In May, 2023, at the age of 84, Rod Rylander purchased 10-acres in Animas, New Mexico, moved 1,700 miles with only what would fit in his car, picked up a shovel, and started digging up rocks to build a house of stone, sand, and clay by hand. WHO DOES THAT?
A Man On A Mission
Rod Rylander
Rod Rylander has a calling: to show the world how low-income veterans and other elders can live affordably, close to the land, stay healthy and fit, maintain their autonomy and sense of adventure, and support sustainability. He wants to show them how to build their own neighborhoods and grow their own food.
In less than a year at his new site, Rod has already set up temporary living quarters, installed solar panels, powered the water well, and started building the first house, greenhouse, and pond. He intends to invite others to join him, build their own dwellings, and form a small community.
But this is not Rod's first such project. Far from it.
Rod grew up on a farm, studied agriculture in college, served as a government agricultural agent with the Peace Corps, owned a sustainable building and construction company, lived in ecovillages, and created multiple similar projects over the years. He holds a BA in Biology and a MA in Social Ecology from Goddard College. He has published over 60 writings on sustainability and has presented technical papers in the US, Australia, Papua New Guinea and Nepal.
The Hobbit House
When Rod moved to Animas, New Mexico, he left behind a 300-acre off-grid eco-village in Black Mountain, North Carolina. There, starting in 2003, he built a solar-powered cob house from natural and repurposed materials mostly found on site.
He was assisted by community members and visitors who traded their labor for the chance to learn from a master vernacular builder skills like how to make bricks and plaster from straw and clay, and how to construct a foundation by ramming earth into tires. Rod and his teams built a three-story structure with terraced gardens, a fruit orchard, a bath house, a tool shed, a goat barn, and a stand-alone bedroom and storage building on a 10.8 acre South facing slope.
But Rod wasn't satisfied to rest on his laurels. He had a vision to demonstrate how low-income veterans and other elders could pool their efforts to build simple, affordable neighborhoods from materials found mostly on the land, by hand, complete with gardens and orchards. The North Carolina eco-village's rules didn't give him the flexibility he needed for this project, so Rod passed on the Hobbit House to a friend and went looking for the right home for Sundancer.
The Ark of Albion
Starting over is nothing new to Rod. He previously spent 10 years developing another model homesite, education center, and food forest in the small village of San Antonio Rio Hondo in Belize. There, he designed and had a local carpenter build a river houseboat, The Ark of Albion, where he lived and hosted educational events and internet to help students through school. Next, he developed a research and educational site, Diversity Farm, which demonstrated how a half acre site could grow enough food and materials to support a family. Diversity Farm had three structures for living, 45 species of fruit and nut trees, organic gardens, a pig pen to fertilize a Talapia pond, cross fencing, a large pavilion with storage, kitchen, and hen coop,
Read about it: The Ark of Albion
Read more about it: Growing Organic in Belize
Peace Corps & Beyond
Rod has lived and worked in seven developing countries, helping people to help themselves in the areas of agriculture, low cost vernacular housing, community development, appropriate technology, and ecotourism. He built an adobe and bamboo home in the Philippines, an earthship in Belize, and a building in Costa Rica where the roof slants into the middle of the structure to gather rainwater into a cistern. Rod is a lifelong educator, designer and natural builder who specializes in low-cost, quickly constructed homes that are resistant to hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, flooding, often for disaster areas where temporary housing is later converted to permanent lodging.
Celebrate Rod's 85th Birthday!
We're celebrating Rod's 85th birthday (March 19) all year with donations of $85 (or whatever you can offer) to complete the prototype and educate others on how to build affordable, eco-friendly homes and food secure communities. Any amount appreciated!