Are you looking forward to the release of Seven Years Running? If you enjoy these types of books, I have a recommendation for you. A couple of months ago, I read a book called Where are My Children? by Cassie Kimbrough. My mom read it recently, too. We have been talking about all the similarities with our…
It takes a lot of dedication to write a book. It’s a major undertaking! Co-authoring a book has its advantages, but also adds a new layer of complexity, especially when the co-authors live far apart, as my mom and I do. Are you curious about how we’re doing it? Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the…
When I was a kid living on the run with my mom and younger sister, we spent about a year living in Uruapan, in the Mexican state of Michoacán. Recently, memories of Uruapan have been flooding back as we polish up that section of our book, Seven Years Running. Our favorite place in Uruapan was…
Hey, everyone! I’m excited to host my first ever guest post on the blog! This is a true story, written by my mom, Rhoda Friend. It will appear in the book we are co-writing: Seven Years Running. I’ll let you jump right in and enjoy. Take it away, Mama!…………It was my day to volunteer at…
Do you ever go grocery shopping and then try to unload everything all at once so you don’t have to make multiple trips from the car to the house? You stagger up the steps, struggle at the doorway with all your bags and fumble around to find your keys while the heavy sacks cut into your wrists, restricting your…
The bright yellow house down in the green jungle valley below beckoned us. We were in Baños, one of the most popular tourist towns in Ecuador, walking up a dirt road off the tourist radar, beyond all the hostels, tour companies, and restaurants and into the surrounding farmlands. We had recently left our beloved Loja…
Dear Readers, As I write this, we’re in the final days of 2015. How was your year? I know for many of my loved ones, 2015 brought a large share of challenges. Difficult and costly projects, lost loved ones, health problems, hearts broken… For others, it was a year of joy and new beginnings. Weddings,…
In last week’s post, I wrote my overview of 2015, looking back at what went well and what didn’t go so well. This week I share my goals looking forward to 2016. Following the basic format outlined by Chris Guillebeau, I write down the major goal categories and set several specific, measurable goals for each….
My 2015 started with a cold snap in Fort Collins, Colorado. Keith and I had just brought our motorhome to Colorado and we were still settling in, with the heaters all running full blast. The excitement of living in a great town and the prospect of soon finishing not one, but two books I’d had…
There are a few key tools that Keith has used in the process of building the earthbag house which we have found extremely helpful and time-saving. One such tool is the laser level.
Just to clarify, the walls of the earthbag house have been completed! However, I thought you might enjoy some video footage of the process of building the walls. In this video clip, Keith is working by himself to fill the earthbags in place on the wall.
One feature that Keith had designed into the earthbag house we are building is the arch. We have two arches in this house. The first arch is built into the support buttress on the north wall. Buttresses add strength to a straight wall and are required every 10 to 12 feet in earthbag homes with…