(Part 2) Top products from r/SelfSufficiency

I’ve been thinking along the same lines of a garden to allow me a full diet with lots of variety. Good luck in your journey!

I have been considering using the [Square Foot Method](All New Square Foot Gardening, 3rd Edition, Fully Updated: MORE Projects - NEW Solutions - GROW Vegetables Anywhere https://www.amazon.com/dp/0760362858/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_p8uSCbBV7NCH2) to keep everything compact.

So far, it seems that it’ll be a slightly higher startup cost, but if I can compost effectively, building the boxes is a weekend project with some spare wood. I’m hoping it’ll allow enough nutritional variety, plus I plan on building a lot of solid companion plots to let nature do what she does best.

Haven’t started any of it yet, but I felt it was a great resource to change my perspective of how much I would really need and how much I could practically take care of.

I’m also considering aquaponics, but that’s a project for waaaaaaaaaay down the line.

Depending on where you live (climate) and your local soil and runoff conditions you will have lots of things to consider.

This book is good.

http://undergroundhousing.com/book.html

This amazon page has some other books (that I have not read, so I can't comment on them)

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Underground-Houses-Build/dp/0806907282

Here is my thinking (just from reading, my own home is an above ground timber frame built for a Canadian climate)

[1] Surface bedrock (Like Halifax NS where I grew up) means you dig to the bedrock or blast, and then build a home you are planning to cover with earth. This gives you a sturdy home/foundation but you really have to take the natural water flow into account.

[2] Close to the water table (near most swamps, streams and lakes) means you are more worried about water getting into your home from seepage. Take great care to prepare drainage and a sealed waterproof membrane below AND around your house. Remember, a few dollars and paranoia is better than flooding every spring. It is probably best to build up by making a hill with your home and then covering it with earth.

[3] Talk to companies who pour concrete foundations. They are more likely to know the special conditions in your area.

[4] If you want to go multiple levels down you run into special problems with construction and ventilation. Talk to a company that builds foundations for high rise apartments that typically have 3 or 4 levels below ground.

[5] If you are wanting to do much of this yourself, practice first by building an "underground greenhouse (aka walipini 1 2

This Book is the best I have found. I suggest using concrete in some way on your greenhouse so you can learn about concrete before you DIY a concrete foundation for a home.


edit: The book above suggests PVC pipes to support the plastic "roof". In my area where heavy snow loads are a thing you should use 2x6 or 2x8 spaces no more than 16 inches apart. Look at your local building codes for what is required for your roof.

I'm late to this thread but I thought I'd mention a great book I've been using for around-the-house repairs and other projects: Dare to Repair! It's geared towards women but I think it's very useful for people of all genders who are just starting out with learning how to fix things. The authors also wrote an edition for replacing and renovating things in your home, and another one for maintaining and understanding your car. I haven't read those two yet but I want to.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

What is your goal? Is your goal to design the cheapest home possible? Is it to get the home built as quickly as possible?

My goal is to design a home that will heat itself in the winter and cool itself in the summer and provide it's own water, electricity, and clean up the gray water.

I am looking at a passive solar home that uses the sun to heat thermal mass (think stone or brick walls and floors) in the winter to heat the home. What I love about the passive solar design is the heat is free, and there are no moving parts to break and need repairing over the lifetime of the home. However, I like the idea of redundancy for backup. I'd also like to have a solar panel attached to a radiator heated floor for heating. I'd install the solar panel on the porch under the eaves(watch from 9:55 - 11:06) because I only need to use it in the winter when the sun is low in the sky. A masonry stove could be the final fall-back plan. Regular fireplaces are horribly inefficient because much of the warm air escapes up the flu. A masonry heater prevents that.

Placement of windows and eaves to keep the sun out in the summer coupled with earth bermed on the north and west sides of the house (in the northern hemisphere) will keep the home naturally cool in the summer.

Solar panels on the south-facing roof would generate electricity. Reed beds to filter and clean the gray water. I'd use a metal roof so I could collect rainwater.

This is an example of what I described.

Some of my favorite resources have been:

The Solar House by Daniel Chiras

The Earth Sheltered Housing Design

Choosing Ecological Sewage Treatment by Nick Grant

I don't know about making pre-fabs or building them like a contractor, but there is a guy who has an earth-sheltered home building school of some sort. I too am interested in efficient, environmentally friendly (or at least friendlier) homes and found this book by Rob Roy. He has made several types of earth sheltered homes, including one that was completely underground. I like his book because he goes through the entire process of building both homes he talks about as a learning experience; he writes about all the mistakes that he made and how to potentially avoid them, how to save money, and re-use old materials. For example, one thing that he mentioned, that I would NEVER have thought of, was how he designed his windows. Before he built the frames, he went to a window manufacturer and asked if they had any returns, which they would have to essentially eat the cost for and got those for a huge discount.

This one, I'd assume? Looks interesting, thanks!

John Seymour has pretty good ideas for one acre and five acre homesteads, and this book is what made my wife and I take the leap...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0751364428?pc_redir=1406731652&robot_redir=1

I have well-worn and much treasured copy of The Complete Book of Self Sufficiency dating from the 70's. I wonder how much it has changed, and if I will ever get a chance to butcher a pig.

Book:

"Living on the Earth" (Amazon source below)

http://www.amazon.com/Living-Earth-Celebrations-Warnings-Harvested/dp/0394710568/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290016150&sr=1-1

It is the Best $ you will spend in the subject.

Check out Eliot Coleman's books on winter gardening, particularly this one. He runs a market garden in Maine, and successfully grows and markets vegetables in the winter. I don't have a cold greenhouse yet, but I'm planning one.

If you grow a lot of veggies in the summer, you can do a lot of preserving in the fall to get you through. Beans are easy to dry. I have this book and have built a root cellar. And I've purchased a pressure canner and preserve all sorts of stuff.

One Second After seems pertinent

Are you perhaps looking for something along this line?

[Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities Paperback – January 1, 2003
by Diana Leafe Christian] (http://www.amazon.com/Creating-Life-Together-Ecovillages-Intentional/dp/0865714711)

http://www.amazon.com/Farming-Self-Sufficiency-Independence-5-Acre-Farm/dp/0805235256

Lol I know you said urban but this stuff works for us in the field. Eye sore but less sweats.

There is not conflict between individual's rights. Violating your rights is not in my interest. My rights end at your property. Do whatever you want with your property. For me to say I have the right to decide what you do on your property leads to...well...our current state of affairs.

However, I just finished a many day argument with a redditor about this stuff, in which I made no progress in convincing him, which was very disappointing. I'm not really ready to get in to it again so soon. Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal does a good job of explaining my opinions on the subject.