Either by always looking for patterns we are bound to find them or else, every once in a while life fits together very nicely.  My number came up at the library and I finally got to borrow Where’d You Go Bernadette?, a highly recommended book, and for the first two weeks of having it, I only managed to read the first six pages over and over before falling asleep.* I got a little further this week, thanks to the storm, but by little I mean I got to page thirty. In the meantime the girls and I went with friends to visit a house being built nearby in Freeville, NY. Inspired by the documentary Garbage Warrior , the couple started building the house after dumpster diving for supplies in Ithaca. First the walls are built with old tires filled with dirt. Then this surface is packed with concrete into which trash is stuffed, in order to take up much of the space in forming the walls. Cans are used as bricks and also glass bottles. The house also has solar power panels, an indoor self watering greenhouse, and a rain water collecting system. It is amazingly complex.  There is lots online if you were interested in reading more.

*Great book but I was tired.

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Today it was still raining unless it snowed instead. The girls were exhausted this week and slept late this morning for which I’m grateful. This morning after milking, feeding the animals, and making pancake batter I went back to bed with Where’d You Go Bernadette?  I’ve gotten a bit further and it turns out it is about a woman architect who built houses out of trash.

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Also there were chicks!

Do you see the banna tree growing down at the other end? There is also a baby lemon, lime and orange tree. This hallway that also is a greenhouse is my favorite part.

From inside we could hear the rain falling on the metal roof. We might as well be living in Seattle.

Earthship entrance (I think you either love the name or you don’t)

packing the walls to even them out

the hardworking kids

Courtney, the owner/builder/teacher and her sweet dog are on the far left. Both were wonderful.