Big Bend Home & Garden
by Kleo Belay
Far West Texas is one of Earth’s truly extraordinary landscapes, inhabited by equally unique communities.
The climate, flora, and fauna of Big Bend are at the same time entrancing and austere. It’s a place where
“remote” is hardly accurate to describe the distances. All this, and more, combine to attract and produce the
creative, resourceful, and tenacious people who make home here. Here is a look into some of those homes.
Alpine Earthship: Ashley and Will Baker
In the 1970s the visionary
architect Michael Reynolds began
designing and building the first
Earthship structures in Taos, New
Mexico. These subterranean homes
feature
exposed
south-facing
windows
and
are
typically
constructed with recycled materials
such as scrap tires, cans, and
bottles. Load bearing walls are
made by stacking tires and filling
each tire with rammed earth. One
such structure has been a work in
progress in Alpine for nearly 30
years. Ten years ago, this loved and
quirky structure became the home
and ongoing project of Ashley and
Will Baker.
When the unfinished Earthship
came up for sale, they were
determined to make it their family
home, though unconventional
structures such as theses are
virtually impossible to finance. But
the unconventional life was the
perfect fit for this family of four.
Will and Ashley were delighted to
move into a home which innately
spoke to the imagination and
playful nature of their children.
They remember how their son and
daughter would climb on the roof
and walls with their friends,
excited and happy in what to them
was a giant “playhouse.”
Shaped like a horseshoe and built
underground, with windows and
doors
placed
for
optimal
ventilation, the house needs little
in the way of heating and cooling as
Will and Ashley Baker
the earth is a natural insulator.
The Bakers use just two small
propane heaters when winter
temperatures plummet, and they
turn on their evaporative coolers
only in the afternoons of the hottest
summer days. Underground living
also creates a natural sound barrier
and privacy. Will and Ashley
playfully call themselves “sub-
terrestrials” and everyone else “top-
siders.”
Naturally inclined toward earth-
conscious living, inhabiting an
Earthship gives the couple no
choice but to live an eco-friendly
lifestyle. The used water from their
shower and sinks returns to the
earth through a grey-water system
and waters the trees around the
house. For this reason, they use
only biodegradable soaps and
cleaners. The interior walls are
plastered with a mixture of water,
dirt and sand, none of the
manufactured or refined materials
like paint or sheetrock are part of
their living space. Living in the
Earthship has “heightened his
senses,” claims Will. As a building
The finished interior walls are plastered with a mixture of only water, dirt, and sand. The wooden
siding was reclaimed from the local Baptist church.
After the house footprint was excavated, scrap tires filled with rammed earth were laid for the
exterior and weight-bearing internal walls.
24
Cenizo
Spring 2020