homemade homes

[yuqqys-attic-blog]

The kitchen of radical ceramicist Valentine Schlegel and her partner Yvonne Brunhammer in Montparnasse. Photo by Eric Marin

[karlvsn-deactivated20240312-dea]

[10chickenwings]

Jacques Grüber - stained glassed door at the Musée de l’École de Nancy

[eatlivewear]

[biodiverseed]

The Water-Purifying Storm Drain

Some trees in the municipality have come down, which means free wood chip mulch! I am glad to finally start covering up the newspaper mulch layer around the swale.

I have been picking up urban concrete waste, rocks, shells, and ceramic waste, in order to make a drainage layer in the water reservior. It’s all coming together in bits and pieces of recycled materials. As with the clay extraction project: a little bit of collection and recycling each day adds up to a lot of raw materials.

This water-collecting and filtering project has been a few months in the making: building a wood hügel, digging a swale, planting an edible tree and shrub border, planting pollinator-feeding erosion control seed mix on the berm, and planting semi-aquatic irises that filter water and hyperaccumulate pollutants like heavy metals. 

Once finished, this crescent-shaped drain should relieve flooded conditions on the grass plane and patio, while providing a space for the disposal of local concrete waste and broken ceramics.

In a few years, it can be mulched over and turned into a rain garden.

I based the idea on things I read while learning about landscape stormwater management, phytoremediation and phytomining: I wanted to use largely botanical, recycled, or self-harvested components to build a drain that also functions as a place to process waste, and as a habitat and source of sustenance to local wildlife. It’s modelled on a bioretention water processing/groundwater recharge cell.

VIRGINIA DEQ STORMWATER DESIGNSPECIFICATION No. 9     BIORETENTION

A number of the drainage elements – especially shells and concrete – are also meant to catch small amounts of water, in order to provide drinking water for the beehive I am currently installing.

Seeds are germinating on the berm, so soon the whole thing will be covered in flowers, and yet again virtually unrecognisable!

The whole project has been free of cost, and made with recycled, collected, or traded materials.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

Wow, this mosaic work of art is incredibly beautiful. I wonder if they did it over wallpaper, so that it’s strippable, if they move. (It would be a shame to take it down, though.)

ArtRulsDesign on flickr

[juliaknz]

The White Room / The Garden Room Pali Hill, Mumbai, India, 2019; images © The White Room.

[rjzimmerman]

Dirt is dead, but soil is alive — packed with nutrients and boasting properties that keep carbon out of the atmosphere.

[voiceofnature]

Apartma Zemljanka - Earth House

[protoslacker]

““The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction,” an essay Le Guin wrote in 1986, disputes the idea that the spear was the earliest human tool, proposing that it was actually the receptacle. Questioning the spear’s phallic, murderous logic, instead Le Guin tells the story of the carrier bag, the sling, the shell, or the gourd. In this empty vessel, early humans could carry more than can be held in the hand and, therefore, gather food for later. Anyone who consistently forgets to bring their tote bag to the supermarket knows how significant this is. And besides, Le Guin writes, the idea that the spear came before the vessel doesn’t even make sense. “Sixty-five to eighty percent of what human beings ate in those regions in Paleolithic, Neolithic, and prehistoric times was gathered; only in the extreme Arctic was meat the staple food.” Not only is the carrier bag theory plausible, it also does meaningful ideological work — shifting the way we look at humanity’s foundations from a narrative of domination to one of gathering, holding, and sharing.”

—

Siobhan Leddy in The Outline. We should all be reading more Ursula Le Guin

Her novels imagine other worlds, but her theory of fiction can help us better live in this one.

There’s a link to a PDF of Le Guin’s essay here.

[wallacegardens]

Hügelkultur (German, meaning “hill culture” or “mound culture”) is the garden concept of building raised beds over decaying wood piles. Decayed timbers become porous and retain moisture while releasing nutrients into the soil that, in turn, promote root growth in plant materials. As the logs decay, they expand and contract, creating air pockets that assist in aerating the soil, allowing roots to easily penetrate the soil. This decaying environment creates a beneficial home to earthworms. As the worms burrow into the soil, they loosen the soil and deposit nutrient-rich worm castings, beneficial to plants. An earthworm can produce its weight in castings on a daily basis.  

The best decayed wood for a Hügelkultur, according to A Growing Culture, comes from alders, applewood, cottonwood, poplar, maple and birch. Use wood products that have been in the process of decay for about a year (using green, or fresh, wood products will rob the soil of necessary nitrogen). Some wood products, like cedar and black walnut, should be avoided because they produce organisms that negatively effect plant growth.   

Read more at A Growing Culture. 

[plantinghuman]

This looks a bit weird, but you can create private spaces in your garden. Natural walls are always better than stonewalls in your garden!

[flowerpatchedheart]

As soon as I own a house I’m doing this.

[darkbookworm13-deactivated20240]

reblogging for future reference. This is fascinating.

[crabapplepectin]

I'm kinda meh about roof gardens/ grass roofs bc they can accumulate a lot of weight and collapse/ cause leaks

But living walls? Mighty sexy

They provide natural insulation, which not only keeps the heat in during cold days, but keeps the heat out during hot ones. It's better planned and maintained than vines (depending on the plant ofc).

Flooding in urban areas can be reduced since the roots and the growing medium will hold in moisture. Air can be purified, and heat can be reduced because of evaporation.

I just love living walls

[itscolossal]

A Verdant Landscape Breathes Life into a One-Bedroom Apartment in a Suburb of Mumbai

[fuckinmiki]

House carved into a stone by a 15th century Romanian monk 

[lgbtsustainableliving]

Recycled Roofing

There are all sorts of ways to recycle cans, bottles, and tires, but here’s a few that you may not have considered before. 

A number of different types of cans can be used to tile a roof. Beer and soda cans, for instance, can be cut and shaped to create roof tiles that fit together neatly.

Likewise, they can also be flattened, rather than cut, for roofing. 

Tin cans, too, can be cut and flattened to create roofing. 

Plastic bottles can be used in a number of ways to create roofing for a shed or house. 

Even materials such as old tires can be used for sustainable, sturdy roofing. 

[diygabl]

Vegetable Crop Yields, Plants per Person, and Crop Spacing

Vegetable crop yields and the number of vegetable plants to grow for each person in your household will help you estimate the space needed for a home vegetable garden.

Keep reading

[ancientorigins]

700 year old home in Iran