This post may contain affiliate links or compensated reviews. Please read our disclosure for more info. A project to rehab an old shipping container into the coolest goat barn you've ever seen. Dreamed up by our oldest daughter Adali. From the very beginning of our homestead journey Adali was totally invested in the animals. She basically raised all our chickens for eggs, pigs and chickens for meat, and goats for milk. She took on the responsibility of feeding and caring for them, waking up early every morning, and getting her own great pyrenees guardian dog to protect them. By last season w ..read more

This post may contain affiliate links or compensated reviews. Please read our disclosure for more info. Back at the end of the summer, we shared our hyperadobe roundhouse plans for the very first time. It was years of designing, experimenting, and planning finally becoming a reality. And a huge inspiration for our design was the WillowEnd RoundHouse, the first permitted earthbag structure in Australia. Turns out this guy Hayden from Curvatecture was hired to manage the earthbag construction of that house, and we both already followed each other without realizing the connection. A whole l ..read more

This post may contain affiliate links or compensated reviews. Please read our disclosure for more info. Our family spent the last month building an open air outdoor shower out of hyperadobe earthbags and glass bottles. So many glass bottles. This was a fun little project that included our first exposed aggregate concrete floor, a drain that flows directly to our permaculture berm and swale, a ridiculous amount of glass bottle bricks, a multi day earthbag workshop, a portable outdoor water heater, and the fanciest shower head we’ve had in over a decade. After showering in our renovated vintag ..read more

This post may contain affiliate links or compensated reviews. Please read our disclosure for more info. After 3 years of building, preparing, learning, and experimenting on our off-grid homestead, it's finally time to begin work on our home. This is by far the biggest project we've tackled yet! Behind the scenes we've been planning, designing and organizing everything, trying to get to a point where we can actually break ground and share the process with you.  We'll use this space to share each step of the process. Laying the Foundation (Step 1) Join us as we share the months long pad p ..read more

This post may contain affiliate links or compensated reviews. Please read our disclosure for more info. Hello friends, today we’re going to tell the story about how a rogue lighting strike cost us thousands of dollars, left us without power for almost a week, and the changes we’re making to our system to make sure it doesn’t happen again. If you’re not familiar, we installed a large fully off-grid solar system for our desert homestead about two years ago. All DIY, pieced together ourselves. It’s got 7200W of solar panels, a 28kwh lithium battery bank, and a 5,000w AC Inverter. The video expl ..read more

This post may contain affiliate links or compensated reviews. Please read our disclosure for more info. It's been too long, earthbags! That's right, we're kicking up a brand new hyperadobe earthbag mini project as we wait for warmer weather and finalize our house plans. This composting toilet outhouse will be based on Watershed Management Group's AZ approved system with our own twist, of course :) Day 1 - Prepping Trenches and Holes The first step is to mark off the area, dig out the foundation, and double check the layout of our composting barrels to make sure they fit. Day 2 - She's ..read more

This post may contain affiliate links or compensated reviews. Please read our disclosure for more info. What’s a gray water septic? Why would you use it? How does it work? And is it even legal? All great questions. Let’s dig in. What’s a Septic System? A traditional septic system is a way for a house or building that doesn’t have access to city sewage pipes to send all of its waste water - from sinks, showers, and toilets - into a buried waterproof tank that is large enough for the solids to settle at the bottom. The remaining liquid exits the tank into the leach or drain field via perforate ..read more

This post may contain affiliate links or compensated reviews. Please read our disclosure for more info. Looking for the simplest way to create a small, self-contained, 12V solar system that can be monitored remotely? You’ve come to the right place! Hi there, we’re Jonathan & Ashley from Tiny Shiny Home. Our family of 6 spent many years traveling full-time in our renovated vintage Airstream before finding some off-grid property in Cochise County, Arizona to settle on. Our dream here is to build a sustainable off-grid homestead from the ground up using solar power, water catchment, an ..read more

This post may contain affiliate links or compensated reviews. Please read our disclosure for more info. If you’re looking for a safe, reliable way to build your own massive DIY off-grid solar system at a fraction of the cost, you’ve come to the right place. Hi there, we’re Jonathan & Ashley from Tiny Shiny Home. Our family of 6 spent many years traveling full-time in our renovated vintage Airstream before finding some off-grid property in Cochise County, Arizona to settle on. Our dream here is to build a sustainable off-grid homestead from the ground up using solar power, water ..read more

This post may contain affiliate links or compensated reviews. Please read our disclosure for more info. It's time for a new project here on the off-grid Tiny Shiny Homestead! We're building a chicken garden. What's that, you ask? Well the waste from gardens feed chickens. And chicken waste after properly composted can feed a garden. So why not make them one single thing? The twist? We're making it all out of Hyperadobe Earthbags. P.S. this article covers the first 100 days of building. For days 100+, keep reading Part 2. Our unique structure includes a 42' circular diameter outer wall, a 21 ..read more