Natural Homes

Shea butter is used for cooking, fighting diseases like jaundice and leprosy, combating gastric problems, an ingredient in cosmetics AND… to make a waterproof plaster for this house. More at www.naturalhomes.org/naturalliving/shea-butter.htm

This is an u'macha [pinit via www.naturalhomes.org/timeline/umacha.htm] of the Ahwahneechee tribe of Miwok people. It is not a reconstruction for historical interest like those at the Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park [http://parks.ca.gov/?page_id=553]. This is a family's home in the Wahoga Village sited on the ancestral Ahwahneechee land in Yosemite Valley, CA, USA. It is part of the tribe's work to save their traditional way of life, building with natural materials. The U'macha [meaning: Bark Homes] are made with cedar poles. The poles are interwoven with grape vines or willow and then covered with cedar bark

 

This is a traditional turf home for the Sami people of the northern Scandinavian countries. [Pinit and see it on google maps here www.naturalhomes.org/timeline/staloluoktachurch.htm]. This one is in Staloluokta, Sweden where it is known as a Goahti. The same architecture in Norway it called a Gamme. This particular Goahti is a church, possibly the only one of its kind. In Norway you can stay in these Sami turf homes, sleeping on reindeer skins warmed by an open stone circle fire, while you attend a workshop in Sami crafts (duodji) [www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duodji]. Here’s where you can visit the tiny turf homes www.gamtofta.no/bilder.html 

 
The Dorze people live in the Guge mountains of Ethiopia around 3,000m above sea level. It is a beautiful region with a population of about 38,000. The Dorze are famous for their weaving; it's a skill that they employ on their clothes, fences, blankets and homes. Their homes are built from bamboo with a thatch of enset (false banana) leaves. This one is about 90 years old. More, including video, at www.naturalhomes.org/

 

This home is called a Tukel [find out more and pinit via www.naturalhomes.org/timeline/toposa-tukels.htm]. They are built by the Toposa people of South Sudan who live in well organised villages, with different houses for dry and rainy season and granaries where they keep their food and valuables. The homes are built by the woman while the men tend the cattle.

 Leanach Farmhouse was built in 1721 and completely restored in 1960 with a more recent red heather thatched roof. It's a little cottage that has seen a lot of action...

 Life at Tinkers Bubble [more at www.naturalhomes.org/tinkersbubble.htm]; a small off-grid woodland community in Somerset, England. The residents manage the land without fossil fuels and have been for the last twenty years making a living mainly through forestry, apple products and gardening

 the blackhouses of Garenin on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. You can find out how to build a blackhouse at www.naturalhomes.org/blackhouse.htm. To get the best from naturalhomes.org see www.naturalhomes.org/about.htm

 These decorated domes are called Obos [www.naturalhomes.org/catenary.htm]. They are built by the Musgum people of the Cameroon. They provide efficient cooling in the baking heat with a round ventilation hole at the top and a small entrance with no windows. The high dome collects the hot air moving it away from the living space. The decorative patterns on the exterior of the obos are in fact a series of steps to allow the community to re-plaster the exterior of the dome.

 

The Green School [more pictures and video here www.naturalhomes.org/greenschool.htm] in Bali is home to some wonderfully organic shaped buildings all made from bamboo. This is one of their classroom pods. The school is now 100% off-grid, powered by solar panels and a vortex generator that borrows water from the Ayung River creating a vortex to generate 50,000KWh of power over a shallow fall of about 80-100cm.

 

In the Nilgiri hills of Taml Nadu, India live the Toda people in rolling meadows and shola forests. This is an example of their architecture, known as an Arsh [pinit and see video at www.naturalhomes.org/timeline/todahut.htm]. Two arches made of long bunches of bamboo are lashed together with cane. The arches support eleven Podh, strong poles running the length of the building. At 1ft (30cm) intervals a hoop of bamboo is lashed over the podh forming a ribcage. On this sticks are tied horizontally forming laths to which rows of thatch are lashed. To give a grand look to the façade a cylindrical bunch of hay is attached. The interior is windowless and dark consisting of a single space. A raised earthen platform takes up much of one side for sitting and sleeping. A fire is kept farthest from the small door, typically 2ft 6" (75cm) high. The fire, which smokes continuously, is key to protection from the weather and termites.

 This is the roundhouse at Cae Mabon [www.naturalhomes.org/caemabon.htm] which nestles at the foot of Elidir Fawr in an oak forest clearing by a little river that cascades down to the nearby lake. The Roundhouse is based on the homes people who lived in the area 3000 years before the Romans invaded what is now Wales. In the nearby hills you can still see hundreds of ruined hut rings of fallen stones usually overgrown by bracken and brambles. Cae Mabon's roundhouse is used for storytelling, music and community celebrations and it sits proudly amongst other beautiful natural homes