is our attempt to explore, practice, invest in, and catalog all things "Green", "Eco-friendly", and otherwise helpful to keep our little part of this planet worthy of passing down to our children and grand children. If the site seems a bit "juvenile" it is because I hope it will appeal to, and be be of interest to folks of ALL ages, after all, I do this for my children, and dedicate this site to them.
We appreciate any input you may have along these lines. Please let us know what you would like to see here, this is for everyone with an interest in keeping Costa Rica a place where our children and their children can enjoy! You may contact us through the "characters" link as we attempt to get this site up and running.
I don't think you have to live like a hobbit to live a simpler life and leave a smaller footprint behind, but it helps to keep a sense of humor, especially when you live in a country where the pace really is slower, and although things grow very quickly, change seems to come at a snails pace. I hope this site will serve as a source to help us help one another with the ideas, practices and yes, all the red tape involved in our quest to live a better, more simple, and eco-friendly life. Please feel free to join in!
Here is what J. R. R. Tolkien had to say about it. I remember reading this as a child and dreaming of living in a place such as this!
"In a hole
in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.
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Fantasy Hobbit Hole |
It had a perfectly round
door like a porthole, painted green, with a shiny yellow brass knob in the exact middle. The door opened on to a tube-shaped hall like a tunnel: a very comfortable tunnel without smoke, with panelled walls and floors tiled and carpeted, provided with polished chairs, and lots and lots of pegs for hats and coats--the hobbit was fond of visitors. The tunnel wound on and on, going fairly but not quite straight into the side of the hill--The Hill, as all the people for many miles round called it--and many little round doors opened out of it, first on one side and then on another. No going upstairs for the hobbit: bedrooms, bathrooms, cellars, pantries (lots of these), wardrobes (he had whole rooms devoted to clothes), kitchens, dining-rooms, all were on the same floor, and indeed on the same passage. The best rooms were all on the lefthand side (going in), for these were the only ones to have windows, deep-set round windows looking over his garden and meadows beyond, sloping down to the river.
This hobbit was a very well-to-do hobbit,
and his name was Baggins. The Bagginses had lived in the neighbourhood of The Hill for time out of mind, and people considered them very respectable, not only because most of them were rich, but also because they never had any adventures or did anything unexpected: you could tell what a
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Fantasy Hobbit Home My Inspiration |
Baggins would say on any question without the bother of asking him. This is the story of how a Baggins had an adventure, and found himself doing and saying things altogether unexpected. He may have lost the neighbours' respect, but he gained--well, you will see whether he gained anything in the end". "The Hobbit" (P. 15-16)
The "modern Hobbit House"
is very similar, made with rammed earth or earth bags and hopefully using the soil from the actual building site, the eco-footprint is minimal. Using this method, a person with even the smallest budget can afford to build a comfortable home.
Here in Costa Rica,
several of these homes have been built. To my knowledge, none have been able to obtain building permits... Why?? Earth bags have undergone extensive scientific and situational seismic testing (See results here, and here, and here) and have come through with flying colors!
The first architect
I consulted was very interested in my project and thought SHE would be the one to get it past the powers that be in Costa Rica. Two days later, she called me genuinely concerned about my safety! The next one simply could not wrap his head around the idea. The third was interested, but doubtful about getting anything new not JUST past the "Colegio de Ingenieros y Arquitectos" (Costa Rica's governing body of Architects) but also his builders who would be totally new to the system.
Then we were introduced to Rolf Ruge
through our bamboo supplier. He apparently does a lot of "non traditional" cutting edge and best of all eco-friendly work. After explaining our ideas, he agreed to help us out. He listened to our ideas, our vision and even our budget and really HEARD us... That was a first. The drawings are everything we dreamed of and more. With the preliminary drawings done, it is now time to look for an engineer who "gets it". Rolf has made 2 suggestions but with our budget temporarily in the red, we will have to use the time to get to know the system.
We have been learning about the process
on an intellectual level for some time now, reading everything we can get our hands on, both on the internet and in the library, but hands on is an entire other story. We are now in the finishing stages of constructing a storage bodega, workshop for my husband and 2 stalls for our horses who have a vital part in our construction (we'll get into that later). OMG have we learned a LOT! I plan to go into more detail about the plan and implementation later on, we have documented every step as well as the mistakes so far with photos.
Meanwhile, here are some sources
for more information if you have in interest in learning more about this eco-friendly method of construction:
The best source I have found is Earthbag Building there is tons of information on this site, so it is a good place to start.
Directory for Earthbag building