“Rent or Dent”

Up here in “the piney woods” (literally) we’re busy building ISBU based oil/gas housing and laboratories for delivery to North Dakota.

Now that I’ve kicked pneumonia’s butt…

We’re talking to the Canadians about oil/gas housing for their workers as well, as well as a few “Remote Monitoring Stations”…

Thanks to praise from the likes of Yahoo and CNBC News… again…

Mixed into that lot are some pretty good prospects for “EPA Remote laboratories” in places like Oregon and Washington State and…

… We’re building a few ISBU Homes (and even doing a few ISBU additions to existing homes) for families, too.

It’s really funny, actually. I never really pictured us taking a firm position in the Commercial/Industrial Complex, but yet… here we are…

While we do this, I’m getting  hammered by people/haters telling me crap like;

“I’m nuts…  that ISBU housing is never going to take off and I should find something productive to do with my time and energy – Go buy a real house like everyone else…”

To them, I say this;

First, HOME prices aren’t coming BACK.

There isn’t any real rebound in housing prices to be measured here, folks. Don’t listen to the Realtor hype, look at the NUMBERS. Forget about a “magic bullet”. It’s not gonna happen.

It’s not the 90’s anymore.

You’re not going to see  housing values increase in double digit percentage points annually. That ship has sailed (except in some notable markets that we’ll talk about in a minute).

It’s a buyers market.

(As in – If you’re trying to SELL your home, you’re screwed.) That makes it a good time to BUY an existing home, but it’s not because you’re buying under market and you have the opportunity to make a lot of cash on a flip.

Note: Much of the hype we’re seeing about “recent booms in home sales” is bank driven… Home Foreclosure sales are driving the housing industry right now.

25% of all current home sales are “foreclosures”.

Home prices (historically) follow inflation trends.

When you adjust for inflation, home prices generally follow suit. Look at housing prices as far back as the 1890’s and you’ll see what I mean.

The problem we have is rampant inflation and a crippled economy isn’t producing jobs that allow the production of a mass of qualified buyers for home purchases. That, coupled with “the state of the state” means that we’re seeing RENTS that are competitive with housing, allowing families to live without that commitment. Why risk another housing drop spike, when you can move to a better home for less?

As I type this – Home sales are STILL down 3% from LAST year (which wasn’t a good year for realtors OR families, let me tell you)…

In most markets, you’re still better off renting.

House prices aren’t going to “magically  come back”, folks. Home prices have NEVER been a big performer (except in a few housing spikes in areas where “location, location, location” is everything).

I’m not even going to start on the lobbies, politics or the banking industry as they try to manipulate themselves back into position to your pockets…

It’s not just US here in America.

It’s happening all over the planet as the economy and political tomfoolery drive families into the darkness…

As Greece “helps” smash the EU…  as the Germans hold their breaths as well, knowing that they’ll bear the brunt of the bailouts, failures and impending economic collapse – we’re also holding our breaths here in the USA waiting to see how hard it ripples through the American Economy.

Trust me when I tell you that We WILL feel the fallout from the EU crisis here.

This means that many families are taking a “new path”…

They are making an exodus from here…

… to handbuilt homes like this, surrounded by (gasp!) trees,  grass and fresh air!

(Not to mention Wild Deer, Elk, Moose, Rabbits, Turkeys, Geese, Ducks… get the idea?)

Up here, I’m surrounded by stuff like this!

While it’s beautiful, it’s just a  little too much wood for my taste… so let’s look something made of  METAL, huh? 🙂

That’s what I’m talking about! I swear I feel like the Australians read my mind. THIS is glorious RURAL living!

Where was I? I lost my train of thought while trying to figure out who to send the gift basket of Vegemite to!

