You say 'Ugly shipping container', I say 'Home sweet home'

Shipping containers are indeed an eyesore, which is why its about damned time someone found a way to repurpose the millions of containers cluttering up plots of land up and down our ports. They can be dressed up to look like traditional homes (think ranch style or rambler), or they can be made to look like those sleek modern prefab homes that are a gazillion dollars. This shipping container idea is the only alternative building I could convince Lover to jump on board with, and here is why: they are very quick to complete, they can be made mobile and they're cheap.

But your land is in the desert, won't you be melting?
-simply put? NO. One can purchase an insulated shipping container for a couple hundred dollars morew, which offer the same R-value of a strawbale home (30-35), a popular desert dwelling. Oh and lest not forget about white roofing , shade structures and AIR CONDITIONING

But what about the toxic floor boards, you say?
-Most containers prepped for homes have had the floors removed. The older ones have already outgassed many of the toxins. should one still decided to keep said floors, they are sealed and cover with other types of actual flooring like tile, carpet, laminated wood, bamboo, etc. I'm leaning towards bamboo myself.

And building codes? What about them , huh!?!?!HUH!?!?!
-well, you could say SHOVE IT and go sans permits-BUT- there has recently been laws passed to help get shipping container homes approves. The regulations are similar to those issued to 'mobile homes'. There are also ways to get around code. A. Buy where codes are not readily enforced and be nice to your neighbors B. buy where there ARE NO building codes, which is becoming increasingly difficult, and C. keep the damn things on wheels, then they are considered mobile recreational vehicles, the codes won't apply and if someone keeps fighting against you, you can park them in RV storage until everything gets straightened out. I have taken all of this into consideration. Since our land is considered 'recreational land', we're considering the 'wheeled' approach, butr very well may just say 'screw your building codes sucka!'. we'll see


Have I sold you on the idea yet? Go ahead. Google it. You know you want to. . .

Sustainable Desert Living

I am a Romantic, a dreamer. My head stays loftly floating in the clouds and my toes barely scrape the ground. Since I put my nomadic ways to rest and planted roots, i've wanted to live in a sustainable home in the desert. I don't know why the desert, its just a magical place to me. Its filled with old world mysticism. Maybe its because being a Southern California native, I have had so much exposure to the ways of the Native Americans who called this place home for so long. Anyway, I have journal I keep of the ideas I have and the components that will make up my dream. Here is a small list of ideas:
shipping container home, solar power, wind turbines, greywater recycling, watcher harvesting,composting toilet, solar water heater,earth berming, white roofing, earthbag structures, rocket stoves, outdoor kitchen w/cob oven, edible garden (desert variety plants), native plants garden,medicinal plant garden, attack llama (don't laugh!!!), classes to teach others how to live off grid inthe desert.. thats just a fiew ideas I have. Every time my foot falls to the earth, its stepping me in the right direction.One day, you'll come to this blog, and you'll see my efforts and feel my passion and breathe my happiness in. One Day.

Some Day

 

So A little while ago, my partner and bought some property in Wonder Valley,Ca. Don't feel bad, nobody else has heard of it either. Its a small, rural desert town, in the middle of nowhere near 29 Palms. Its a popular spot for artist retreats and hikers, being minutes away from the famed Joshua Tree National Park. This tiny podunk town is littered with 5 acre plots of dilapidated cabins that were primarily built by homesteaders in the 1920s and 30's. We bought one of those historic, sad, ghosts of a cabin in hopes of restoring it and living there. During the summer the temps average temp is around 112 degrees but can get as high as 125. For that reason, a second, small home will be necessary because while I AM that tough, my partner is not a heat tolerant reptile, such as myself. The only way I could convince her to go eco-sustainable on the housing was to go with this shipping container idea, that she liked. The cabin that's there is only about 200sf and isn't big enough for our family of 6 (2 dogs included). For now, we are on the 5 year plan. I'm having a lot of fun designing landscaping, greywater systems to treat that landscaping and property layout. I wish to include solar power (only logical in the desert, right?), a wind turbine, and several 'earth bag' outbuildings modeled after architecht Nader Khalili's designs, which are already approved for that county.