Vulnerability and hopelessness descended on me as I watched helplessly as fire engulfed our power shed a couple of weeks ago… We’d had a week of dreadful weather and a team of builders onsite so the generator had kicked in to give the solar batteries a boost when the lights began to flicker and the… Continue reading Disempowerment!
Tag: sustainability
Flying high
Bringing it on home: Part three. The final delivery of the house. After the perilous long and winding road and the steep climb up the driveway there was the just little matter of lifting the house off the trucks and up onto its foundations! Digger driver and wild goat hunter extraordinaire Richard watches the final… Continue reading Flying high
Feel free to Share this:
The Long and Winding Road
Bringing it on home part two: As dawn breaks on the big day the house pods are lifted onto the trucks at David the craftsman-builder’s yard for the long and delicate trip out to our place at the Kenepuru Heads. Normally it would take about an hour to drive this beautifully picturesque road. As it… Continue reading The Long and Winding Road
Feel free to Share this:
Bringing it on home
After nearly two years since we first saw our architect and the day finally arrived last week…. our house was due for delivery! The bulk of the construction of the six pods that make up the house being done at the builders yard an hours drive away at Mahakipawa. Our craftsman Builder David Kepes getting… Continue reading Bringing it on home
Feel free to Share this:
Empowered!
The Vagra is a powerful symbol in the Buddhist world as the diamond thunderbolt of wisdom that cuts through ignorance in a flash of light – The Vagra handles of the newly installed power station at Ngahere Hou represent a great way to open the doors to our new solar power I think! Our place… Continue reading Empowered!
Feel free to Share this:
Get in the Sun
Living off the grid you learn to adjust your behaviour to minimise your power usage. So during a week of blazing sunshine it was something of a surprise to run out of power! At Hou Ngahere we have a basic but very effective solar system. Starting with just the two panels (on the… Continue reading Get in the Sun
Feel free to Share this:
Looking after our mother
In a strenuous but joyful gesture of renewal over the Easter break, we got there in the end and planted the 239 trees provided by the ‘Trees for Travel’ scheme. It is now raining steadily, as requested, to give them the best possible start in their new life! A return trip to San Francisco from… Continue reading Looking after our mother
Life and Light 