Earth Ships

While in Taos, we stayed with a friend who extended her hospitality and invited us to stay in her earth ship. The house itself is built into the ground and is only visible from the other side as a dirt mound. This partial subterranean build and structural walls built of tires and rammed earth allows for the temperature of the house to pretty much regulate itself at a comfortable level year round. The wall of windows capture the sunlight to warm the house and provide the plants inside with plenty of light. Imagine, no heating or cooling bills!



Our view from the driveway at the neighboring earth ship with its stunning backdrop of the mountains.



To satisfy our curiosity and get a better understanding of what an earth ship was, we took a public tour of one. They explained how their systems work off grid to provide a comfortable lifestyle without the need for water or electricity to be pumped in. These houses are built with recycled materials and have very little impact on the environment. The spaces, filled with warmth and light have an interestingly satisfying comfortability to them.



The builders really use their imagination to create spaces that are unique and lovely inside (and out)! I loved the walls built with the transparent colored glass bottles that let the sunlight spill in. They just feel so homey.



Outside the visitors center they had partially built walls so you could see the tires and the pounded earth that make up the structural walls of the earth ships. You can see the cans and bottles that are used for decoration in some places, but are limited to decoration only due to their non insulating properties and their inability to bear weight. This picture also shows the solar panels and the windmills that are used to generate energy for each household.




Back to our earth ship for dinner prep for one of our many lovely dinners. This particular earth ship was one of the first built and is, unlike its subsequent generations, on the grid. I know, we cheated a bit.



This is Scar, the resident one eyed dog, quite content in resting on the living room floor as the sun gave way to the stars and we prepared for bed.