posted February 24, 2010 03:43 PM         

Cob is built by hand. Anyone not physically disabled can do it without power tools, though I could see arthritis making problems. Homes built this way have lasted for over a thousand years in other parts of the world and are more resistant to disasters (and cheaper to fix if they are damaged), though they do need maintenance.

Some hardware & plumbing isn't included, but back in 2000, people built their own homes this way for less than $5,000. And they had plenty of space and all their necessities. And you could add more rooms to it easy enough, too (far easier than a traditional home in our society).

It took me a single day to get the hang of it and within a week I was pretty good at it. Perhaps I should recall that I'm smarter than a lot of people (something I didn't think I was when I first thought this up) and I was young, so able to learn a lot faster. But I know there are workshops on building cob and people in their 50s can learn the craft enough to build a home within a week (cob part only). Of course building goes much faster when you have help (in the "barn raising" tradition).

I learned how to do this myself while living with the very rare hippies who actually grew up without stopping at being hippies, and some survivalists who enjoyed living off the grid. I knew one family who not only lived in cob but sold surplus power they generated through wind, solar, and geothermal, in addition to powering their own home (including when everyone else had their power out from brown outs, storms, etc), which included the ability to get online.

I would have to learn more how to do that or contract someone who knew better, but I'd use the underground economy because not only is it cheaper, but it's also more skilled, with plenty of them wanting to encourage people to take an alternative view on energy for various reasons.

The reason I wanted to "start my own" is I'd want to make sure it was livable for my granny if not me since she couldn't just pack up and leave like I could. Some other problems are that Granny has many hippie ideals, but she's not even vegetarian and she keeps guns (which caused a real problem in a hippie commune once for her when she armed herself against people attacking them and when it also turned out one of the hippies was a pedophile and she a mother and the rulers there were scared she was gonna shoot the pedophile that they refused to get rid of and so stole her guns, probably trading them to the bikers who raped their women in exchange for drugs, the bikers just being one of the threats she armed herself against). Since so many people are caught in dualistic thinking, that would make someone of her own mind, rather than a group mind, difficult to find common ground with (and thus acceptance). And that's just looking at her. I'm even more of an enigma (actually, I find Granny easy to understand and see her life choices as reasonable in addition to practical, but most others don't).

But even more so, I wanted to show that it could be done for PROFIT. Granted, not huge profit, but as long as it was shown as viable, then I hoped then I could inspire others to consider the same option, and should the infrastrucure of our own society collapse, then I hoped it had a real influence as an example of people who still had power, food, etc ('course even then when I was still optimistic I still wanted to have some AR-15s around and the like to deal with those who would seek to plunder our resources in the case of a collapse).

Even if it didn't inspire similar retirement communities and the like, I hope to show that those who fear bad nursing homes that they didn't have to slave for 20 years to have a home and might be able to become self-sufficient in their last days to not die in a bad one (like my granny would if she were put at the local one after having a stroke or something).

posted March 03, 2010 07:38 PM         

As long as the taxes are paid then I don't see much depredation going on there, even though the elderly are normally prime targets. Only in the event of societal collapse would I be worried, because then we'd be self-sufficient which would mean we'd have what others do not and those who wish for what we have think the elderly can't defend what they have and are going to die anyway so would almost certainly attack. That's what the AR-15s would be for, summed up as, "Better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them."

Don't think the looters would be zombies who fight to their last breath. Even gangs of hardened thugs in the inner-cities run from a single individual who shoots at them during riots & such (LA Riots, Hurricane Katrina, etc). They go to find easier pickings instead.

It's only when those thugs work for a government (or religion) that becomes like God in their mind that they become truly fearsome, and my only defense I can prepare for that is to try to be very small & under the radar.

Of course I wish that wasn't the case, but wishing doesn't make it so.

posted March 03, 2010 08:35 PM         

quote:

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Don't think the looters would be zombies who fight to their last breath. Even gangs of hardened thugs in the inner-cities run from a single individual who shoots at them during riots & such (LA Riots, Hurricane Katrina, etc). They go to find easier pickings instead.

It's only when those thugs work for a government (or religion) that becomes like God in their mind that they become truly fearsome, and my only defense I can prepare for that is to try to be very small & under the radar.

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Two very interesting observations. I don't know about the first one - I have no experience and can't comment on it but it sounds reassuring.
I completely agree with the second statement.
You can't fight a machine - the government, some big corporation or a religious sect. At least not alone and usually not by a set of standard rules of honor. Staying under the radar seems like the prudent thing to do. It generally makes me feel very small but in the end I am just one person, right?