Member Garden Gathering Members Only
Members Only Chapter Meeting Home Garden Tour
The Youngs' home and surrounding grounds are designed for sustainability including a passive solar house that functions off the grid nine months a year. Native plants comprise the landscaping and five rain gardens, in various stages of maturity, capture most of runoff from three acres, including part of the neighbor's property. Mature eastern red cedars shield the house from cold west and north winds in the winter and provide year-round food and shelter for flying, four-legged and creepy-crawly critters.
The house was largely DIYed using many materials recycled from tear-downs. The new materials were selected for sustainability, e.g., metal roofing and siding and interior woodwork self-milled from locally-harvested trees. Passive heating and cooling replaces conventional HVAC. Heating comes from solar energy harvested during summer months and stored in the thermal mass under and around the house. The process is reversed in the summer; the cooled mass absorbs the small amount of heat penetrating the thick, well-insulated shell of the house.
For a sneak preview, go to Jerry's blog; the latest post is a thumbnail sketch of the project.https://diygreenbuildingwithjerry.blogspot.com/2024/06/design-journey-taken.html