Using Straw Bales To Insulate Our Root Cellar AND Grow Food! 

Thank you for watching! Sorry for the late upload. The storms we're having seem to be slowing down our internet. What do you think of the garden/insulation combo?

Hi both , are you planning to completely cover your roof with straw bales?? If so I hope you have enough plastic sheet to fold back to cover every bale as you’re bound to know what they weigh when wet. I wouldn’t hold out much hope for the OSB boards you’ve got there. Still loving the videos here in Wales. Keep up the great work.

For some reason all your projects drive me crazy. I just cannot understand why you don’t finish and live in the house first.

Wet straw bales are going to be heavy. And how do you plan to drain water off that roof? I'm very curious.

Might think about rounding the tips of the rebar you cut off.. so if anyone falls or ??? They don't get hurt. ????

Have you considered clam shell style storm celler doors to protect and provide rain cover and drainage for the storm celler stairwell.

My concern is that the monsoon rains will flash flood down the steps right under the door and still flood the root cellar. Just speaking my concerns for what it's worth

Awesome! It's coming along nicely. Can hardly wait to see how you two do the inside of your house! I love the look of the mountains in the background, just beautiful!

Straw bale Greenhouse, on top of the root cellar! Neat idea. 💡

My late husband was a native Arizonan; watching your videos takes me back to good times. I kinda miss the desert - he loved it more than any other type of terrain, and taught me how to appreciate it. I come from the hills and woods of east TN, so the desert was quite the change for me.

Do you have a drawing what to build on the rootceller

Love seeing Crew out and about

Thank you so much for yet another awesome video. It seems like I can't get enough of these videos. Keep them coming!!

Maybe when installing pipes that can freeze. Install a low point faucet or. ?? To be able to drain them off.

Its still amazes me that playing in the mud can result in a real building.

I love the idea of insulating the root cellar with strawbales and the greenhouse on top. The straw bales should insulate it well during the summer heat too.

Greenhouse over the cellar? I thought you were going to create living quarters.

Love your podcast🙏. You are looking so beautiful and healthy Jess, glad to see you feeling better! love you guys

Awesome video content . My best to your endeavors in 2024 .

I have a simple question Tractor Supply sells ... Insulated Overalls and Imsulated Coveralls.... Have you taken Jess there to try some on...

Chihuahuan Raven at minute 4:56. A desert specialty that out of the area birders really love to find.

There is no cold like dry cold. When is wet you can put on dry clothes but dry just whips through to your bones and wind makes it worse. Good work and take care.

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yes straw or hay will insulate be sure to insulate the valves on all the tanks so they dont break

Well unless the laws of thermodynamics have changed, it should be much colder in your Root Cellar than it is outside. Cold goes down heat goes up. It's that simple. That's why you sleep in the basement in the summer and then the attic in the winter

I was imagining the bench with a smooth stucco and painted white.

Lluvia is such a great dog 🤩

❤TY for the VIDEO 😊 PEACE

I'm looking forward to seeing what your plans are to make the house full time functional. This far, you guys have come a long way with everything in a seemingly short time.

My birdhouse used to spin like that in heavy winds. It was the only birdhouse that birds wouldn't nest in. Then I used E-6000 to glue a heavy rock to the bottom. Now birds happily made it their home!

Evening u two wo derful people xxxfrom england x

Good progress! That chimney shouldn't end up below the roof. If you get a fire in the chimney in the future, the roof is sure to take fire.

There’s a guy on RU-vid who built a reciprocating Roof.. had never heard of it. He used straw bales for it too. And insulation in his cob house. The roof suppose to support a lot of weight.

OK, you guys are doing great. I wish to share this link to inspire you: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-i5yUPau-F1c.html. This gentleman has been growing food in the high desert for many years. Title of the video is "Permaculture Garden In The High Desert" which sounds a lot like what you hope to achieve. Also, much of his seed stock represents years of acclimation of plants to the conditions of the desert. Perhaps he would be willing to share some starter seeds for you guys! I am really looking forward to seeing your agricultural efforts take off. Is there anything we as a community can do to help with your efforts of soil augmentation? Can you do a short video on your plans? It doesn't have to be a complete plan, just your thoughts so far.

