Truth or Consequences

Tristan and I spent the weekend in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, at a gathering of homesteader folk from around the country. The gathering was graciously and capably hosted by our friends over at blog.holyscraphotsprings.com. We had a fantastic time! It was truly an inspiring get-together, not to mention one of the best skill shares I've ever attended.

We played with papercrete, which is a mixture of concrete and shredded paper, heavy on the shredded paper (a salvaged material). In the Southwest, prickly pear cactus can also be added to the mix as a binder. Prickly pear can also be used to make paint and other fun things. Holy Scrap uses papercrete as a construction material for fences and to make beautiful domed buildings. Check out these papercrete blocks with papercrete fence behind:

There were also lots of bicycle enthusiasts at the gathering. A fellow from Austin showed off his nearly no-weld pedicab frame, which he assembled in just a few minutes:

The Within Reach film project graced us with their presence as well. These kids are on a 12,000 mile bike journey to explore and experience the wide range of "sustainable communities" across the country. Their aim is to produce a series of shorts and finally a feature-length documentary that will inspire us to create and expand these ways of living sustainably, and help us to realize that perhaps we're nearing Critical Mass, and a sustainable future is already "Within Reach". Check out their wheels (well, everything but the wheels...my digital camera messed up):

We brought our rocket stove with us, and we were able to enter it into a successful breeding program. Behold, our rocket stove's Holiday Appropriate Offspring, by the lovely creators of http://ryanishungry.com and http://ryanedit.blogspot.com/:


I could go on and on, and maybe I will...later.