This is awesome, thanks for participating @porters! The recurring theme of community keeps popping up, which is really exciting to me. My hubby and I are going to do some traveling to a few different states and some cities therein to see where we enjoy being, where we vibe. We are both people persons so we get the gist of places pretty quickly. Haha

I also loooove the idea of the earth bermed home, and how it could give us passive heating and cooling as well as a greenhouse attached to grow some things indoors in the winter.
One of the things that concerns me is building codes for structures like that. So annoying to have to worry about that, but it is what it is. I'm hoping we find a nice balance of good community without too much govt interference in what we can do with our own land.
The other concern is that a main building material commonly used in "earthships" is recycled tires, and they off gas cancerous crap into the home. I'd be interested to see what other materials could be used for the structure!

Thanks so much, loved reading your entry and I hope some other newbies find it helpful as well!

Xx ToL

Ps, resteemed!