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Visit Blue Rock Station to get ideas on how to create a sustainable living way of life, or just to marvel at the various construction techniques. Tour the 2,200 square foot house, currently under construction (always under construction... sigh!) that utilizes tires, cans, old barn wood, bottles and mud to form a home heated by the sun, earth and wood.
What will you see and do?
The guided tour of Blue Rock Station takes about 90 minutes (a little more depending on how many questions you have). Check out the Workshops tab (or the Calendar) for scheduled open dates. Or you can schedule a private tour by giving us a call at 740-674-4300.
We will...
- Tour the Earthship - a 2,200 sq. ft. home made of tires, cans, bottles, salvaged lumber, mud, sand, sweat and tears. Annie & Jay will explain the various construction techniques and how the building uses the earth and sun to provide a comfortable place to live.
- Explore the vaulted Straw Bale “Chicken Chalet”. This building houses our rare breed chickens (you may even get a chance to feed them). It is built with a pounded tire foundation, straw bale walls, beer bottle front and back walls and a mud plaster finish.
- Check out the straw bale sleeping cabins (with living roofs)
- See the various innovative water collection systems.
- Take a look at the plastic bottle greenhouse, made of over 1,000 2-liter plastic pop bottles.
- See the solar shower (made with, what else, milk jugs)
- Marvel at the rocket stove - an amazing wood heater that incorporates a pizza oven, a sleeping bench and an under-floor radiant heat system into this inexpensive and very effective heating system.
- Learn about rare breed chickens. We will discuss the changes in agriculture in America that have lead to the near extinction of most of the most common and popular farm animals of our recent past.
- Meet Eleonore and her kids, our milk goats - and discuss homestead milk production, making cheese, yogurt and other healthy and natural products.
- Check out the rain garden.
- Say hello to the llamas and perhaps take one or two for a walk. Throughout the day we harness up the llamas and let our visitors take them for a little stroll as we walk the grounds of Blue Rock Station.
- Learn a bit about natural gardening. We are exploring a number of creative (and common sense) ways of gardening here at Blue Rock Station. Learn to work with nature, not against it. Also, discover how we keep our plants growing year-round in our wetlands and pop-bottle greenhouse.
- Rediscover or see for the first time some neat, good old common sense stuff like composting, cooking in a solar oven, weaving fences from brush, making maple syrup... or whatever other else takes our fancy that we happen to be doing at the time.
- Mostly you will just enjoy the tranquil peace and good natured feel of Blue Rock Station.
Open Tours:
When word got out that we were building a house made out of tires, a lot of folks wanted to come see this place for themselves. Literally hundreds of people just showed up at all hours - making it pretty hard actually to get any work done. So we decided to set some hours that were open to the public, just to keep things a bit organized.
Well, literally thousands have visited and to tell you the truth - it has become a bit overwhelming. So we have decided to cut back and offer tours by appointment only. While this may not be the most convenient method for small groups - believe me, it was necessary to retain our sanity.
Several times a year we will be open to the public (sign up for your newsletter to receive notice of these dates - or check our site periodically). Other than these rare occasions, workshops, or llama treks - you will need to schedule a private group tour if you wish to see the first Earthship east of the Mississippi.
Open day tour fees are $10 per adult, $5 for folks under 12. Tours take about 90 minutes to 2 hours and include refreshments.
Open day tours are limited to 40 people. Please RSVP to ensure you will be able to go on the tour.
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2012 Open Days:
- April 21st
- May 13th
- June 16th
- July 21st
- August 18th
- September 1st
- October 20th
- November 24th
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Click here to RSVP
or call us at 740-674-4300
Or to really ensure your spot, you could pre-pay
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Group Tours:
Throughout the year we can accommodate group tours (up to 55 people at a time). A group tour requires a minimum fee of $50 (or more, typically $5 - $10 per person, depending on the content of the tour) and must be scheduled in advance (e-mail us at Annie@bluerockstation.com or call (740) 674-4300).
We do have parking and “turn around” areas for large tour busses - and can accommodate up to 55 people at a time.
Tours typically take about 60-90 minutes (a bit longer for the larger groups), and can be extended to incorporate additional items of interest to your group (hey, we're flexible).
Additional ideas we have incorporated in past group tours include:
- a proper cup of British tea for you and your group
- a more formal presentation (on anything from Victorian Cottage Gardening to marketing your small business)
- Creative waste workshops and contests (great for school or scout groups)
- Team building exercises
- Llama trekking and a picnic lunch
- Or warm cookies made in our solar oven
Smaller Groups or Consulting:
Individuals or smaller groups are also welcome, however there is a $50 minimum.
We often are asked to provide consulting to folks who are interested in building an Earthship or similar type alternative structure. We are happy to do this for $75 per hour (dirt cheap if you have priced such services). In this way we can review blueprints, discuss project management issues, relate what went well, what we would do differently - and the like.
To schedule your visit, just give us a call at (740) 674-4300 or e-mail us at Annie@bluerockstation.com |