Speaking of Vegemite (and those “Men At Work” knuckleheads that arm-twisted  me to taint my tastebuds with it… once… but only once. Ewww!);

(Ironic, really. In my opinion, the Australians lead the way when it comes to “Corrugated Coolness”… but Vegemite? I think it’s the Australian version of Haggis. Yes, Vegemite’s “gawd-awful stuff”… But they love it? Go figure…)

When I think of “Vegemite”, I think of this (because “the alternative” is gooey, gastronomic suicide); 🙂

CRAP! Lost my train of thought, again…

Man, I’m telling you… senility is a terrible disease! LOL!

Okay… back into the fray;

Families across the planet are buying land they can afford and then they are using paychecks and sweat equity (assisted by bamboozling relatives and friends they probably never want to see again…) to build a nice, affordable home for their families. 🙂

By reducing their mortgage obligations and downsizing, they reduce their cashflow requirements, making life “safer and saner” in these trying times we face…

Admittedly, as a result of the current market conditions…

… we ARE seeing a housing spike in ONE specific area of home sales.

“Vacation home sales” ARE up, and people are buying places close to home. Look at that carefully and you’ll see that many of those “vacation home sales” are actually rural purchases as families elect to begin the exodus out of cities and into the country, where they’ll have more control over their lives and futures.

Many of these “new home purchases” are being termed “Vacation Home” buys, due to their location and configuration.

This is a trend that we predicted HERE, a long time ago. Now, it’s just becoming measurable.

THIS is going to help fuel fires for “alternative homes”… ISBU homes included.

We’re seeing a hundred families a month asking for help navigating a path toward a sustainable, safe, affordable structure that will shelter their families.

So, to those naysayers out there, we say what we’ve always said…

Grow a spine.

Take some responsibility for your own life.

Secure your own future by working hard for it.

Stop whining like a cry-baby.

The only “Cry-Baby” that whines around here is the WAH pedal attached to the business end of this beautiful Fender Stratocaster I play to fuel my creativity…

 🙂

Now, you’ll have to excuse me while I tend to this concrete we’re shooting over this wonderful PEX tubing manifold in the floor.  It’s gonna make this ISBU Container  toasty warm year round, for pennies…

Steel Resolve…

Lately, I’ve been juggling stuff…

While we get ISBUs prepared for repurposing into Oil/Gas Labs, we’re taking time to get out of town, looking at property and dreaming about building our own “Off-Grid Fortress” later this year…

Now, apparently many of you think I live in a cave… So, I’ll post a pic of my porch to squash that ugly rumor…

It’s NOT a cave… it’s just a small depression in the granite rockface… 🙂

Actually, if you drive in any direction from where I’m typing this, you’ll find river crossings, buffaloes, bison, elk, deer, wild turkeys (the feathered kind, not the bottled kind… around here they drink Southern Comfort and Budweiser…) and enough small game to keep an Army moving for decades.

And, contrary to some “informed opinions”…

There are ISBU based off-grid homes and cabins scattered around ME, seemingly everywhere.

Some ask me WHY anyone would truck ISBUs up into the hills. There are even those who think that “those who do” are up to no good. But to those simpletons lacking imagination and even anything resembling a backbone or a pioneering spirit, I offer this as response;

Who wouldn’t want to wake up to this EVERY MORNING?

Take this view and then add some Corten Steel and you have strong, durable, high-speed housing for pennies…

These are simple constructs, folks. Most of the families that have accomplished this, have done it for pennies on the dollar, serioulsy. They bought a nice piece of land. They put in a well, a cistern  and a septic system…

And then, they started  to dream…

Sure, you have to have a piece of property that will allow truck access to deliver your boxes. That WILL help to define the property you seek. But once you’ve found that paradise, dropping those boxes on a prepared site (like Sonotube PILINGS!) allows you to build quickly and cheaply.

Here’s my “Idiots Guide to ISBU Building”; 🙂

All you need are boxes, a decent SSMR system -Standing Seam Metal Roof, and some toys to keep the place running smoothly.

Y0u know I’m a big fan of photovoltaic panels. Point them the right direction and then hook them to a battery bank and you have power.

It’s really quite simple.

