Projects – Peas Unlimited

Building with pallets

This post is in progress. Stay tuned for updates.

I love the work with my hands and build things. In Malta I had a workshop under my house for 3 years. In that time I have build several small and big projects.

Below a quick overview and some pictures. Questions and/or comments? let me know below and I’ll be happy to tell more

Quickly skip to:

wall furniture
plant boxes
gazebo
greenhouse

Living room wall furniture

This project has many many hours in it. Probably close to a 1000 over a period of 2 years time. We were living in a renting house at the time and the landlord didn’t want me to drill in the walls, so I designed a system that clamped itself between the floor and the ceiling. Once the main structure was build I had something to screw into. It was a completely organic build, so just a rough idea and it took shape by it self based on which materials I had available at the time. All wood used came from discarded pallets.

Plant boxes

I like growing stuff so I needed plant boxes. Big once quickly costs €50 and more so I decided to build my own

Gazebo

My brothers roof terrace was too hot most of the summer. So we decided to build some shade.

Greenhouse

One day after a heavy storm we found a large amount of driftwoord. We used the wood to build our greenhouse and roof garden.

The Dream home(stead)

On this page a birds eye overview of all the seeds that I am planting in order to grow and harvest my dream live.

This post is a work in progress and will get more detailed and revised over time.

What is my dream

I want to live and do my business on a piece of land, minimum 2000 m2 but preferably much larger, where I have built a house / homestead / modern microfarm that has a negative ecological footprint and produces a surplus of energy, food and other resources to support the local economy. By sharing what I learn along the way I want to accelerate the transition to a society that is harmless to nature and people.

Below just a quick list of what I am thinking about. With time I will go into details

land
- minimal 2000 m2
- south facing
- max 30 minutes drive from Gijon and Oviedo
house
- hybrid design combining passive house with earhtship and homestead elements.
- on the grid, providing renewable electricity to the grid
- own energy storage making use of several systems
  - battery
  - (geo)thermal energy
  - pumped hydro
  - compressed air
farm
- greenhouse with geothermal storage
  - aquaponics
    - multiple fish species
      - edible e.g. tilapia, catfish, trout
      - ornamental e.g. koy
    - multiple crops
      - DWC
      - zipgrow
      - dutch bucket
- organic farm (outdoor)
- husbandry, small stuff e.g. chicken, ducks, rabbit
- surpluses as result of circular / no waste design
  - bio gas
  - fertilizer & compost
Eco resources
- bamboo
- elephant grass
- biodiversity
hospitality and gastronomy
- B&B of several 2 person cabins
- occasional, by reservation only, restaurant
- small seasonal camping and mini festival
clean transportation e.g. electric car

The roof garden in Malta

In Marsaskala, Malta we have built a roof garden / mini urban farm consisting of 15m2 greenhouse with aquaponic setup and over 100 planters with soil. Over the years we have grown:

tomatoes
different types of lettuce
strawberries
mint
prickly pears
rucola / rocket salad
zucchini / courgette

In the fish tanks we raise tilapia.