{"id":1962,"date":"2006-03-09T03:17:00","date_gmt":"2006-03-09T03:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sustainablog.greenoptions.com\/2006\/03\/09\/hardcore-diy-sustainability\/"},"modified":"2006-03-09T03:17:00","modified_gmt":"2006-03-09T03:17:00","slug":"hardcore-diy-sustainability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/hardcore-diy-sustainability\/","title":{"rendered":"Hardcore DIY Sustainability"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
Thanks to Abe Connally for pointing me to Vela Creations<\/a>, a site that, among other things, tells the story of Abe and his wife Josie’s four-year experiment in building a sustainable life in the West Texas desert:<\/p>\n

\n

We\u2019ve got a bunch of chickens<\/a>, a garden<\/a> and the desert<\/a> for food<\/a> (goats coming soon). We have a rock<\/a> and adobe<\/a> house \u2013 still in progress \u2013 for shelter<\/a>. Rain water catchment<\/a> for water<\/a>. Wind <\/a>and solar<\/a> for power<\/a>. Composting<\/a> and recycling<\/a> for waste<\/a>. <\/p>\n

We try to integrate each system with as many others as possible \u2013 killing two birds with one stone can save a lot of time and resources. The roof catches our water, the waste water goes to the garden, the garden gives us food, the wind gives us electricity, and the electricity goes to make this website.<\/p>\n

When we first moved out here, we knew relatively little about sustainable living, other than we both craved a simpler and cheaper lifestyle than is now the norm. We\u2019ve made some mistakes and are constantly learning new things, but one thing\u2019s for sure\u2026 WE LOVE THIS LIFE. Every day, we get up, have coffee with the early morning, do chores, then get on with whatever project we have going\u2026 there\u2019s often a choice. We go to bed tired, but very happy and peaceful.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/p>\n

While I must admit that I’m generally pretty happy with my urban existence, I do get the urge to chuck it all and live a simpler life. Most of us probably consider that a fantasy, so it’s very cool to see people living that dream. Additionally, Abe and Josie’s website is chock-full of plans and designs for windmills<\/a>, composting systems<\/a>, and growing food<\/a>. In fact, I’d suggest that this site provides a nice model of open-source appropriate technology… yes?<\/p>\n

Thanks for sharing, Abe! It’s good to know that the spirit of self-reliance (green self-reliance at that) isn’t dead. You guys are inspiring!<\/p>\n

Categories: diy<\/a>, sustainability<\/a>, greenbuilding<\/a>, appropriatetechnology<\/a>, lifestyle<\/a>, Texas<\/a>, greentheme<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thanks to Abe Connally for pointing me to Vela Creations, a site that, among other things, tells the story of Abe and his wife Josie’s four-year experiment in building a [ … ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nHardcore DIY Sustainability • Sustainablog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/hardcore-diy-sustainability\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hardcore DIY Sustainability • Sustainablog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thanks to Abe Connally for pointing me to Vela Creations, a site that, among other things, tells the story of Abe and his wife Josie’s four-year experiment in building a [ … ]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/hardcore-diy-sustainability\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sustainablog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-03-09T03:17:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.velacreations.com\/images\/admire.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/hardcore-diy-sustainability\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/hardcore-diy-sustainability\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9b578e764fdaeb0c31f2d565d3f02b30\"},\"headline\":\"Hardcore DIY Sustainability\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-03-09T03:17:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2006-03-09T03:17:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/hardcore-diy-sustainability\/\"},\"wordCount\":336,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/hardcore-diy-sustainability\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/hardcore-diy-sustainability\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/hardcore-diy-sustainability\/\",\"name\":\"Hardcore DIY Sustainability • Sustainablog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2006-03-09T03:17:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2006-03-09T03:17:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/hardcore-diy-sustainability\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/hardcore-diy-sustainability\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/hardcore-diy-sustainability\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hardcore DIY Sustainability\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\",\"name\":\"Sustainablog\",\"description\":\"Since 2003, Sustainablog has been one of the pioneers of sustainability news online.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Sustainablog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg\",\"width\":200,\"height\":142,\"caption\":\"Sustainablog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9b578e764fdaeb0c31f2d565d3f02b30\",\"name\":\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/36b723ef9244464afe2e59d68b238a07?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/36b723ef9244464afe2e59d68b238a07?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\"},\"description\":\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg is the founder and editor of sustainablog. You can keep up with all of his writing at Facebook, and at Google+\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/author\/jeffmcintirestrasburg\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hardcore DIY Sustainability • Sustainablog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/hardcore-diy-sustainability\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hardcore DIY Sustainability • Sustainablog","og_description":"Thanks to Abe Connally for pointing me to Vela Creations, a site that, among other things, tells the story of Abe and his wife Josie’s four-year experiment in building a [ … ]","og_url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/hardcore-diy-sustainability\/","og_site_name":"Sustainablog","article_published_time":"2006-03-09T03:17:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.velacreations.com\/images\/admire.jpg"}],"author":"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/hardcore-diy-sustainability\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/hardcore-diy-sustainability\/"},"author":{"name":"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9b578e764fdaeb0c31f2d565d3f02b30"},"headline":"Hardcore DIY Sustainability","datePublished":"2006-03-09T03:17:00+00:00","dateModified":"2006-03-09T03:17:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/hardcore-diy-sustainability\/"},"wordCount":336,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/hardcore-diy-sustainability\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/hardcore-diy-sustainability\/","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/hardcore-diy-sustainability\/","name":"Hardcore DIY Sustainability • Sustainablog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2006-03-09T03:17:00+00:00","dateModified":"2006-03-09T03:17:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/hardcore-diy-sustainability\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/hardcore-diy-sustainability\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/hardcore-diy-sustainability\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hardcore DIY Sustainability"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/","name":"Sustainablog","description":"Since 2003, Sustainablog has been one of the pioneers of sustainability news online.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization","name":"Sustainablog","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg","width":200,"height":142,"caption":"Sustainablog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9b578e764fdaeb0c31f2d565d3f02b30","name":"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/36b723ef9244464afe2e59d68b238a07?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/36b723ef9244464afe2e59d68b238a07?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg"},"description":"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg is the founder and editor of sustainablog. You can keep up with all of his writing at Facebook, and at Google+","sameAs":["https:\/\/sustainablog.org"],"url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/author\/jeffmcintirestrasburg\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1962"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1962\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}