Beehive Life...Post-building my own shelter

Last November I arrived at La Loma Del Chivo in West Texas as a Wwoofer...to help experiment in alternative building. The people who welcomed me as family, said if I could draw my idea and explain it, I could build it. I worked with Kikay for a few days on the Sweat Lodge he was building. He introduced me to the ideas of Nader Khalili, an Iranian architect, who founded the Cal-Earth Institute. Khalili designs simple shelters built from the materials of War...refuge shelters, built from the materials that are readily available: sandbags, barbed wire and dirt. They can be built by families and children and take the form of domes and vaults. So I decided to begin a Khalili 'Bed-Womb' small, half-dome shaped shelter for one or two people.

There was already in existence a path - 'the glass street' made from crushed recycled glass bottles and flag stone, leading from the Goatshed - the hub of the community, towards the garden and the sunhouse, which, at the time was under construction. This gave a natural location for the first more private room for guests.

At the beginning of the path, I dug a foundation, using two books as guides during the design and build of 'The Beehive'. These were: Nader Khalili's book 'Emergency Sandbag Shelter', and a book by a family who had built a whole home using the same technique.

After a week of building two other wwoofers - Jarrett and Amber - got involved and as a team we made the Beehive over the next 6 weeks.6 months later I have returned to La Loma and currently live in the Beehive. It now has solar panels to power a light or music player, a front step, a rocket stove and plants growing in the planter that collects all the run-off from the half-dome.

Building my own shelter has been a very significant and important turning point for me, after this and many subsequent projects - I now know that it is possible to create by hand the 4 key elements to settled survival;              

             1-Shelter,
             2-Water Collection,
             3-Soil cultivation for food growth and
             4-Use and collection of Available Energy.