"Earthships"

I have heard of homesteading in the modern sense, i.e. living off-the-grid. Now a friend has introduced me to the term "earthship", which as far as I can tell is one company's fancy word for "a passive solar home made of natural and recycled materials". I have a soft spot in my heart for hand-made houses, and handmade houses that are both aesthetically pleasing and particularly green just make me giddy.

The company that makes these particular seventies-sounding houses is Earthship Biotechture of Teos, New Mexico. They have a website full of nifty stuff, including earthships that are available for purchase, and (for the rest of us) available for short-term vacation rentals. They are also gearing up to do some relief work in Haiti. There is no quick internet way of making a donation, but they've got a snail-mail address. I think I'll be mailing them a check shortly. . .