There will be times when the sun don’t shine. That isn’t a deal-breaker. All you need is a back up generator to keep those batteries charged up and operating at peak efficiency…

It’s simple stuff. Find the land. Add water. Do some Site prep. Buy some toys…

And live in the mountains, surrounded by the very elements our forefathers faced daily, as they carved out this nation.  And while they did that, they drank water out of mountain springs and ate deer and elk that they culled out of their front yards…

It doesn’t get much better than that…

Pass the Bambi Burgers and the Iced Tea, huh?

Why does this feel so “familiar”?

Doesn’t even need a “Set-up”, does it?

Dueling with Hamilton…

Over the last few months, we’ve talked about many ways to integrate an ISBU into your housing plans.

Sure, you can build a pretty nice house entirely out of ISBUs…

• You can remodel your exiting home by adding ISBUs to it – like a big Master bath suite or even a gourmet kitchen!
• You can build a guest house, a workshop or even (gasp!) a “Mother-In-Law” quarters out of ISBUs in your backyard.

Seeing a pattern here?

I’m a died in the wool “purist” where ISBUs are concerned. I believe that if you’re going to go ISBU, then you should go all the way…

Wait! NO I don’t!

Look, the POINT of using ANY hybrid or alternative materials is to get the very best out of each component, while using all of your planning and design skills to make everything work together to form something far more substantial than the sum of it’s parts.

You want to evaluate each material for the following things;

• Strength,
• Structural Integrity,
• Sustainability, and most of all…
• Affordability.

Enter “Earthbag/ISBU Hybrids”.

Okay, I listed “Earthbags” first… I did it alphabetically. If I didn’t… my pals on the “dirt side” of the alt building world would probably set burning paper bags fulla dog poop on my porch. That “Geiger” hombre is a crafty fellow. And you’ve gotta watch those earthbag characters… they  ain’t exactly beneath that kinda rowdy behavior. LOL!

So… while I took the long drive to play with steel up here in the mountains…

(Actually, truth be told, I’ve been thinking about this for a while…)

I started thinking about other ways to build a really strong, really affordable, really efficient home, using basic hand tools… and YOUR HANDS.

I’m in an area where an earthbag home just lends itself to the environment. I mean, there’s dirt everywhere! 🙂

Actually, truth be told, I’ve never seen dirt this fertile and rich before. You can grow just about anything here (that will grow in this zone), with very little difficulty.

As we toil with stripping out ISBUs (removing the pesticide ridden flooring for replacement and then sandblasting off all the lead based anti-fouling paint on the exterior) for conversion into Oil/Gas “Field Laboratories”, I’m really getting hammered by families caught in the “ISBU Entrepreneurial Boom” that seems to be plaguing the nation.

Note that when I started writing RR, you could buy good quality 40′ High Cube containers for $900, all day long.

NOW… between Cable TV hype and participation by “everyone and his brother”… ISBU prices have risen to almost a hundred dollars a foot.

So, many of my families are looking for an alternative to plunking down all that cash – just to get the boxes.

Families still want to USE ISBUs, they just want to find a way to do it that is more affordable.

And there is. We’ve all heard about people who swear that they built their home for $10 a square foot. Sure, it sounds farfetched, and pretty primitive.

And I’ve been caught thinking that they really have to struggle to keep things within that $10 bucks a foot.

But frankly, I’ve actually SEEN examples of “Hamilton Homes” (note that this phrase is now “copywritten and trademarked”)…

… that really make you think about pushing the boundaries of housing. I’m talking homes with integrity, strength and STYLE. I’m talking about homes with receipts and wheel-barrows full of recycled stuff to maintain that “Hamilton Hula”.

(Or “Hamilton Hootenanny” – depending on where your boots land…)

But don’t be inviting me to no luaus. I’m not gonna eat roast pig. Nope. Not gonna do it! 🙂

$10 a foot using earthbags is indeed “doable” and it’s pretty cool.

Really. But some of us (or our significant others) want a little bit more than earth and $10 a foot will provide.

