Squirrel Home in a Tree

Okay, it is not art... or is it? It is a Squirrel's Home in a Tree. I guess that makes it a Treehouse..?

Totally worth sharing.

:)

Six Treehouse Homes

Some of the more popular posts from previous years have been on the topic of Treehouse Homes.

So for the people who really like that idea, here are six more designs for Treehouse Homes.

The Heart of Robin Hood / Merry Survivalists?

"The Heart of Robin Hood" is a theatre production which is in Toronto at the
Royal Alexandra Theatre (260 King Street West) from December 23, 2014 - March 1, 2015. Ticket prices vary between $45 and $105.

History is full of theatre productions of Robin Hood and you can read up on the history of Robin Hood in theatre productions on Mirvish.com. Expect to see lots of archery, swordplay, swashbuckling and singing.

And possibly even some survivalism. I don't know. I haven't seen it yet, but I will be. The set production alone should be interesting judging from what I have seen on YouTube (see the video of the Robin Hood set from when it was in Manitoba).

Was Robin Hood and his Merry Men survivalists?

It is an interesting idea. A band of outlaws / highwaymen living in the woods, preying on the rich who pass by the roads nearby. Wood skills, archery skills and a dose of swashbuckling.

If you watch Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) the 'Merry Men' even build treehouses and bridges in the trees, effectively a village in the trees for their defense.

Sort of like the treehouses below.

Given time such a 'village in trees' might eventually look more like Lothlorien (the elven town from The Lord of the Rings).

But whatever. Robin Hood's knowledge of traps, hunting, ambushing targets and skill with a bow would give Rambo a challenge. (Or possibly beat Rambo easily. Who would win in a game of woodsman skills / fight.)

We leave you to decide whether Robin Hood should be considered to be a survivalist. If such a person ever existed.

Bowhunting from a Treehouse

Bowhunters / archers pay attention.

Ever fallen or nearly fallen from a tree stand way up in the tree because you were cold and needed to climb down to get more coffee?

Or just fallen out of the tree for whatever reason, regardless of whether you were cold or if there was hot coffee involved?

Next time, instead of using a tree stand - build a treehouse instead!

Imagine sitting inside your treehouse. Relaxing. Safe from falls. Your coffee handy. Bowhunting magazines to read. Beer if that is what you prefer to drink. And windows from which you can look out as you wait for the deer to pass by.

Maybe even a balcony on which to stand and shoot at the deer.

Well then take a gander below at the collection of photos of bowhunting treehouses various other bowhunters have built over the years. It doesn't even have to be pretty. It just has to work. Obviously you would need to build this on your own property. That should go without saying.

Elf Treehouse

This treehouse looks like something you would see in a Lord of the Rings kind of movie. Elves living in trees et al.

Small Treehouse you can live in

What I like about this particular treehouse design is that it is large enough to live in, but small enough that it won't break your budget building it.

A lot of treehouse designs are pretty darn affordable.

Although they are often difficult to heat in the winter.

In which case buy a 2nd piece of property in Florida and build a 2nd treehouse there.

:)

Glass Treehouse

People are really getting into some pretty innovative ways to build treehouses you can live in using glass.

Just so long as you don't mind the neighbours peeking at you.

ProjectGridless.ca + Hunting Treehouses

I registered ProjectGridless.ca today. [March 21st 2014.]

The website recently surpassed 100 posts (see our 100th post) and I figured it was time to give it its own domain name instead of just projectgridless.blogspot.ca - which is okay for a free subdomain name but I wanted the site to finally have its own domain name.

In case this is your first time tuning into Project Gridless, the goal of this website is to explore off the grid architecture, energy production, DIY projects, gardening, hunting for food, survivalism, etc.

And sometimes just plain amusing images of what other people are doing.

Like these images of hunting treehouses wherein a hunter can sit and wait for a deer / etc to pass by. Obviously they are not designed for living in, they are designed purely as a more comfortable hunting perch.

Geodesic Homes

Geodesic domes were heavily promoted by inventor and architect Buckminster Fuller during the 1950s and while they did get off the drawing board at the time, they were never a huge financial success due to costly manufacturing processes at the time.

However times have since changed. It is now much more economical to build (or buy) a geodesic home.

Step 1. Order prefabricated pieces for your geodesic home. (Or build the pieces yourself.)

Step 2. Build a foundation the right size for your new home.

Step 3. Assemble all the pieces on top of your foundation.

Step 4. Add internal wiring and plumbing, and you are basically done.

Below are 9 examples of geodesic dome homes and also a geodesic treehouse someone made.

Plus the Geodesic Treehouse!

Awesome Treehouse + Toronto blogger's quest for a condo

Check out this awesome treehouse. I would totally live in that.

Plus check out this Toronto blogger's Quest for a Condo. Its not off the grid, but I like the concept.

What he is doing is trading one item for another until eventually he has something valuable enough that he can trade it for a condo.

The beauty of it is that he started with a mere toy. A Hot Wheels car worth $2.

The theory goes that if he can trade up and double the value each time it will take him only 17 trades to eventually get a condo.

But his first trade was for a Digital Multimeter Kit (typical used by electricians to measure currents) worth $50. So that is a 2500% jump in value just on his first trade. Some trade might only be a 20% or 50% increase in value, but if the average is roughly x2 then it will take only 17 trades to get a condo.

I say more power to him!

(Technically him is me, but who says I can't toot my own horn?)

UPDATE: Since then I've traded up to a bicycle. We shall see what happens next.

The Treehouse Idea

How long could a person live in a treehouse?

Theoretically, a very long time... depending on the weather.

I think the primary issue with living in a treehouse would be heat and insulation. Its not like a regular home. Its more like a tent in terms of its insulation capabilities.

However adding extra insulation to a tree house is not impossible. All it would take is some carpentry and construction skills, and knowledge of how to insulate.

In my opinion the easiest way would be to make seamless walls out of wood, an outer section of wood (with all holes caulked), and then insulate between the two sections with an insulating foam which hardens and forms air bubbles.

Heating wise I'd recommend lanterns that run on kerosene, candles, etc, both as a source of light and warmth. I recommend using bricks or stones to create a stone area on which to safely store lanterns / candles.

Plumbing

In theory you could collect rainwater and use that for cleaning, but realistically there isn't much point in doing that inside a treehouse. It would make more sense to wash everything in a nearby river, one with exceptionally clean crisp water.

For expelling bodily fluids building an outhouse on the ground level seems the logical route. I recommend designing it in a way so that rainwater can be collected for flushing/controlling the smell and storing the septic material deeper underground, preferably in some kind of metal tank.

Food

Some people might prefer to use such waste as fertilizer for growing plants. Ideally I think this should done by building a greenhouse, but a person could also make a traditional outdoor garden and make the effort of weeding / making sure insects/pests don't eat all the produce.

Water, Drinking

It should be noted, due to bacteria, that you should not be drinking rainwater or stream water. Thus what I would recommend instead is natural juices (apples, orange juice, grapes, etc). At least then you know it will be safe. Otherwise what you end up doing is having to buy clean water...

Or get a water filtration system, which means you need electricity, and a source of water (a well preferably).

Check out the following video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98h086DWLaY