

Riley Hughes wrote:

Eric Hammond wrote:I’m about 40 minutes from you. Marionville area.  I’ve got tons to share about solar, I’ve got a working rocket mass heater, lots of dreams and lots of failures bahahahaha

Awesome! I plan on putting a RMH in my pace sooner rather than later. I'd love a hand if you are interested in that

Oh no I’m not helping, I’m never building one again 🤣🤣🤣

It was not a pleasurable experience for me.

I can discuss the details and provide verbal encouragement, but I’m not lifting a finger  bahahahaha

Eric Hammond wrote:I’m about 40 minutes from you. Marionville area.  I’ve got tons to share about solar, I’ve got a working rocket mass heater, lots of dreams and lots of failures bahahahaha

Oh we all have a lot a failures. Maybe we can meet up Eric. I have not tackled solar or rms yet.

Back in November of 2017 I when to Baker Creek in Mansfield, MO. It is a seed company and they had a restaurant. I do not know if the restaurant is open but a cool place to see. Here is there website: https://www.rareseeds.com/
Uncle Mud (Chris McClellan) when to Bourbon, MO to see the Liberator Rocket Heater factory. Here is the post: https://permies.com/t/187718/permaculture-projects/Uncle-Mud-Tour-Liberator-Rocket

Thanks for the suggestion T!  Baker Creek is now in my plans.

Wait a minute, who's what where?  I've recently moved to the Lebanon area (50 minute drive east of Springfield) and am very interested in getting to know others in the area practicing permaculture.  So far we have been trying to get a house started on our property but I'm all but ready to give up on natural building.  Seems too wet for strawbale unless the roof is up first, which is an option.  I'm about 80% done on a ~350sqft outbuilding with earthbags and it taught me that I'm too old to do a whole house with earthbags now unless I can get a lot of help.  Contractors here don't seem to want anything to do with natural building methods.  I mentioned wanting to have a rubblestone foundation to a couple contractors and they won't touch anything set on that foundation type.  But I have cleared a couple acres, got 10 hives of bees, saved all the logs from clearing the land for huglekultur beds and got our humanure composting beds set up.  I would love to see what else people in the area have set up and pick each others brain.  

Gregory Bruna wrote:Wait a minute, who's what where?  I've recently moved to the Lebanon area (50 minute drive east of Springfield) and am very interested in getting to know others in the area practicing permaculture.  So far we have been trying to get a house started on our property but I'm all but ready to give up on natural building.  Seems too wet for strawbale unless the roof is up first, which is an option.  I'm about 80% done on a ~350sqft outbuilding with earthbags and it taught me that I'm too old to do a whole house with earthbags now unless I can get a lot of help.  Contractors here don't seem to want anything to do with natural building methods.  I mentioned wanting to have a rubblestone foundation to a couple contractors and they won't touch anything set on that foundation type.  But I have cleared a couple acres, got 10 hives of bees, saved all the logs from clearing the land for huglekultur beds and got our humanure composting beds set up.  I would love to see what else people in the area have set up and pick each others brain.  

Hey Greg, though I am not a builder (yet), having spent quite a bit of time over the last few years devouring plenty of YouTube videos, books, forums, etc, and thinking about what would work or not work well in various types of climates and locales, if I may, I would suggest you perhaps look into the idea of hewn log construction (such as half dovetail hewn log, being quite ubiquitous at one point from the northeast all the way down southern Appalachia, to where you are in Missouri, all the way over to Texas, AT LEAST that far, though it is now most often associated with southern Appalachia), or perhaps timber frame construction, or some tasteful combination of the two (or even a third element, such as a portion/addition featuring stone masonry, such as a den, library, bedroom, etc). These types of timber and stone construction are very old, very traditional, very aesthetically pleasing, can be constructed with modern features and amenities in mind (such as plumbing and wiring, though I think hewn log house construction could prove a bit trickier in this regard, but it has already been done aplenty), can have a resale value (not that you intend to move, but you never know in life......), and can be VERY durable and long lasting, and that is something worth considering. Would any of these take more tools and more skill set acquisition than say earthbag? Yes, but it could be well worth it, and the tools can be used for all KINDS of other tasks and jobs.

Just something to think about, because whereas various forms of construction still could benefit from more decades (at least) of testing to determine how suitable they are long term, there are other modalities, such as listed above, that are already VERY time-tested, with the styles being around anywhere from a few hundred years to a few thousand years, at least, and with individual houses having already lasted from 150-400 years in north American alone.....

These three main construction forms above, in addition to adobe block and cob, are the three I am most heavily considering engaging in for a small-to-modest sized handcrafted house, when I have enough saved up to purchase the right little piece of land someday. If I located eastward of where I am in east Texas, I will probably keep cob on the plate, but drop the idea of adobe, and really focus on timbers and stone. Should I move further westward than the piney woods of east Texas, I will still focus on timber frame, hewn log, and stone, but I will also give great thought to adobe and cob.

--Cody

Gregory Bruna wrote: Seems too wet for strawbale unless the roof is up first, which is an option.  I'm about 80% done on a ~350sqft outbuilding with earthbags and it taught me that I'm too old to do a whole house with earthbags now unless I can get a lot of help.  Contractors here don't seem to want anything to do with natural building methods.  

It is good to hear that your an 80% done.

Don't get too discouraged about conventional builders.  They know nothing about building anything that is not conventional.

Start a new topic about your plans and ask questions.

The forum has a bunch of folks who know something about everything.

I'm at the easternmost edge of the Ozarks, all the way out east of West Plains, MO, but i'm appreciating thread for ideas.

One place that i recently learned about, searching for permaculture presence in the Ozarks, is the East Wind Community, near Gainesville, MO. They don't allow drop-in visits but their site has interesting context about what they're doing: https://www.eastwindblog.co/