{"id":47308,"date":"2021-04-19T22:57:43","date_gmt":"2021-04-20T04:57:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ignacio-family-featured-on-diy-network\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:37:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:37:46","slug":"ignacio-family-featured-on-diy-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ignacio-family-featured-on-diy-network\/","title":{"rendered":"Ignacio family featured on DIY Network"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Shalina
Shalina Luna hugs her daughter, Joli Galvan, 18, as Galvan moves into her new earthen home south of Ignacio. An episode of Discovery\u2019s DIY Network \u201cBuilding Off the Grid\u201d will feature construction of the home at 7 p.m. Tuesday.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Shalina Luna and her daughter, Joli Galvan, will be glued in front of a TV at 7 p.m. Tuesday with a dozen or so close friends who helped them build a 700-square-foot earthen house in the Ignacio area.<\/p>\n

Luna, Galvan and their friends\u2019 trials and tribulations building their own earthen home will be featured on an episode of \u201cBuilding Off the Grid\u201d<\/a> on Discovery\u2019s DIY Network, and Luna and Galvan have organized a viewing party at the Himalayan Kitchen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really excited to see it. We\u2019re nervous to see ourselves on TV. But we really hope that it\u2019s educational,\u201d Luna said in a telephone interview Monday.<\/p>\n

\"Shalina
Shalina Luna walks into the straw bale home the family built for daughter, Joli Galvan. An episode of &#x201c;Building Off the Grid&#x201d; at 7 p.m. Tuesday will illustrate the trials and tribulations of the home&#x2019;s construction.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Luna said she had experience in different building methods helping build homes in urban areas of Oregon and Mexico, and her husband, Ben Griffith, has experience building trusses, which all helped building the straw bale house that will be used by 18-year-old Galvan.<\/p>\n

The family already lives in an off-grid house on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation, and Galvan\u2019s new home was built on the same property. Both homes are off-grid: They\u2019re made of locally sourced, natural materials and powered by renewable energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hardest thing for me was mudding the home. You never realize how much mud it takes to build a house until you\u2019re literally putting it on. And then you\u2019re trying to do it when it\u2019s like 30 degrees at night,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Shalina
Shalina Luna, her daughter, Narissa William, 10, and Shalina&#x2019;s husband, Ben Griffith, hang out in the straw bale home they built south of Ignacio.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Like the main house, Galvan\u2019s earthen bungalow is solar powered and has a water catchment system.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ran into so many mishaps along the way, so many things you don\u2019t really think you\u2019re going to need to face, so it\u2019s always a question of getting things done,\u201d Luna said.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s episode of \u201cBuilding Off the Grid\u201d won\u2019t be the last for Luna, Galvan, Griffith and their construction crew friends.<\/p>\n

The family will be building a guest house on a mesa top that will use locally sourced timber that they will mill themselves, and it, too, will be filmed by DIY.<\/p>\n

Construction on the mesa-top, all-timber guest house will begin in mid-June.<\/p>\n

\"Shalina
Shalina Luna inside the finished earthen home she built for her daughter, Joli Galvan, 18.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The tricky part of building the guest house will be that vehicles with trailers can get within only about 100 yards of the building site.<\/p>\n

The family has already started prepping the building site, and will be cutting trails from the road to the house.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have our work cut out for us. I bought some donkeys this week. I\u2019m hoping they\u2019ll help me,\u201d Luna said.<\/p>\n

Luna said the family began going to a sawmill in Bayfield this week to learn how to run the machinery and to begin picking trees for their timber guest house.<\/p>\n

parmijo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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