Hi,

I was wondering if anyone knew of links to websites with some quick and easy (and very cheap) shelter to put up for a family to live in temporarily. There is some land I'm looking at buying in Montana (lived there before, saw the land before) but our finances are extremely limited.

We plan on living off grid, using wood/propane for heat, kerosene or propane for lights, a homemade composting toilet (would love links for that as well). We have a five month old and an eighteen month old, so naturally we'll want to add another room quickly, then start on a more permanent structure.

I've thought of doing the emergency strawbale shelter in the Steen's strawbale book, but it's pretty small, and they give little detail.

any suggestions and links would be appreciated.

Thanks!

>>a homemade composting toilet (would love links for that as well)<<

You might want to check out this solution:

http://www.weblife.org/humanure/default.html

All I know is what I read in the book, but it sure is interesting... as the subject goes... :-)

Presumed_Lost,

Great link!

At first I had some misgivings regarding the usefulness of the link, thinking that it might just be a satire or other related joke.

However, after perusing the site and looking at the info. presented, I have a much different opinion. The information is presented rationally, references abound and appear to be complete in their data. While the subject matter may not appeal to the masses, there is certainly plenty to think about, especially considering the environmental savings that could occur with wide spread implementation as indicated in this document.


Bottom line, I'm impressed. Thanks for sharing.

It was a great read.
Comanche7

Good of you to say so, Comanche7.

I've had the paper book for some years, and was both surprised and pleased to find (almost) all of it on-line. Even if what the author says is only mostly true, the information needs to get out to enough people to make a difference.

It's been awhile since I read it, but I remember thinking that the only shortcoming was that it all revolves around sawdust. Now , there's no shortage of sawdust on a national scale, but in some places it can be hard to find an inexpensive source in quantity. I'd like to see someone extend this research and experimentation with other organic material, say, pine needle duff, mulched leaves, grass clippings, maybe even crosscut-shredded paper. No matter where you are there's going to be some candidate material, but, as yet, we don't know how they all do.

Glad you enjoyed the read.

Comprehensive reference site on self sufficiency

but don't neglect the folks over at

The Plainsmans cabin

You will get much more out of the cabin by joining the forum and perusing the posts and asking quesitons than may be suggested by perusing the public portion of the site. They don't maintain the public portion near as well as they should.

For shelter, I would suggest something a bit dug-in if the soil permits this. You can put some roofing over a hollow in a hillside and with some small excavation and foundation work have a fairly sizeable living space for only the cost of roofing which for the first season (presuming summer) could be a tarp.

Personally I wouldn't take a toddler to live in those conditions. If possible get a small trailer and drag it in to the land. Something like a 15' airstream or even a popup could probably be had for under $2000 and would provide significantly better home than anything else you could find for the same $$$. Still wouldn't want to be living with a toddler or two in those conditions. But maybe that's just me.