The MicroHouse, the Tractor, and the Spark That Changes Everything

MicroHouse Build 

With the kickoff for the MicroHouse build only four days away (Sept. 28), preparations are in high gear. Chris Reinhart has put together materials lists for each module (see log), with diagrams. Gravel arrived on September 23, and Marcin Jakubowski has been hard at work compressing bricks, getting ahead in case of rain on Saturday.

Now you don’t see it, but soon you will! On Saturday, a swarm of volunteers will converge at the Factor e Farm to build the first MicroHouse.

We are happy to report that the MicroHouse will be profiled in Dr. George Elvin‘s upcoming book on post-petroleum design. By sharing its carefully documented open source design, we hope to enable people anywhere and everywhere to build economical, comfortable, energy-efficient housing!

The LifeTrac 6 Rolls into Action

The LifeTrac 6 build is complete. Product Lead Gary DeMercurio reports that the new tractor has tested well:

It needs some minor adjustments and some finishing touches…, but lift height is almost 10 feet; dump height looks really good from what we can tell; it turns very easily, brakes work, etc., etc., etc! Overall, it looks great, performs well (so far), looks MUCH more polished than LT5, has a smaller footprint overall, and seems to be a great success.

Thanks for the support these last two weeks — we couldn’t have done it without the team effort! Special thanks of course to Lucas Warner, Rob Kirk, and Emmett McGregor. A little less than 7 days total for less than 3 people is pretty darn good! Special thanks to Marcin for knocking out the Hydraulic schematic and the wheel mounts. Thanks to Audrey and Katie for the bolt replacement and the hydraulics.

James Wise works on the LifeTrac 6 as Emmett McGregor documents the process on film.

Ian Midgley Tells His Story

In a recent edition of the Financial Chronicle, filmmaker Ian Midgley tells the story of his quest for the visionary spark that can change passive observers into active worldchangers. Ian’s quest has culminated, of course, in the making of The Spark, a film featuring the work of Our School at Blair Grocery and Open Source Ecology. Don’t miss his firsthand account! (See Part I and Part II.)