If you have a couple of minutes — literally two minutes — you can get a rough estimate of how much solar power you can produce at your house. If you have 10 minutes (and a smartphone), you can get a much more accurate estimate … Read More

If you’re interested in solar power, surely you already know that solar electricity is good for the environment, national security, and the air we breathe, not to mention your electricity bill. And that it’s one of the best ways to reduce your household’s contribution to … Read More

The right voltage and the right type and number of wires on an electric fence can satisfactorily control poultry, sheep, goats, pigs, cattle, equines, rabbits, deer, foxes, coyotes, and bears. The trick is to get the right voltage and type and spacing of fence wires … Read More

WHAT IS GREYWATER? Greywater is gently used water from sinks, showers, baths, and washing machines; it is not wastewater from toilets or laundry loads containing poopy diapers. Plants don’t need clean drinking water like we do! Using greywater for irrigation conserves water and reduces the … Read More

Honesty is a trait we associate with humans, and I’d never thought of using it in reference to a building until I heard Will Beemer, author of Learn to Timber Frame, use it to talk about timber-frame construction. Timber framing is the craft of … Read More

In the economic boom time that was the 1990s in this country, the thinking was that bigger was better. Cars were replaced by SUVs that gradually got larger and larger, houses grew, and even fast food was super-sized. Then the bubble burst. As we’ve regained our economic footing and … Read More

A black-based container planting is more than a “because you can” novelty: it’s an exceptionally elegant way to display some truly distinctive and eye-catching plants. When it comes to foliage and flowers, what we call “black” is usually a shade of deep purple to burgundy … Read More

Timber framing in much of the world can refer to any framing system using wood components, but in North America we use it to mean solid timber (greater than 5 x 5 in section) joined together with traditional wooden joinery. It’s a type of post-and-beam … Read More

Since I don’t mind spreading the good word if it means keeping more things out of landfills, I will tell you that one of my best tactics for sourcing free materials, with a success rate over 50 percent, is to drop mailbox notes. No, not … Read More

Last year, project editor Hannah Fries spent a week at the Heartwood School for the Homebuilding Crafts, exploring her personal interest in the art of timber framing. Now in the process of editing a book on the subject for Storey, she recently returned … Read More