Four Elements House » trotts http://www.fourelementshouse.com a Journey from Living On the Grid to Living Off the Grid in Chenogne Sun, 13 Jun 2010 15:32:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Earthship Zwolle http://www.fourelementshouse.com/2008/08/earthship-zwolle/ http://www.fourelementshouse.com/2008/08/earthship-zwolle/#comments Thu, 28 Aug 2008 07:38:36 +0000 Rogier http://ourearthship.com/2008/08/28/earthship-zwolle/

This monday building on the Earthship Teahouse in Zwolle (The Netherlands) has begun in ernest.
Earthship Biotecture Europe has the lead on the build, but help from the US is also present.
Mike Reynolds will also be on site for a short time to give his expert advise.

Friends of mine are also working on the site, one is even part of the crew for the whole build. Laila is working on the build for two week in October.

]]> http://www.fourelementshouse.com/2008/08/earthship-zwolle/feed/ 1 52.5218811 6.1015320 The Last of the Volunteers http://www.fourelementshouse.com/2008/04/the-last-of-the-volunteers/ http://www.fourelementshouse.com/2008/04/the-last-of-the-volunteers/#comments Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:03:30 +0000 Rogier http://ourearthship.com/2008/04/14/the-last-of-the-volunteers/ volunteers.jpgAnd so, for the last time, a week of volunteering has past. The Earthship will receive no more volunteers.

Earthship France is finished.

After another tremendous week of labor the amount of work done was, again, impressive. This time Laila also came along as did Lotte (also a second timer) and José. And again it was a memorable event.

IMG_4267.JPGThis time I didn’t have to travel alone, as mentioned I was joined by Laila, Lotte and José and I must say, it was a lot more fun, maybe a bit to much fun at times, but hey, who’s complaining.

In the Earthship the mood was great and we made contact fast with the others; Jeff and Donna, shire folk from Wales; Craig, an Aussie trying to be British and about to be called Daddy; Emma, a finisher extraordinair and a French lolita who kept stealing my tools for her father.

The walls, floors and ceilings all received a finishing coat and the kitchen received a thorough remake. Some beautiful mosaic was made by Lotte and José at both entrances and they can definitely repeat that at our Earhthship.

IMG_4262.JPGA small party with French locals on Saturday officially concluded the build on the Earthship and we tried to represent all the volunteers who spend time in and on the Earthship. When counting we came to about 75 people who’ve worked on the house, paid and, mostly, unpaid. We can only hope to repeat this when building on our Earthship starts.

After talking with Kevan on the future of Earthships in Europe, and our own, I feel there’s a great future for the concept within Europe and I hope a European team will be created. This will make the difference for a lot of people who need to make decisions whether or not to consider an Earthship.

So, Earthship France is finished.., who’s next?

]]> http://www.fourelementshouse.com/2008/04/the-last-of-the-volunteers/feed/ 1 48.6183853 -0.7910156 Visiting the Trotts http://www.fourelementshouse.com/2008/02/visiting-the-trotts/ http://www.fourelementshouse.com/2008/02/visiting-the-trotts/#comments Sun, 24 Feb 2008 13:44:35 +0000 Rogier http://ourearthship.com/2008/02/24/visiting-the-trotts/ And so the Earthship community proves to be a good one.., again.IMG_4114.JPG

I visited the Earthship in Normandy last week. A request for help originated from the Trott family and resonated all the way through to silly old moi. And as Kevan is the European representative for Earthship Biotecture he is the man to meet. So, in a spur of the moment kind of way we decided that I (Rogier) should travel down to Normandy and check out this mystical thing called an Earthship.

IMG_4116.JPGI drove down on Monday, during the day and made good time. I even arrived a bit earlier than expected and visited the Earthship before heading of to Diane’s B&B (Cinq la Ruelle), which, by the way, turned out to be a most excellent choice.
Now, I have seen the Earthship before, I’ve read the blog and got a few books on the matter, so I knew what to expect.

But, seeing it for real does add an extra dimension to the experience. Obviously a lot is already done on the house, in fact, it’s nearly finished and thanks to the blog and fotos/dvd shown by Kevan one can get a good sense of the labor that went into creating it.

So, my primary objective was to make contact with Kevan and Gillian, the rest was secondary to that.IMG_4125.JPG
Now, it must be said that one has to be a little nuts to start a project like building an Earthship. Granted, it is a house, and people are building those all the time, but most of the time they pay somebody else to build it. And even if they do it themselves, building an Earthship has its own set of challenges. The building permit for one is in most cases the biggest hurdle (or mountain) to overcome. Then there are the resources (i.e. tires, bottles, cans). Of course, anything can be bought and delivered to your doorstep, but that kinda defeats the purpose of an Earthship.
Anyway, my point is that the Trotts are a bit nuts too, but in a good sense and not dissimilar to Laila and myself, which makes for a good foundation.

IMG_4149.JPGMy time at the Earthship was spend working, on various little things, and talking. A lot of talking. Similar minded people make for good conversations on the various topics which mark an Earthship.., environmental, ecological, biological, sociological, monetary, and more…
Three students from Holland (Lotte, Joris and Niels) slept in a little tent and were interested from a scholar point of view, Steve (a Brit living in France) from a career point of view, Robert (also from Holland) from a personal point of view, like us, he wants to build his own Earthship.., somehow.., someday. Then there were two British guys, Will and Nick. Will having his own renovation company and Nick.., ehhh.., well Nick is just a very open minded man who’s motives remain a mystery… :)

Anyway…, it certainly was a worthwhile experience. I met nice people and had good conversations. The Earthship remains an enticing future. After visiting another one for real, it confirms the feelings we have since we first became aware of the concept.

We definitely want to build, and live in, our own Earthship.., we will make it happen…

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