Welcome to Occupy the Land. In this episode we visit long-time friends in northeastern Washington near the Canadian border and Columbia River. Over more than two decades they have transformed a remote box canyon property into a highly resilient, self-sufficient compound complete with multiple housing options (shipping container apartments, cabins, yurt, spa house), a large […]
In this episode of Occupy the Land we visit Mike Schwartz’s Air Crete double-dome homestead in Oklahoma. Tour the nearly completed 30 ft main dome with freestanding loft (built with a gap for expansion/contraction), connected 20 ft bedroom dome, Air Crete block construction, basalt mesh reinforcement for fire resistance, waterproof stucco finishes, and camouflage exterior. […]
In this episode of Occupy the Land, Ernie expands the sand pond — an acre-scale water storage area holding roughly 326,000 gallons in the lower section alone. He digs deeper into the moisture-holding caliche layer (still damp after 10 months), explaining how this calcium-rich soil reconstitutes into concrete-hard material when wet and becomes ideal for […]
In this laid-back weekly episode of Occupy the Land, we share life during the dog days of summer and the start of monsoon season. The chicks enjoy their first watermelon treat while staying cool under the fan, the new rooster settles in, and we continue work on the root cellar sphere floor with soil compaction […]
In this episode of Occupy the Land, we advance the 20ft geodesic sphere root cellar by compacting and leveling the bottom floor, planning the concrete pour, refrigerator/shelving placement, and doorway framing while backfilling soil around the structure. We also prep the sand pond area with a 100×100 ft pond liner section, build dikes for water […]
In this episode of Occupy the Land we make solid progress on the 20ft geodesic sphere root cellar! We lay hog fence reinforcement under the bottom struts, wire-tie it securely, and prepare to start mudding/embedding with caliche (Khaleesi) soil pulled from the sand pond. We also build and stabilize a gravel platform for a black […]
In this episode of Occupy the Land, we welcome 15 new chicks (Rhode Island Reds and others) to the desert homestead! Donna and Ernie set up the predator-proof chicken coop with hardware cloth trenching, a pony wall, swinging door, roosts, and shade/ventilation features while managing heat for the week-old birds. The chicks settle into a […]
In this episode of Occupy the Land, we focus on workshop organization and preparation for mass-producing the EMT conduit struts needed for the 20ft geodesic sphere root cellar. Ernie welds custom racks from salvaged metro wire shelving poles onto the shipping container wall for efficient strut storage, repairs the road hone with welding, and discusses […]
In this episode of Occupy the Land, we build a functional concrete work pad outside the shipping container workshop using local Khaleesi (caliche) soil mixed with Portland cement — a structured Adobe technique called Cow Creek. Ernie levels and compacts the area, experiments with different ratios and reinforcement (including fiberglass mesh), and tests how the […]
In this episode of Occupy the Land, we make major progress on the root cellar by shaping the bottom of the 20ft geodesic sphere trench. Ernie carves the reverse-dome floor for the sphere, explains the ramped access and second-level floor plan, and experiments with wetting the ultra-hard Clichy (caliche) soil to create a moldable Adobe-like […]
