Residents’ rent at the Earnshaw Ecohouse supports sustainability practices at the ecohouse and around Mt Auburn.

Ecohouse sustainability practices:

-Chicken Coop Construction

• Includes sourcing recycled materials for:
• -fencing
• -coop
• -gates
• -heating source

-Transplanting plants in future chicken run

-Expanding Side Garden Along Driveway

-Removing portion of fence for relocation for fencing around chicken coop

-Xplanting grasses

-Laying down compost/green manure

-Elevating house approximately 50 meters to be closer to sun during winter months.

-Laying down reclaimed stone to make uphill climb easier while carrying buckets of waste.   10/9/14

-Heightening Rain Barrel Foundation using reclaimed bricks to make rain barrel high enough for 5-gallon buckets to fit under spigot.

-Invasives Removal

• -Killing honeysuckle on hillside in 2 steps
• 1  Cutting/hacking plant at base with axe or saw
• 2  Applying poison via paint brush only to exposed stump

-Truck Bed Window Box upcycling truck bed insert into a passive solar heater

Other Projects as of 6 Oct 2014

Transplant fig tree

Repaint porch

Acquire used solar system

Install more rain barrels

Repair truck

Paint and install porch swing

Expand back porch into passive solar heater/greenhouse

Install window boxes

Create workspace in basement

Replace bathroom window

Here’s some things we’ll be doing in the future or are presently doing:

• Maintaining a house which is over 100 years old
• Installing a rain catchment system
• Building a chicken coop
• Installing a biodigester
• Planting native grasses
• Expanding the existing gardens
• Installing a water filtration system
• Garden work
• Installing solar panels
• Winterizing the house
• Elevating house approximately 50 – 100 feet (to be closer to the sun for more warmth)
• Killing invasives
• Composting