17 Reasons Why Living in an Earthship Isn't Crazy!

Huge thanks are in order to Melissa Markham from Dayton City Paper who wrote a fabulous article about our home build!  Check it out here!

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With some of the recent articles and stories that have come out about our Earthship build, we have received a couple of comments like "I hope those people don't have kids."  It seems as though many people wrongfully assume we will essentially be "roughing it" in living in an Earthship and they couldn't be further from the truth!  Thus, I thought it would be an opportune time to create a blog post on why Earthship living is the perfect environment for the curious, wide-eyed, thirsty-for-knowledge child as well as the whole family.

As I've mentioned before, our son Elliot was certainly the single most obvious factor that led us to choose to go all-in and build an Earthship home now.  After giving birth to him, Zac and I felt ourselves falling into complacency and feeling as though we were becoming stagnant as a family; just completing the day-to-day routine to keep our head above water and keep a roof over our head.  We were living frugally and as such, could save money and go on the occasional sweet vacation, but we felt as though we'd rather invest that money in our future as a family so that we would have that much more freedom in the future to choose how we spent our lives... not just two weeks out of the year.

I grew up next to a large park in a suburban setting and spent nearly every day (weather permitting) playing outside, catching frogs, exploring, and forging "trails" (keep in mind, this was a suburban park but to us, it was the wild).  My husband had a similar childhood as he actually played in the very park I grew up behind; doing many of the same things... though, we didn't meet each other until we were in our late-teens.  We realized we wanted our son to have a more connected, grassroots style childhood so that he would grow up with a sensitivity to the world around him that so very few of us enjoy these days.

A friend, Ryan, whom we met through our first Earthship build workshop, suggested we create a blog post discussing all the benefits to living in an Earthship vs. a conventional home and created a list himself.  We have attached the list below (Thanks, Ryan!) and have added our own benefits to it as well.  Please feel free to comment any other pros we missed as I'm sure this list could go on and on and on and on...

And so, here are some of the reasons why we feel living in an Earthship home is going to be flipping wonderful!

• We will be building the home ourselves.  Thus, it is like a scrapbook that we will call home!  We will have touched every portion of our home by the time we finished and each step will have stories, memories, blood, sweat and tears attached to it.  
• Due to so much community and volunteer support in building our home, it will be created with more intention, passion, laughter and love than any conventional home could ever boast!
• We will be building it as we have the money; thus, avoiding a traditional mortgage payment (outside of the cost of the land, of course).
• There will be no need for air conditioning repairs or replacements or the need to purchase such a unit in the first place.  
• Earthships will stay cool during the summertime due to the berm covering the back of the home and the angle of the roof which will block out the harsh summer sun.  Thick blinds can be used as well should we encounter too much sunlight despite the angle of the roof.
• Low heating costs during the cooler months.  
• As stated above, Earthships will stay a minimum of 55 degrees year-round due to it being partially "underground" with the assistance of the berm.  Our supplemental heat will come in the form of a wood burning rocket stove bench that will be hooked up to a radiant floor heating system.  We also plan on using a wood burning stove for our cooking as well (less so in the summer, of course) which will add some heat during winter months.
• It is very unlikely to ever burn down.
• While tires are indeed petroleum-based and known to be a fire hazard in and of themselves, once they are jam-packed with dirt, there is no longer any oxygen available to fuel a fire.  Once the tire wall is constructed, it is encased in adobe plaster so that you will never actually see the tires once the home is completed.
• We will never have HOA fees which average about $70/ month = $8400/ decade
• We won't have a natural gas connection fee averaging about $23/ month = $2760/ decade
• No water and sewer fee which equals $35/ month = $4200/ decade
• By installing solar panels to power our home, we will be saving a ridiculous amount in energy costs!  We plan on staying tied into the grid until we have a better idea of what we need year-round to power our home.  Solar panels may come later on depending upon our financial situation.
• We also won't have to worry about inflation making energy prices go up
• Living in this type of home helps to reduce utility air pollution by not utilizing energy based from the extraction of fossil fuels
• It will be tornado and hurricane resistant, will provide nuclear fallout and chemical attack protection, and will be bulletproof and car impact proof (all referring to tire portion of the home).  None of these perks are things traditional "stick houses" can touch!
• The tires have sound-proofing qualities so little noise from the outside will ever be heard.
• Our cost of living will be drastically reduced which allows for more flexibility in the world of work.  We estimate that our family of 3 (plus lots of animals!) will be able to live off of around $15,000- $20,000 a year (an overestimate we believe).  Thus, we will be able to have a choice as to how often we want to work and in what capacity.  Our plan at this point is to continue working throughout the building of our home and for an additional couple of years to build up some savings before abandoning the traditional world of work.
• "Retirement" as we know it will be an irrelevant matter as we will essentially be "retiring" fairly soon.  We both are happiest when we are busy, so we plan on spending our time focusing on creating our own resources instead of using the money we earn from a traditional job to pay a third-party to deliver these resources to us.
• Since it is a single-level home with no stairs, it can be wheelchair accessible and easier to navigate as we grow older.  
• Our son will grow up with an appreciation for conservation in every sense of the word as he will truly know where everything we use comes from and what went into producing it (water, electricity, heat, some food grown on our land, etc.).  How many adults, let alone children, know where their utilities come from and what it took to produce/ deliver them?  Our home will be like living in a 24-hour hands-on laboratory!

As I said before, I know this list is in no way exhaustive and I'd love to hear what other pros you can think of with this type of construction!  Please note them in the comment section below.

Also, we are continuing to hold work/ skill building weekends every weekend and invite you to come out any day of the upcoming weekends you have available!  This Saturday, we will be hosting a workday followed by a potluck and campfire for anyone interested.  We will be providing a main course (vegetarian/ vegan friendly) and ask that anyone who comes out bring a side dish, salad or dessert to share!  Email me if you're interested in attending.  As always, camping on our land is offered to anyone coming out to help... just be sure to send me a message so that I can ensure there is space available.  Thanks so much to everyone who has come out thus far!  It has been truly inspiring to meet so many kind, knowledgeable, generous, like-minded people this early on in our journey.