Their online version includes a photo gallery and a video.
The comments being posted online are largely negative, as this kind of thing is too far outside of most people's boxes. Maybe if you get a few minutes you could help post some replies to help people understand a little better. They won't be laughing when the grid goes down for more than a couple of days.
Last May, photographer Sarah A. Miller came down to the project to take a few shots to see if she could interest the paper in doing a story. The day she first arrived was cold and rainy; yet she and her friend participated in "dancing" some cob (like making bricks in ancient Egypt); and we fired up the cob oven to make four baked dishes [the meal, not the platter]. They nearly had to stay the night because the primitive dirt road out was so slippery from the rain. But I was able to help push them through a couple of the worst spots.
If I remember correctly, it was the day following that that we got four inches of snowed four inches on the property. I was able to take quite few great photos myself that day.
About a month later, Sarah came down again, this time with Deseret News reporter, Gina Barker. They spent several hours taking photos and doing interviews as we went about our weekend work on the various structures under way, mentioned in the article.
Sarah compiled a photo and video segment and posted it on YouTube (see above) to go along with the story. They waited to publish the story until a "slower news day", so that it could go on the front page.
Meanwhile, we've made quite a bit of progress on the one shed that is shown in the photos. Here's an updated photo, taken a couple of weeks ago:
Also during this time, back on Summer Solstice, Sarah came down for an extracurricular event that several of us in the community participated in, headed by Renee Shaw and James Torgerson, celebrating the balancing of male and female energies on the planet, things having been out of balance for so long toward the male end. We drove up in the mountains East of where Ephraim, UT is, to a place where as you look toward the valley there is a clearing of trees about a mile wide in the shape of an eagle soaring out toward the valley.
Here's the video that Sarah compiled from that:
While I have your attention, there are a couple of minor errors in the story that I would like to correct. My wife's name is spelled Cheri, not Cherie. We don't yet have our water shares transferred to the property, though we expect that to be completed any day now, after a three month wait. Also, the next step is to present our minor subdivision plan. That hasn't been done yet. We have to wait until the water is fully transferred first, to make an appointment to start that process. Also, Susan Carter is the primary person for interfacing with the county and utah officials. Also, the fibrous material in the cob mud is called "excelsior". It's shredded aspen bark that is used for packing furniture. We get it for free after it's served its purpose, rather than being thrown away.
Meanwhile, we do have an appointment to get a conditional use permit for two major projects we would like to do on the property. One is a walipini, underground greenhouse project to build many of these structures on the property to grow food locally for the valley community. The other is to do a two-acre solar farm on the property, to sell power through the grid, under contract to a large end user such as an industry or college.
Today I'm scheduled to be meeting on the property with Jon Sedgwick, the CEO of Nature Plus in Connecticut, makers of Terrazyme, and enzyme that allows soil to be compacted more tightly. We plan to use it in our road base, and will be able to omit the use of gravel for most of the road. Some will require its addition. Also, the road has 70% less maintenance cost over the years. The Sanpete County road guy, Steve Keller; and the guy who ran our soil samples, Steve Gossard, will be meeting to talk about this method. We're also using Terrazyme in some of our rammed earth building applications.
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