Going Quiet Kingman, Arizona · By Charlie Laurel Jack Ehrhardt and his contracting company, ACE Builders, built the first “Earthship” in Arizona for a client in Dewey in the early 1990s. An Earthship is a self-sustaining, passive solar home made from used tires packed with dirt, cans, bottles, and other discards. The home was designed […]
Charlie Laurel and Margaret Spilke
Way off the Grid Alpine Ranches, Arizona · By Ashley Rood and Rose Houk The name “Earthship” might raise the question whether the alternative home design this word refers to is something of this world or perhaps the next adventure into space. In fact, these homes are quite earthbound and represent a self-sustaining, self-determined masterpiece […]
MOM’s
An Enterprising Family Minnesota Organic Milk (MOM’s) is a successful family-run organic dairy that sells their dairy products to numerous Twin Cities food co-operatives and grocery stores. The Hartman’s –Mike, Diane and Mike’s brother, Roger, are the family behind this successful enterprise. “When we were planning this, we had 52 farms lined up to go,” […]
Conservation Technologies
A Breath of Fresh Air Mike LeBeau was a private contractor in Duluth and Lake Superior’s North Shore area, specializing in energy efficient building, who was running into a big problem: he could not find the products he needed for his projects in the North Shore area. Mike figured that if he was having trouble […]