Enter – The Core.I’ve shown you this before, and I’ll show it to you over and over again…

I will. I promise! 🙂

In fact, I’m going to blast your senses with this until  you can see it in your sleep.

Think about it…

Take ONE 20′ High Cube box and then convert it into a “mini services module”. It’s easy to build in stuff like a really nice full sized Kitchen, a laundry closet, a full bathroom and even a Shower room.

This 20′ ISBU module is SO SMALL that you can literally build it in your backyard or even inside a two car garage (providing you can get it into the garage in the first place). Remember that a high cube container is 9’6″ tall. Factor in the height of the trailer deck and you’re pushing most standard garage doors for clearance. A tall garage door is quite handy  in this regard.)

This unit is so light that you can haul it on a car trailer (provided that you can squeeze it between the fenders) and then trailered to site behind a big pickup truck.

Drop this on some footings in the middle of a building site and you can EASILY build a nice home around it, using earthbags, straw bales, CEB blocks (manufactured on site out of compressed earth), or what have you.

Now, you’re spending sweat equity. Sure, after the first few weekends, your recruited relatives will stop showing up to help, but hey, an earthbag home has many more advantages… than that! 🙂

The ground where I’m standing is covered in snow… and it’s frozen beneath. That gives us some time to plan and start stockpiling things like bags to actually put the earth in. It also gives us time to actually build the CORE unit, inside our prototyping barns.

As Spring approaches, we’re actually going to construct a quartet of Corganics Hybrid Homes, both as residences and university architectural projects.  A single CORE unit will be placed in the center of a prepared site and then we’ll build an earthbag home AROUND it. Or, you can even build a much simpler ISBU central (CORE) section to build that cabin or vacation home. The possibilities are endless.

It’s really quite simple to build that “Hamilton Hideaway” in the woods… . It can look like this:

Next time we’ll talk about other ways to deploy a central ISBU, using earthbags to build your hybrid home.

In the meantime I’ll be bolstering my local defenses against more “errant paper bags smoldering on porches”…

Stay tuned!

  Image Credit: Puzzle Hamilton – Yay.com

We seek to assimilate you…

People ask me why I do what I do.

I empower people to make them more self responsible and more self reliant. We teach them to take control of their lives, to enrich their families… on a road paved by hard work and sweat equity.

I have to admit that I get “hate mail” all the time.

7 times out of 10 it’s some contractor or developer who is getting hammered by the economy, blaming ME and those of my ilk for all his/her hardships. They whine about market conditions and assail my family ancestry, but…

… never have I gotten as creative a “shot across my bow” as my buddy Owen Geiger, who recently received this “warning”…

“Dear Mr. Geiger,
My wealthy and powerful associates are not happy with your message of low cost owner-built houses paid with cash, and building small and simple with local materials.

To us, this is sacrilege.

You see, we are the powers that be that control most everything in the world and who have created the present system to enrich ourselves.

You Mr. Geiger and others out there like you are upsetting the apple cart. Nothing is worse than someone like you who causes us to lose money. How dare you…”

Read the rest here:

http://earthbagbuilding.wordpress.com/2012/03/03/a-letter-from-the-borg-collective/

Stay tuned.

Image source: Democratic Underground.com

I know there’s an ISBU House here… somewhere!

I’m currently in the Northwest, planning and prepping!

Great things are coming! Soon, there WILL be a dedicated ISBU production facility in the US aimed at building sustainable, affordable housing and even (gasp!) ISBU building forays into commercial and industrial buildings!

I’m literally working from dawn till dusk, so today, I’m hitting the mailbag to answer that age old question:

Bull Elk (seems fitting as I’m literally surrounded by them) asks:

“How about pointing us to some ideas how to make an ISBU blend in! This is the one thing my imagination is having a hard time overcoming. I’m thinking an off grid or perhaps on grid but semi-isolated rural setting. Perhaps pine forest, but could just as well be rolling hills with sage brush & few trees. Expecting a move to SW Idaho in early summer…. (Yes, new around here, still working through some of the older material)

Love your blog, Ronin! Great insights on matters of not only cleverly economic housing but also life & economics. Good stuff!”

