Yesterday we installed a pretty thorough drip irrigation system in both the front and back yards.

The front yard has about 40 feet of soaker hose covering the flowers outside the fence (finally, watering those was quite a chore) and a dripper doohicky for each of the 10 three sisters mounds. The back yard, with its 60 feet of corn rows just has a soaker hose down the top of each row.

Watering is a lot easier now, and I this should also help with weeds because we won't have as much excess water all over the place.

Over the last several months our house has been a hotbed of countercultural lifestyle ideas. We've been all over the map trying to break out of the mold and plan something for our future that is just for us, and not driven by any cultural expectations of what a pair of 20-somethings in love are supposed to do.

I added a section to our fire pit that's specially designed just for grilling. Instead of rock, it's made of bricks so it can have a nice level top, just the right size to hold a grill. It's also shallower than the main fire pit, to get the grill closer to the coals.

It's really nice because now we'll be able to have a proper fire you can see by and stay warm next to, but also have good smoldering coals for grilling over. You just shovel back and forth between them as need be. That's why I keep a flat shovel next to the fire pit.

Today I started putting together some ideas I've been working on. I'm trying to take all the ideas and notions I've developed about how I'd like to build an earthbag house and start fitting them into a realistic plan.

The linchpin of my house idea is the way it is broken into two levels, one on top of a hill and one on the north side. Doing this allows the entire house to benefit from warmth of shallow winter sun, while at the same time shielding the living room and kitchen from the harsh but high summer sun.