I tried strawbale gardening here in dry west texas and don’t recommend it. They dried out too fast. Look into wicking beds or buckets.

I'm glad y'all have a great place to be able to get the warmth needed on cold days.

Love it up as always 💘

I don't think a straw garden will do too much for insulation. If it's damp enough to grow things it loses its r value.

Why you have not moved in to the door yet? Yeah, power. Yeah heat.???

I can't do Enough thing out side, with the cold and rain, and windy. I had a tornado spout take some shingle off the house. That was scary > i can't fix it in the cold and rain 👉👉 Lucky it was on the porch part

Thank F0R your videos !!!

Ice house used sawdust for installation

The goggles! 😂

glad to see you two doing well during the winter months....

Thanks for your vid 😇💟💟💟 Love and bless you guys 😉

I got some pretty bad frost bite shoveling out the driveway so I could get out of the house last week at-14 degrees in Iowa. But don't worry I am a transplanted Californian and i can empathize very much with you none the less. Really enjoy checking in with you occasionally. Calbino

You could probably use cob over your pipes to help keep them from freezing. It's worth a try. Since you're using straw to insulate your cellar, do you worry about rodents also making it their home? Or are you going to cob over the straw creating a barrier to keep rodents out?

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Got my snacks!

Very good solution to the rainy weather ☁️. I'm sure your efforts will be rewarded.

when the dog is doing her digging, is she looking for mice, or something else?

I would put a couple of inches of sand over the plastic before putting the hay bales. The hay will work well to insulate the roof. You can buy a $20 heated seat pad for your car if you want a heated seat. My late wife loved hers. Good Luck, Rick

What do you want the temperature to b?

xx from portugal

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build a underground home like Coober Pedy Australia .... that be a cool project.

Wow, root cellar! Looking good! 😁👍🏼

Jim, you are the hardest worker!! I am impressed by how much you completed during the coldest days we've had this year. Jess, I'm loving the idea of a greenhouse on top of your root cellar and growing in straw bales... that will be interesting to see. I've thought about trying that technique but haven't tried it. I live 'up the street' from you in Tucson, Arizona. Our weather is similar but I believe a little warmer. I'm waiting another month or so before planting a spring garden. I'm interested in your garden plans.

Nice video, when you run the heater have you checked the temp on the loft?

I'm a fairly new subscriber to your channel but have very much enjoyed watching the growth of your homestead. I've made it through the vid's for the cistern, root cellar/rebuild, and west dome. Bravo and great job. Love your creativity and eagerness to repurpose. I've been doing some research myself as I would enjoy a greenhouse and you might want to look into heating your greenhouse with woodchips. There are tons of vid's on YT or Google to view. The bonus to using the woodchips, is that they can be repurposed around your property and maybe you can get for free only having to pay to have them hauled in.

Llluvia is such a crackup... makes me laugh... you all a doing great job there... I was thinking what if you put something like your dome on top of your root cellar then make it into a green house... it might make it even more insulated... buen trabajo amigos...

Looks like the birds have been eating all the seed from your feeders too in preparation for the cold. We are in the panhandle of Florida and weather here has been wacky also. Last week it was record breaking lows in the 20's, this week it is in the 60's for lows. I am sure that the animals are like "what the heck is going on humans?" Nice job on the root cellar and glad you guys are staying warm with that rocket heater. Wishing you and your family a wonderful warm week.

As long as one can keep the grass dry it can make good insulation. But wet grass is a nightmare. Its gets extremely heavy, and it will grow all kinds of bad things peoples shouldn't breathe.

Wow!

Glad you got it all dried in, sounds like it's going to be a wet night tonight! 🌧️🏜️

Hi there, as long as you are able to keep the straw bales powder-dry it should work well enough - but you have to make sure that there is no water, no condensation - and absolutely no moisture intake possible. A little hole in the plastic cover will destroy your insulation work sooner or later - i would use a lime straw mix - with something like an asphalt, pitch or/ and bitumen Insulation layer - like in the olden times .... Have fun, Greets H.

