I stumbled on to pictures of cob houses on TreeHugger this morning and now I can’t stop reading up on them!

I’ve decided now that someday I will have one of these. Imagine that — from not-so-green to wanting to live in a cob house in no time at all. Now that’s progress.

Cob houses, for those who don’t know, have nothing to do with corn. Sure, you might have known that, but when I first started reading about them I figured there had to be some corn cobs in there somewhere. Where else have you heard the word cob? Cob is actually a building material made from clay, sand, straw, water, and earth — very similar to adobe. It’s fireproof, resistant to seismic activity and – best of all – quite inexpensive. This one here, for example (see photo) was build for under $3000!

The houses I’ve found online are absolutely beautiful! (Check out my favourites here, here, and here.)

I’m definitely becoming a fan of sustainable, natural development. Not just because it looks beautiful, but because I really admire the hard work, time, and enthusiasm one needs to use the environment around them to build something so worthwhile!

Ever found yourself in the middle of the forest where you’ve got to get some shut-eye but need to make sure you get up with adequate time to… wait, do you often find yourself having to sleep in the forest unexpectedly? I know it doesn’t come up for me often, but I suppose if it did, I would likely not have spare batteries on me for an alarm clock.

Well good thing this exists, then. It’s a mud-powered digital clock. Now, I know it sounds like I’m making fun of it, but really, I think it’s pretty cool. Now, would I get one? Oh, I doubt it. But it’s pretty neato nonetheless.

Using nothing but damp soil and 2 different metals, the current that’s created is enough to power a digital clock. The clock is designed as an educational eco toy, helping kids to learn a little about the chemistry of batteries.

The kit uses copper and zinc to create a flow of electrons, which is the current that drives the low voltage digital display. Admitedly, the clock won’t serve much practical purpose, but I’m sure we’ll see more mud-powered clocks in the future.

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