**

Okay Bull Elk,

One of the biggest myths perpetuated by “wood and brick ilk” is that ISBU buildings (especially homes) stick out like sore thumbs.

These naysayers say things like: “ISBU Structures are garish, ugly, and property value killers.”

Bull. They’re just boxes.

Sure, they ARE boxes made of steel, but they are simply boxes, none the less. They can look just like any other home in your area, in your sub-division (should you live in a progressive area that allows urban ISBU construction) or on your block. The possibilities are endless.

.

People who have read my blog and books (start with “Introduction to Container Homes and Buildings” – you can find out about it in the sidebar on the right of your monitor) know that we’ve built homes that look like “modern/sci-fi” dreams and we’ve even (gasp!) built homes that look just like the house next door.

.

But if you use your imagination, you can “hide” an ISBU structure MANY  other ways.

Here’s something to think about;

Your only limit is your imagination…

Image of “Living Wall” from JetsonGreen.com

Homebuilding Part I: Thinking about a “GREEN” ISBU HOME?

Building GREEN with ISBUs isn’t about selecting Shipping Containers painted GREEN…

It’s about using all the GREEN goodness we’ve been taught about – to incorporate good, energy efficient and earth-friendly practices into our ISBU Homes, to gain us sustainability and conservation.

I know I talk about it in MY book;

Introduction to Container Homes and Buildings

(Look at the right sidebar for more information!)

… in hopes that you’ll take that step forward in learning everything that you possibly can about building with ISBUs before you take the plunge and grab that welder.

But there are other really good books to incorporate into that resource center you’re putting together.

Today, from the road (we’re out doing ISBU Home Inspections and Oversight) , I’m gonna share another resource with you.

In HIS book, Daniel Chiras talks about many of the same things I preach about when helping families create the guidelines for the new ISBU Home that they are building;

The New Ecological Home: A Complete Guide to Green Building Options

by Daniel D. Chiras.

Here’s an excerpt:

What Is The New Ecological Home About?

This book is written for a broad audience, from home buyers to owner-builders to architects, contractors, and any other individuals who are interested in building a sustainable future. It contains a wealth of up-to-date, practical, and reliable information on green building techniques, materials, products, and technologies that can be applied in part to make a home (or any building) more environmentally sound, or in whole to create truly sustainable shelter.

My main objective has been to provide an overview of the green building techniques, materials, products, and technologies that are currently available and some that are coming out in the near future. My intention is not to make readers green building experts but to provide sufficient detail to enable you to be conversant in all aspects of green building and design. When finished with the book, you will have a solid grasp of the components of truly sustainable shelter.

Whether you are a professional involved in designing and building homes or a citizen who is planning on buying or building a new home or simply remodeling an existing house, this book should help you meet your dreams of safe, comfortable, affordable shelter that is environmentally friendly, healthful, attractive, comfortable, independent, and economical to operate.The advice and guidance offered here, gleaned from my own experience and the experience of countless others, could save you thousands of dollars by helping you avoid many common problems when building green.

Stay tuned…

Because we’re going to start discussing the things you need to take into consideration as you plan and design your new home!

Are your neighbors BUMS?

Is it any wonder that housing is a trainwreck?

Here on RR, we’ve talked about how banks ran amuck with mortgage paperwork, causing grief to thousands of families.

They even foreclosed on homes that were completely paid off!

Taxpayers bailed out banks, only to find that the banks are now raking in huge profits – while refusing to write mortgages for qualified families that need them.

In my book – Fanny and Freddie are “Incestuous Incompetents”. Those knuckleheads are costing taxpayers billions in losses each year with no end in sight.

Look, you didn’t have to be clairvoyant to see the bubble coming in 2008. What really bothers me is that these “highly compensated, highly educated men and women” certainly knew the what they were doing. They recognized the consequences of their action and they didn’t give a rat’s behind as long as their highly compensated status continued unabated. It’s all about the “bonuses”, baby!

