From:   "cynthia 
Date:  Fri Oct 17, 2003  5:50 pm
Subject:  Dream Homestead

Well, First I would purchase a HUGE amount of land...100+acres to put
it on. I don't just want a house, I want a working homestead and
organic farm, with several types of chickens, guinea fowl, ducks,
geese, pigs, goats, Dexter and Jersey cows...all with moveable
fencing so I can rotate grazing/crops areas (kind of like the Chicken
Tractor, only using a rotation in animal grazing, too). That being
said, I would build a HUGE (at least an acre) geodesic dome
greenhouse, with clad metal, and walkways running around the outside
for ease of maintenance. Bullet proof glass, of course, so hail
damage wouldn't be a concern (Hey, you said money was no object,
right?), double paned, and glazed for insulation.

Around the exterior of that would be an underground fiber mesh
concrete construction house covered with a planted berm. Windows and
doors would peek out from planted areas, so you wouldn't actually see
the house until you were inside it. There would be solar tubes
collecting light all at the top of the berm so the inside would be
light. There would be NO wall to wall carpeting, though there would
be area rugs of various types. I would have a capped septic system
so I could capture all the methane produced in the septic tanks to
use for all my gas appliances, and even a converter burner tucked
away so we could burn excess methane to produce electricity. I would
have wind and water turbines as well, so I could go off the grid. Of
course, I would have to have DH put in a server, so I didn't have to
go back to dial up computer service. There would be masonry
fireplace/ovens so we could cook with wood in an emergency, and so we
could enjoy a nice toasty evening with a wood fire when we wanted.
Water tubes would heat the floors. There would be lots of natural
and slightly color stained woods and lovely stone surfaces, deep,
plush comfy furniture, and a gourmet kitchen with its own semi-open
courtyard enclosed on one side by the geodesic dome, and on the other
by the earthen wall. The master bedroom would have another semi-open
courtyard, and a hot tub big enough for a romp in, as well as a steam
sauna and one of those showers that hit you from all sides. We'd
have everything handicap accessible for future planning (and for my
MIL's convenience, and my daughters friends).

Inside the geodesic dome I would have my tropical fruits and veggies
and ornamentals. I would grow durian fruit, cocoa, coffee, vanilla
bean, pepper vine, guava, citrus, mango, miracle fruit,
sapote...EVERYTHING! There would be various divisions in 'weather'
from tropical, to semi tropical, from humid to arid. And in here
would be hammocks and wicker furniture and umbrellas and even outdoor
beds. There would be more than one level of walkway through the
jungle, and maybe a nice breeding pair of lion maned tamarins and
some exotic birds (big enough not to worry about the cats getting to
them). I would have a stream running constantly throughout the dome
in a winding path, with brightly colored tropical fish all through
it, and the walls inside the dome would be of pleached plantings.
The overhead sprinkler system would always be accompanied by
thunderstorm recordings.

Sigh. Hey, you said DREAM house...right?
***

