Why Elaine is a goddess and a role-model

Not only does she have a really cool take-no-prisoner blog, her life is an inspiration in so many ways. She lives in the mountains! She has livestock! She's a semi-professional handy-woman! I have trouble looking after one spoilt schnauzer dog and most DIY fills me with trepidation.

Elaine shares the plans for her house, which is designed to very energy efficient, in this post. She goes into detail about why she designed it the way she did, why one needed the different features, and their optimal placement. It's really fascinating how you can build a house that is warmer in the winter just by respecting some basic principle which our forebears knew well but modern builders often don't bother paying attention to. I wonder how much energy we'd save simply by making sure all our buildings "sit north and face south" as the Chinese say.