Robo-signing scandals turned foreclosures on their ear.

THIS is NOT "Robo-Signing..."

Robo-signing is exactly what you think it is – some poor slob just signing paper after paper (usually for someone else) , without looking at (or verifying) the contents.

But wait, there’s more…

Banks seldom have the original paperwork that defines WHO actually owns your home.

“My lawyer asked my bank to produce an affidavit that entitled them to foreclose,” said a client of Brown’s, who lives in Harlem and also asked to remain anonymous. “They couldn’t do it.”

The case was dismissed (many of these are) without prejudice – although the lender can (and will) try again — if and when it finds the right paperwork.

These delays and “legal tricks of the trade” are harming the housing market – a market that is already operating on fumes. Everyone loses. In many cases, people who stay in homes undergoing foreclosure for years often don’t maintain the properties, because they no longer own (or have any intention of owning) the property, lowering property values in the surrounding neighborhoods.

There’s no doubt that we need banking reform. The system HAS derailed…

It’s not just the banks, folks. Three things happened simultaneously:

• a housing bubble,
•  a collapse in lending standards, and
• a global liquidity panic when markets lost trust in the solvency of financial institutions.

We still don’t have consistent and coherent stabilization of the financial sector or anything resembling a fix of its bad incentives.

And please don’t kid yourself into believing the media hype that that all the lawsuits we’re seeing now are the  beginning of a “reform effort”.

It’s just a sideshow, crafted by “Congressional Carnival Barkers” looking for votes…

But it doesn’t stop there.

The face of America is changing, from hard-working middle class families…

… into people taking advantage of loopholes in order to get a free ride.

There are lot’s of reasons that people aren’t paying their mortgages;

• They lost their jobs,
• They’re underwater in their mortgage as property values plummet,
• They bought more home than they could afford,

or…

They know that they can play the system and live in a nice home, for free.

Case in point:

Did you know that nationally, the average time it takes to process a foreclosure — from the first missed payment to the final foreclosure auction — has climbed to 674 days from 253 days just four years ago?

This is backed up by statistics compiled by LPS Applied Analytics.

The AVERAGE Foreclosure can take 1.8 YEARS after payments stop getting made on a home.

It takes much longer than that in Florida, where the process averages 1,027 days, nearly 3 years. In D.C., foreclosure averages 1,053 days and delinquent borrowers in New York often stay in their homes for an average of 906 days.

Many of these homeowners are staying in their homes based on a loophole, a legal trick or a technicality.

“There is rarely any dispute over whether or not they have stopped paying their mortgage…”

… said David Dunn, a partner at law firm Hogan Lovells in New York, who represents banks and other financial institutions in foreclosure cases.

“In my experience, they never say, ‘I’m not delinquent’ or ‘I want to pay my bill but I’m confused over who to send it to,’ or ‘Oh my God, you mean I didn’t pay my mortgage?’ They’re not in technical default. They’re in default because they’re not paying,” he said.

In “everyday America”, it’s become acceptable not to pay your bills, simply “because you don’t want to”…

In fact I hear people cheering each other on and sharing tips about how to skate.

“I have an out… I found a loophole! Stick it to the man…”

I recently read this, from some jerk named “Gerald” bragging about HOW he was screwing the banks and all of US:

This has been a real boom for myself and my family. I stopped paying on my primary residence, as well as two apartment buildings that I own. My tenants have continued paying the rent, with a couple of exceptions that I was able to chase out.

.

(Note that while he’s a willing deadbeat, he’s quick to get rid of renters doing likewise…)

.

With the money I saved, I was able to purchase 2 other rental properties that were distressed sales. Because of the nature of the sales, I was able to pay in full for the properties with cash.

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At this point, I really don’t care if they foreclose on my original properties. This whole situation has really been a blessing to my family. The rent checks I receive now go directly into a college fund for my children, as well as a nice winter vacation for my wife and I in Florida.

