Here is an excerpt from an article about Carol Dweck, a professor of psychology at Stanford University: Through more than three decades of systematic research, [Carol Dweck] has been figuring out answers to why some people achieve their potential while equally talented others don’t—why some become Muhammad Ali and others Mike Tyson. The key, she found, isn’t ability; it’s whether you look at ability as something inherent that needs to be demonstrated or as something that can be developed. To anyone who is into personal growth and self-improvement, this seems obvious. But clearly, it is not obvious to everybody: look at the this diagram by Nigel Holmes representing the two types of mindsets and I’ll sure you’ll recognize the attitudes of many people you know.

The Net-Zero Energy Now House is Really Boring. I mean, really. Except for the metal roof, the Now House looks just like every other sixty year old postwar veteran's house on the street in suburban Toronto. Everybody knows that a zero-energy house has to look all heliotropy and be covered in green gizmos. And everybody knows that these old 2x4 houses are not worth renovating. They're sieves, they're heat sinks. As Ruben said in an earlier post: Most old buildings merely slow the wind down. They are abysmally hard to heat, as any reading of period novels will tell you. Even though there are millions of them across North America, everybody knows they are just knockdowns. Net zero energy? Impossible. And the size? 1350 Square feet! nobody has lived in that since 1960. This has to be replaced or boxtopped (second floor added on) or it is uninhabitable. Everyone knows that a North American house has to be 2500 square feet. I mean, really. Not.

The Now House™ project will turn a 60-year-old WWII house into a near zero energy home—one that produces almost as much energy as it uses. The first Now House™ is located in Topham Park, Toronto. The home is a 1200 square foot, 1 1/2 storey, detached structure in a community of 200 similar homes. It was built in 1946 from plans provided by CMHC. The Now House™ project is a collaboration of designers, architects, engineers, homeowners and sustainable building experts led by Lorraine Gauthier of the design consultancy Work Worth Doing.

Sara Snow profiles a family in L.A. who have turned their back and front yards into high-yield gardens for food production.

Tabletop Homestead is really just a fancy name for not only where we live, but what we do. True, there is no homesteading today in the sense of the way our ancestors homesteaded with free land on the frontier, but it is possible to pursue a more self-suff

For those interested in a homesteading or back to the land lifestyle in Oklahoma. Neighbors from surrounding states are welcome, also. Topics include living a simple self-sufficient lifestyle like our pioneer grandparents had, gardening, raising livestock

BETTER TIMES ACCESS TO SUSTAINABLE, SIMPLE, & FRUGAL LIVING.