Earthships? What the heck are those?

I'm enjoying this writing today's blog post because on Saturday June 7,  Randy and I were stunned to see this community.

After leaving the Rio Grande River Gorge we cruised by lots of unusual structures that look like castles. 

The landscape was dotted with buildings that had solar panels, turrets, spires, and other unusual architectural elements many with only the rooftop above the ground. It was as if the whole house was buried underneath. There was a entire community of these unusual houses with about 50 homes in all. 

I liked the turret & archway made with recycled glass bottles

As I ride, I'm imagining that kings, queens and trolls must live in these underground castles. I also wonder if this an "Area 51" type of place and perhaps our alien visitors from Roswell have built a community right outside Taos. 

After what we've seen on our journey, nothing would surprise me!   

Returning home, I did some research and found out that this  community of homes are called "Earthships".  I think this sounds a little alien-like and fits my comments about Area 51.

I learn that Earthships, are built mostly underground, are eco-friendly, energy efficient, built with recycled materials and off-the-grid. They are the brainchild of Michael Reynolds and it's a movement that is popular all over the world often referred to as "Biotecture".  As I suspected,  these homes aren't for aliens, they are for real people who believe in sustainable living and are really practicing what they believe.  Very cool!

One of the very first houses we see has a couple of large glass domes and it looks like the Biosphere house that's in Arizona.  I'm referring to the one where people lived inside in a controlled environment, making their own oxygen, growing their own food and never coming out.  We didn't stop to take photos, but we should have especially of the Biosphere looking house.

We think this is the Biosphere looking house

Online, I found a few photos  of the the ones we saw. I'm so fascinated by these homes that I've included several pictures in this post. 

The Earthship Community also has a visitor's center for tours which makes me even sorrier that we didn't stop to check it out. There's lots of info online at www.earthship.com

I also found several Earthship's available for nightly rentals at around $200-350 a night, sleeping 6-8 people.   

The Earthship rentals are decorated nicely,  have sun-rooms, lots of bedrooms, full kitchens, living rooms, indoor hot tubs and some even had WI-FI. Not completely off-the-grid but close.  They look no different than a high-end condo or bed & breakfast. 

Stained glass arch from recycled bottles
You'd have to drink a lot of beer & wine to do this!

I think it would be fun to experience an Earthship home, live underground and off-the-grid for a night or two, especially if they have wi-fi! 

When we return to Taos, Earthship will be on our agenda.  I'm wondering if we should give up our regular house and try Earthship living? Randy's a great handyman and I think this might a good project for him. Especially if we build an Earthship that looks like a castle, I'll be a queen for sure!  

Recycled tires creating walls