.

Life is good!

I reminded Gerald (and everyone else voicing this same sentiment) that they’re screwing America. It’s this mindset that is part of  WHY we can’t get mortgages for our families.

They seem to forget that ultimately, Congress doesn’t take responsibility for anything. They just shift the load to the taxpayer’s backs… backs that are already strained.

Um… Isn’t that part of HOW America found itself in the sorry predicament it’s in?

I’m getting email from families that want to build ISBU homes that have stopped paying their mortgages… simply because they no longer feel like “it’s required”…

“Why should I pay? My property values are falling. My neighbors aren’t paying their mortgages either!”

I send them away.

If their ethics allow them to turn their backs on their own honor, I don’t want to reward them for it by helping them build an ISBU home. Sure, they get mad. So what? If we’re measured by our friends, I want to know that mine are at least reliable.

And don’t get me started on “sniffing the rotten apple of Moral Leadership”.

People emulate what they see…

… and what we’re seeing coming out of the Beltway is “people scrambling to put a good spin on broken eggs served up with a side of  broken promises”. 

As this New Year dawns, I ask each of you to think about where you live, HOW you live, and how it’s reflected on (or AT) by your neighbors.

Even IF you are doing everything right – being responsible and reliable, even accountable – your neighbors can cause you grief and there’s not a thing that you can do about it.

Yet another reason to think strongly about building that Corten Castle in the foothills, mortgage free and ready to stand the test of time.

As Americans  prepare for the 2012 elections, we don’t know WHAT is on the horizon.

Many of our RR families are building homes to allow them more independence, more safety and more peace of mind, as the economy, unemployment, inflation and hardship embrace America in icy clutches.

Anyone who says that they can predict the future… is probably nuts. That ranks right up there with people who claim they’re building “hurricane-proof homes”…

But what we do know is that our responsibility is to keep our families safe from harm…

As we begin the New Year, let’s be careful out there…

Happy Holidays!

From all of us here at Renaissance Ronin…

No saber-rattling today…

We wish for you and your family the very happiest of  Holidays and a Happy New Year!

PS. We’re having venison for dinner tomorrow…

It’s being home-delivered… tonight!

“Rudolf the Red nosed reindeer…

Had a very crunchy crust…”

Image Credit: Courtesy of the elves at Google Images!

It’s NOT too early to start preparing for SPRING!

I just got off the phone with my favorite “Rocket-Scientist” –  Steve Spence…

As we work on projects “hither and yon”…

He’s reminded me that he has a great special running on his blog;

GREEN-TRUST.ORG

DIY Solar Resource Package

Learn how to:

Design and build your own solar power systems for your boat, rv, or home.

Steve’s the “go-to” guy when we have develop photovoltaic and solar hot water systems for ISBU homes. 

He’s also got a pretty big knowledge investment in aquaponics systems.

(In fact, I’m pretty certain he’s going to help us design the aquaponics system for our OWN ISBU based aquaponic greenhouses.)

Steve says:

“We have been designing solar power systems for over a decade, in a variety of climates, and lived off grid for over 6 years. We have documented our tips and tricks in a series of resources so that you can save money doing it yourself.

This week we are offering a free gift with every purchase.”

What is it, you ask (you savvy shopper, you!):

Well, it’s “Internet Insurance”…

NO, no… not “All_State” or “State Farm”… keep reading! 😉

Steve’s giving away a cool tutorial on building your own solar powered wifi networks for 3rd world and disaster hit areas.

We’re also working on this, too. It’s a primary area of importance when thinking about how things might be, if things go bad “for whatever reason”…

Imagine a local wifi network using local servers to host a reference library, email and even commerce operations!  Imagine a satellite link allowing you to to reconnect to “others out there” should (or even in spite of) someone “intentionally turning things off”.

Now imagine the entire operation being solar powered.

If you haven’t thought about what happens to “family communication” after someone throws a switch… you should be.

Go see Steve, here:

 http://www.green-trust.org/products/