Unique, off-grid, straw-bale wrapped home, on the main street of Craik, SK. Situated on 2 large lots (formerly 6 small ones) for a total lot size of 150 (frontage) x 130. The lots are zoned commercial, well treed yet loads of space for gardening (pesticide free since 2006, at least).
The home is a 1 ¾ story, 3 bdrm stick frame house built in 1906. eco-renovations and upgrades include: new windows; insulated attic (cellulose); new wood stove and chimney; extended roof, newly covered with tin in 2009; straw-bale wrap around the exterior of home on 3 sides; Solar Electric power(more…)
Slowly but surely our work at the home of boilingfrog is coming along. Many people have come to lend a hand here and there, enjoy the beautiful space, and eat yummy food. How about you? Maybe you’ll come in time to meet the cyclists on their Pedal for the Planet stopover in Craik on Aug. 10
Thanks to all those that helped start the plastering of our house on August 6th. The CSLP hosted a strawbale workshop that brought 20 participants to four different builds in Craik. Our house was one of the lucky candidates that were ready to except a plaster party.
Dan Kreuger, (workshop teacher along with David Dale) muscles his way through the first batch of plaster
Approximately one third of the first coat was completed.
A lot has happened at the boilingfrog home this summer. Kelly has been busy with the roof and it is mostly on but still has some details to finish. The most important being the ridge cap as it has been raining lately. Big Thanks to Jim, Jacquie, Crystal, Glenn, Sherry and her daughter Ashley (?), Mark, Darwin and everyone else who loaned a hand.
While Kelly was doing that I (bridget) was painting in Waterton National Park. I came home in time to help with the second side of the roof.
There is more opportunity to trade room and board for labour. It is fun to figure out how to work in live in a modestly powered home. Check out our previous post below for details.
Now accepting letters of interest (or phone calls) from a few good people who would like the opportunity to visit or live and work in an off-grid home. Our place, in Craik, SK. is straw bale wrapped, equipped with solar electricity, low tech solar hot water, wood stove for when it gets chilly (hopefully we’re done with that til fall), has nice soil and an organic garden, inhabited by myself, and a lovely cat (who thankfully hasn’t yet discovered the nesting robin in front of the house.)
There’s a community greenhouse next door, eco-village across the highway (with many other interesting build projects in various stages) eco-centre, Audubon certified golf course, regional park with outdoor pool, and a dynamic local organizing body co-ordinating most of the fabulous eco-initiatives.
UPDATE: the strawbale workshop this year will spend one day at our place. ther’es still a few spots available. see this pdf for details.
There’s a ton of opportunity for people to experience off-grid living, sustainable building, organic gardening and the awesome summer weather (we hope).
If you are a good fit for this scene (activist, artist, free-thinker, dedicated environmentalist, etc), drop me a line.
Willing to trade, barter or otherwise negotiate an exchange of labour, expertise, enthusiasm, etc on your part for expertise, skill share, home grown organic food, and a very cool place to stay.
Currently need help planting and tending garden, rebuilding roof, installing rainwater capture, and plastering the bale wrapped house.
this little slide show represents some of the work we’ve done up to spring 2009. as of this posting, the roof is being extended in 4 directions in preparation for new covering. Then, the tarps come off, we have a big party, and the next day or so get to work on finishing the job.
The following is a series of videos produced for the Saskatchewan Organic Directorate by Kelly Reinhardt of boilingfrog.ca. They feature Elmer Laird, President and co-founder of the Back to the Farm Research Foundation, Canada’s first certified organic research farm, near Davidson, SK. Elmer is the first organic farmer to be inducted into the Saskatchewan Agricultural Hall of Fame. This series starts with his induction in August 2008, and concludes with the lessons he’s learned in nearly 40 years of organic farming.
This year marks the fortieth anniversary of Earth Day, first celebrated on April 22, 1970. Back then, modern society, especially in the so called developed world, was peaking with environmental concern. One of the big issues of the day was the disastrous effects of DDT on bird populations. Global warming was a little known theory and the degradation of the Earths’ ozone layer wasn’t yet imagined.
Some would say we’ve come a long way in the last four decades. DDT and other harmful chemicals have been banned. A global treaty to protect the ozone layer from CFC’s has been in effect since 1987. And, since 1972 nations have gathered under the U.N. umbrella to deal with the preservation of bio-diversity and a climate changing build-up of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. The Kyoto Protocol was one outcome of these gatherings. It was signed in 1997 and ratified (reluctantly, and to little effect) by us Canadians in 2002.
We’ve learned to practice the three ‘R’s – reduce, re-use and re-cycle. Of course our generation can’t take too much credit for these particular advances because our forefathers and mothers regularly practiced them, albeit more likely due to economic necessity and everyday practicality than for environmental stewardship.
But, despite all the efforts we make on an individual; community; national or planetary basis, our environment becomes more foul by the day. (more…)
