January 17, 2015
Click here for the full written transcript of this podcast episode.
Last month, my wife and I traveled to Israel with Vibe Israel, an organization that brings international on- and offline opinion leaders in health and nutrition on a weeklong personalized experience of the burgeoning wellness scene in Israel.
I've already released three valuable lessons I learned on that Israel journey: “5 Things You Can Learn From The Burgeoning Health, Wellness And Nutrition Scene In Israel“, “Why You Get Cancer And What You Can Do About It“, and “The Problem With Paleo: Why It’s OK To Eat Bread, Grains, Legumes, Cheese & Milk.”.
Today, you get to listen in as I interview one of the most amazing individuals I met on the Israel trip – a man named Alik Pelman (pictured above with myself and others at his property, photo courtesy Or Kaplan). Alik completed his PhD in philosophy at the University of London and then took a break from academic life and went to learn how to grow food, becoming a professional organic farmer for two years.
Alik then set up his own self-sufficient home in the small village of Clil, in Western Galilee. I had the pleasure of visiting him in his small hut, built almost entirely from local, natural materials. This is where he grows virtually all of his food, and spends most of his working hours doing farm chores, reading, writing and hosting curious visitors like me.
In this show, you'll discover:
-How to grow food on your roof…
-How to use sheep's wool for insulation…
-How to make walls out of completely edible corn flour porridge…
-How to use natural oils to protect your floor and furniture…
-How to build an efficient, composting toilet that uses no water…
-How to easily rotate your garden crops for maximum yield…
-How to grow and make your own bread, from seed to loaf…
Resources from this episode:
–Alik's video that documents all stages of growing your own bread – from seed to loaf…
–Israel Homestead. pdf handout that walks you step-by-step through how he built his eco-friendly hut…
-My How To Biohack Ultimate Healthy Home book…
Do you have questions, comments or feedback about Alik, his life, his hut, and how to grown your own food? Leave your thoughts below!
Hey zvolo, Alik here – the guy that Ben interviewed.
Your project sounds very exciting and I'm very happy to help.
Regarding the roof: I figured out that with a layer of about 8cm of wet soil (which is what I have), it can come up to nearly 400Kg(!) per square meter when completely soaked (my roof is 64 m2, so 25 tons!). The wooden construction can carry this load, if done properly. But you'll need to consult an engineer to tell you how exactly to build your structure so that it supports the roof. Also, it will make a difference if your roof is flat, or one with slopes. You want to make sure the roof rafters are very well attached to the walls. For a general idea of how my construction looks, have a look at the pdf on this page.
As for the cornmeal – that's exactly what it is there for – preventing dusting. just make a relatively diluted porridge, and apply to the walls with a brush. Once dry, no dust (also, it does not change the original color of walls).
Good luck with your project!
Alik
Thanks for the reply, I will for sure consider all those aspects. I am in the stage of researching the materials, and technologies to be used. Thanks for the offer to help, I will for sure come back to you with some questions. Another just popped into my mind. How do you deal with the grey water (shower, kitchen)?
Great one Ben, I have been experimenting with similar methods as you are discussing in the podcast. I have been involved in permaculture designing which has the same concept of rotation plants by families. I am on the path to build my small independent place in middle of nowhere. I live in central Europe where the seasons needs to be considered for building the house and also to set up the permaculture garden.
Listening to this podcast I got many ideas and inspiration especially for the rocket stove, which is very very effective piece of art. I hope Ben, one day I can invite you to visit my place.
I have a question about the weight of the roof, is the wooden structure sufficient to support the weight of the soil especially when it is saturated by water during the rain.
Is the corn porridge working well to preserve the walls from dusting of? Have you used any particular blend of mud or clay for the plastering purposes?
thx a lot for the great work.