Farm Experience Weekend
March 30- April 1 Our 10th year!
The best overview of life in community, exploring green building and solar technology, organic gardening, midwifery, education and so much more.

Essay:
True Sustainability

During the communal period, this home housed about 40 people, including several families and assorted single folks. After The Changeover the house was duplexed and it remains that way today. By sharing resources, we are able to live comfortably while dividing various expenses, keeping our cost of living down. For example, our two families share one electric meter, one propane gas connection for our cooking stoves, one water heater, one washer and dryer set, and the list goes on and on. We have also shared costs of improvements to the home over the years.

One of our first investments together was a wood furnace in our basement. The furnace heats both sides of the house with a forced air or central heat system, which keeps all of the dust, debris and smoke associated with wood heat out of our living areas. We spend about $300- $400 per year on wood, which we use whenever temperatures go below freezing

A couple of years ago, my wife and I had an addition built on to our side of the home to expand our living space. It features a floor of Vermont slate. We added a computer controlled electric radiant heating system to the floor, which actually can use less energy than most water based radiant heating systems. It is enough to keep our side of the home warm when temperatures are above freezing.

The exterior siding on the addition and on our second story is cypress, a wood that is naturally resistant to rot and insect damage. It requires no painting or exterior treatment.

In Tennessee, we are concerned as much or more about keeping the home cool in the summer than gathering heat in the winter through passive solar. For this reason on our south wall we installed tall, narrow windows that let in light without allowing a lot of heat come through.

We also built the addition with six inch stud walls giving us two more inches on insulation than is typical in standard home construction. Under the siding there is an extra layer of foam board, providing yet another layer of insulation.The north walls feature extensive Low E gas-filled windows and a sliding glass door to maximize our view and to let in cool air during the summer.

Out back, our deck is constructed on locally harvested sassafras lumber. Sassafras wood is laden with natural oils, making it also naturally bug and rot resistant.

The latest home improvement has been the addition of new flooring in our upstairs hallway and bedrooms. We chose to use bamboo both because it is a renewable resource and because it is also one of the more affordable options. The downside of bamboo is that although it resembles hardwood in appearance, it is actually quite delicate and susceptible to scuffs, dings and dents. We felt that the upstairs floor would not be exposed to the same amount of traffic that our downstairs receives and hopefully it will hold up OK. We'll know if that was a good decision in a few years.

Our other options could have been pre-finished hardwood or locally milled hardwood from the nearby Amish community. The Amish hardwood would have required extensive sanding and finishing, something that can be endured with new construction, but impractical when remodeling.