Tips for an Ecological Home in Relationship with the Forces of Nature
Most of us tend to live in buildings as when riding a powerboat. When there is a chill in the air, we turn up the thermostat with the press of a button or turn of a dial.
Instead, Dwelling invites you to consider how your home can better receive and hold light, bringing you closer to the forces of nature so often sealed outside our walls.
Dwelling invites us to consider how our homes can better receive and hold light, bringing us closer to the forces of nature.
One of the central ideas of Dwelling is to engage with your home as a sailboat. This is a metaphor for entering into a more conscious, intimate relationship with your home. The wind and water, sun and shadows all give clues for how you can interact with nature through your home.
You can live in your home as when sailing – you can pay attention to the wind and currents, adjust your home to respond to the awe of nature, engage with the ocean – breath the fresh air!
Here are five tips to engage with your home as a sailboat.
- Be light! – Use sundials to be in dialogue with the sun; adjust window shades in response to the sun’s movement; track the sun throughout the season’s, seeing the various ways your home receives light during the year.
- Hear the sounds of the wind – weathervanes and flags bring awareness to the wind; chimes bring your ear’s attention to what is difficult to see.
- Be a cat – occupy sunny spaces in the winter, and live closer to the center (hearth); in the summer, rest in shady spaces, live on the periphery, live outdoors.
- Landscape and gardens create a haven – tending to your land, whether a herb garden, native plants, or food for your family, is a direct way to come in contact with the natural forces around us. Introducing native plants to your landscape is a great way to invite migrating birds, butterflies and bees!
- Receive and embrace water – harvest rainwater for landscaping, or create a pond with the water that naturally flows towards and surrounds your home. Water brings movement and cleansing, helping us to move through each day, season and year.