Greenhouse above the root cellar? Where will all the water draining from the greenhouse go? Straight down, into the root cellar, right?

Great hair cut Jess, and the snow was beautiful in the desert, luckily it did not last long...you both are doing so good...

That is cool my friends of your about the house building. 🙏👍💪🇺🇸

Biggest best longterm project on RU-vid - absolutely amazing - greenhouse idea SUPERB - ❤❤ YOUR WIFE - A SUPERSTAR (although she always looks frozen😂)

I suggest if you can do it cover the entire root cellar with straw bales and put them around the side of the perimeter, if you try this and re measure temps you will see huge temp change to the root cellar that will rise significantly. Also I would think seriously about building straw bale walls for the greenhouse maybe only 2 bales high and then the green house skin on top, This would seal the bottom and cobbing the bales would give structure.

Jess you should figure out how to make a compressed paper pellets to burn in the rocket mass heater, it's a good way to recycle and you have a shortage of wood so it's logical.

Snow on solar panels is? NO WANO 👉👉 another reason i want wind power. 1 is wind blow about all the time day and night. Snow and Hail. don't mess with it much.. I lost 3 solar street lights, from hail.. I got them replaced.. Happens again going to 30 watt flood lights

su[rised you havent got outdoor cushions from wally yet. hopefully you havent floated away yet. been raining all night here and more to come later today. stay safe yall

See how smart Jess is for wearing those goggles. She knows all it would take is just a small shard of that straw in all those millions of pieces of straw whipping around your face to go right in your eye.🫣 Ullvia looks so cute pouncing like a wolf or a fox on whatever rodent she’s after❤

I can’t believe that few months ago you had the roof collapsed, and now you have it up again.

Thank you for sharing, glad you guys are warm !

Hy Jim this is temporary you put pond liner and bales. but what is your future plan for waterproof for root cellar?

Maybe check on the Baerskin hoodie, they are supposed to be very nice in keeping warm.

yeaaaaaaaaaaaaa, TY guys! Looking good, Tuffies!

We're almost to SPRING! Nice work on root celler. 😎🇺🇸

Great progress on the root cellar! I loved watching him putting down the cob at warp speed. I think Jess would benefit from a nice, warm, windproof fleece to keep her warm during the cold and windy winters.

Cold is not so much as the air temperature as in if you feel warm or cold. I hope it warms up for you guys.😊

Use pool noodles on your pipes :)

Not sure how well it would work long term, but depending on how thick your plwood and liner mix is, if you have a bunch of those larger 'metal binder clips' like for thick stacks of paper, they could help hold the edge of the pond liner down around the plywood. It would at least hopefully work to hold it down until you can get it all flat and then put the strawbales and rocks on top as well.

Gardening to grow your own food is always good. You really can't have a Self Reliant Life without a big garden. Paying less for food means having more for other projects. It's that time of year to start planning the garden and get some things started. I'll be starting the sweet potato slips and tomato plants soon.

Do you think the cold will freeze up your water totes since they are unprotected?

She looks kind of miserable like she's like over it. You could tell a second too long to get this house looking nice

Why not a bale in middle to prevent the water from pooling in middle?

Jim are you both staying in the Dome now/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:1-11 King James Version 14 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. 5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? 6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. 8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? 10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.

Working in the wind with plastic is the worst! Good job getting it done

I’ve heard and read that mice can and will move into bales. I wonder if hardware cloth would be important for the long term?

Hmmm, is it filming fear or does the lady appear unhappy

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where did you find a woman to live in a place like that with you?

Great progress! Looking good!

Looks like Jess got a haircut, cute hair!

Hey good morning how are you guys doing I hope you folks are having a great day hope everything is kind of warm or cold out there but to keep up the good work and then say hi to the dogs and the and all the rest of the animals out there

Great video. What type of dog is that?

A greenhouse would be awesome.