Greetings fellow travelers! Magnum and I recently returned from a couple of days of hippie camp. We traveled south to the outskirts of Taos, NM to live among the Earthshippers. An interesting and educational time was had!
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| Our hippie camp rental among the sage |
Welp, turns out the site is over 80 earthships on 640 acres. I had no idea there were so many in one spot. It was almost other worldly. It was nothing but dirt, sage, and earthships as far as the eyes could see!
For those who don't know, earthships are sustainable structures offering total off-grid living. They are often made from "trash" such as glass bottles, beverage cans, and automobile tires. They utilize solar and wind for power, rain collection and cisterns for water, and greenhouses for gardening.
We stayed in the Phoenix West studio. It was the only one available on the dates we requested. It was very nice, better than I expected actually.
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| "Our" side of The Phoenix |
The only drawback is that it does not have a kitchen since it's part of a bigger structure, and the kitchen was in the other half - rented by some people who rained on our parade.
The interior was cozy and quite serene. So much so, I kinda forgot to get photos, but I swiped these from the website:
Strangely, I really loved the bathroom (?). This photo doesn't do it justice.
Two skylights above kept the whole interior bright and cool, and that shower was better than anything Gilligan ever had on his island.
I was surprised at how hot the shower water could be.
Not surprisingly, there are fire restrictions in place in all of New Mexico. I'd brought our camp stove to use on the patio, and we managed fine without a full kitchen. There was also a coffee maker, coffee and tea selection, and a few dishes and utensils in the studio.
So yes, hippie camp was a win! Are we going to pull up stakes and become children of the sage, ourselves?
Oh, heck no. Too "out in the middle of nowhere" for us.
We will remain Outlanders.
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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:
Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:
5. Write a blog post inspired by the word: Freedom
9 comments:
my niece went there and reported about the same thing, awesome but NO pulling up stakes. They are on the right track though and the use of bottles is cool, well the use of everything I suppose. So grand that you went!
Linda Sue, it was a worthy place to visit, and we learned lots. But I think I'd go nuts living there. No trees/ shade. The demo buildings and visitor center were bustling, but we hardly saw any of the permanent residents. Ever.
Wow, I had not heard of this! I looked at the site but I was too lazy to really look around it. I wonder when it came to be. We visited Taos many a year ago when we lived in Santa Fe and I don't remember this being there but maybe I was more naive back then lol to things like this. Sounds like an interesting place to see and stay in once for the experience. I do like the bathroom! It seems like there wasn't a lot of stuff to do during the days there? Did you drive into Taos? Have you heard of Arcosanti in Northern Arizona? It was like a planned community where everything would be in one central location so you wouldn't have to drive to go places. It still is in existence and is fascinating to take a tour there. And then of course there is the Biosphere in the Tucson area. That was interesting to tour too.
Thanks for sharing your adventure with us!
betty
Betty, not sure how long the place has been there, but it does seem in the middle of nowhere. Taos is about a 20 minute drive. Arcosanti sounds a bit like the site we found a couple weeks ago while tree shopping - I really like the idea. A visit to Biosphere is on my list 🙂
That would be the kind of Vacay I'd J'Adore, being an Old Hippie and Imagining I could live in such a structure. *winks* I think for me it would just be a Vacay destination tho', I'm a City Gal and just bought a Mini Farm IN the heart of the City, so that's Rural enough for me. *Smiles* I've always been fascinated by that kind of structure. Someone tried to create one here in the outskirts of Phoenix but it isn't sustainable here, so New Mexico where it is I would think it could be a nice alternative off grid living space for those more adventurous types. I did look at the one here in AZ, it was for Sale and cheap, but there was no water and in a desert, that just doesn't work and to have sustainable crops and plants inside like it should be, you'd have to find a way to store your water brought in... and it was OUT THERE so not practical and especially for Seniors, it could end up being a dangerous option. But, I sure would like to rent one of these and have a Sabbatical out there, the Imagery looked Amazing.
Bohemian, same here. The earthships are an interesting spin on housing, but this community really is in the middle of nowhere - very isolated. No thanks. The visitor center was hoppin', and the rentals are booked up far in advance, though.
This would be okay for me for one night. Then I'd be wanting to go. I'd love off the grid, meaning no phones, tv etc. But the rest, I will live vicariously through you my dear. :-)
Peggy, agreed. We loved the self sufficiency of the earthships, but that 640-acre community was like being on another (desolate) planet.
Wow, I've never heard of earthships but now I have to add this to my bucket list. It looks so cool!
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