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        • The Earthship Visitor Center

          2 Earthship Way, Tres Piedras, NM 87577

          Self-Guided Tours available daily – visitors are welcome to arrive anytime from 9am – 4pm.

          $9 per person for the self-guided tour of our Visitor Center

          • Free for Taos locals and Earthship alumni
          • Free for ages 12 and under

          UPDATED WINTER HOURS:

          Guided Tours available Thursday, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 3pm to 4:30pm
          (please arrive a few minutes before)

          $22 per person • Tickets available at the front desk or: https://exploreorigin.com/en/listings/872008-guided-tour

          NEW! Extended Self-Guided Tour 
          $15 per person • Tickets available at the front desk or:
          https://exploreorigin.com/en/listings/876139-earthship-movie-time

          Private Tours available when scheduled ahead of time More Info

        • Earthship Nightly Rentals:

          Earthships allow people to experience a luxurious off grid life. Being self-sufficient does not mean reducing one’s quality of life.

          Our Earthship rental homes are equipped with all amenities that conventional housing provides

          We are 20 minutes northwest of town of Taos, New Mexico. We are very happy to show you how you can live comfortably without harming nature …

          CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT AVAILABLE NIGHTLY RENTAL EARTHSHIPS.

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        • What is an Earthship?

          An Earthship is a type of house built with natural and recycled materials, with energy conservation in mind. It is designed to produce energy, water and food for its own use.

        • An Earthship is a type of passive solar house that is made of both natural and upcycled materials. Several models exist, and can be built in any part of the world, in any climate and provide electricity, potable water, contained sewage treatment and sustainable food production. Choose your favorite model.

           

          View Earthships currently for sale or buy some land in the Earthship Community

          Building cost could be significantly reduced if you decide to host an Academy or a Field Study.

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Journey: 1975 The Hobbit House

Cañon went on to become a compound that I lived in with three different wives and families at three different times of my life.  Many things were learned there.  The first tire house was built there.  We call it the Hobbit House.  At right is how it looks today.   It was built with the help of students from my old architectural school – University of Cincinnati.   New  Mexico was very backward in those days and building permits were not seriously enforced.   This really is the reason that so much was learned – because we were free…    free to experiment.  I have spent a lot of time since then trying to recreate that learning situation. 

Today’s world simply does not allow learning…

thus we are not evolving fast enough to survive.

Hobbit House 1975 2

I built the first tire house as an experiment in tire and aluminum can construction.  I was also trying to learn about solar gain through the use of a greenhouse and thermal mass  (of the earth stuffed  tires)  for storing temperature.  I was planning to let a poor “hippie chick” with three kids live in it as they seemed to really need a cheap place to rent.  This was Gini Coleman and her three kids, Georgia, John and Spyder.

Well, Gini turned out to be the run away daughter of an oil millionaire from Texas.

I didn’t find this out until after I married her.

I built my now ex-wife Susan an FHA financed version of what I had learned about solar/thermal construction, only with fully conventional materials, and Gini and her kids ended up moving into the Cañon big house with me.  This began another era of the Cañon compound.

One misty morning, Gini’s brother, George,

took a picture of the first tire house (at right) that brought me and Gini together for a time.

hobbit house now