{"id":51714,"date":"2020-09-07T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-07T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/tv-network-to-film-ignacio-family-building-earthen-home\/"},"modified":"2020-09-07T20:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-09-07T20:00:00","slug":"tv-network-to-film-ignacio-family-building-earthen-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/tv-network-to-film-ignacio-family-building-earthen-home\/","title":{"rendered":"TV network to film Ignacio family building earthen home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Shalina
Shalina Luna walks into her off-grid, straw-bale home south of Ignacio. Luna and her family will be featured on a national home improvement network for their off-grid lifestyle.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Shalina Luna and her daughter, Joli Galvan, residents just south of Ignacio, are embarking on a warp-speed project to build the 18-year-old an off-grid, earthen house in four weeks \u2013 with film crews in tow.<\/p>\n

The family, already living in an off-grid house on the Southern Ute Reservation, will be featured on a national, home-improvement TV network. They can\u2019t name the network because of contract restrictions, Luna said. If the family can successfully complete the build within the short time frame, Galvan, a senior at Ignacio High School, will have her own house made of locally sourced, natural materials and powered by renewable energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in complete panic mode right now,\u201d said Luna, a sustainable design consultant at eARThen Designs and Sustainable Solutions. \u201cThis is going to be my first build from the ground up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Shalina
Shalina Luna throws some corn out for her goats at her off-grid, earthen home south of Ignacio. A national, home-improvement TV network will film the family as it builds a new earthen home for Luna&#x2019;s 18-year-old daughter, Joli Galvan.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

There are many types of earthen homes. For example, some are built below ground level with exposed walls that provide light, solar heat, outside views and access. Others are partially covered by earth and use strategically placed skylights or south-facing windows to draw in heat and light. The houses provide consistent internal temperatures, soundproofing and design suited for the Rocky Mountain climate, according to the U.S. Department of Energy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Luna\u2019s 420-square-foot home is above ground and uses clay, straw-bale insulation and solar panels in its design. The family\u2019s daily life is \u201ccrazy,\u201d she said. They\u2019re constantly having to stop and charge up the house if they haven\u2019t had enough sun or haul water if their rainwater collection system hasn\u2019t gathered enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy partner and I were joking about how funny it would be if we had camera crews following us around living off grid,\u201d Luna said.<\/p>\n

The next day, Luna saw a TV network advertisement calling for episode idea submissions. A few idea pitches and auditions later, the network decided to feature her family\u2019s home project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe storyline is going to be this 18-year-old getting help building her own house from the ground up,\u201d Luna said.<\/p>\n

The design of her daughter\u2019s house is based on earthen design from the United Kingdom, where builders use natural materials like cobb.<\/p>\n

\"Shalina
Shalina Luna, her daughter Narissa William, 10, and partner Ben Griffith laugh as their dog, Bailey, rolls down the hill next to the house&#x2019;s water catchment basin. The basin, plus regular hauls of water, provide water for the off-grid home south of Ignacio.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Shalina
Shalina Luna holds one of her chickens, its leg broken by a goat, at her home south of Ignacio on Tuesday. &#x201c;We called the vet and asked, &#x2018;What do you do with a chicken with a broken leg?&#x2019; and they said, &#x2018;You eat it,&#x2019;&#x201d; said Luna, laughing. &#x201c;I couldn&#x2019;t do that so we put a cast on it.&#x201d;<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The two-bedroom house will collect precipitation using a rainwater-collection system and will be powered by solar panels. Bottle walls on sun-facing walls will ensure that light will continually pass into the house. In the winter, a wood-burning stove will provide heat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never built a house before, so I\u2019m probably going to have to get a lot of advice from my mom,\u201d Galvan said.<\/p>\n

The materials are locally sourced: The clay comes from Luna\u2019s property, straw bales from Weaselskin Farm in Durango, milled wood from Cascade Timber Salvage in Bayfield and bottles from Nayarit Restaurant in Durango.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels pretty cool. I think this will give me a little more independence,\u201d Galvan said. \u201cI\u2019m excited it\u2019s somewhere I can make my own.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only step left for the family is to actually complete the build, with film crews in tow.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s humanly possible to build a house in four weeks, but we\u2019re going to try it,\u201d Luna said.<\/p>\n

\"Shalina
Shalina Luna, her daughter Narissa William, 10, and partner Ben Griffith hang out in Luna&#x2019;s off-grid, earthen home south of Ignacio on Tuesday. The home is powered by renewable energy and constructed using natural materials, such as straw and clay.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Luna first explored off-grid living after buying a cabin without electricity or water. Drawing on her experiences working on her childhood home with her family, online classes and an earthen builders conference in Santa Fe, she learned how to outfit the cabin for daily life.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s stuck with the lifestyle because of its affordability, lower carbon footprint and minimal environmental impact. Plus, the family enjoys the constant indoor temperature in winter and summer, and the quiet \u2013 no electrical hum inside and nearly 2-foot thick walls keep outside sounds out.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially living out here, we want to go out and have fun and adventure,\u201d Luna said. \u201cNot paying to live in a home is probably the best aspect of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

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