This quest to build a sustainable urban house, our little house on the high plains, the Urban Frontier House, began a long time ago in the early 1970’s.

I was not familiar with these berries and I really wanted blueberry bushes; however, blueberry bushes are not as suitable to our soil and climate.

I think I should have invested in the Metal Garden Bed Company because we have purchased so many of them and I love these metal garden beds.

Spring is trying to appear, so Randy and I are strategizing our future patio along the north side of the house.

Some of you might be wondering whatever happened in the Garden Room. Last December we ran out of paint after painting the ceiling.

The plan has always been for the south side of our over-sized two car garage to be Randy’s shop.

Now that winter has officially arrived, the snow is falling and collecting on our solar panels. Solar panels are not very effective when they are completely covered with snow.

It just so happens that a person can get a really good deal on a snowblower in August. The weather is usually quite warm and no one is thinking about blowing snow.

Our Garden Room had a setback last spring when we discovered that moisture was wreaking havoc with the walls.

As delighted as Randy is with his weather station, I am equally thrilled with the cove heaters!

Randy is like a kid with a new toy! He now has his weather station functioning at full capacity.

Guess who showed up today??? Good Earth Works is back to finish most of the landscaping in the front yard.

The Indoor Air Quality Test Results Part 1 came in the mail today. The specific categories listed were Volatile Organic Compounds, Carbon Monoxide and Carbon Dioxide, and Airborne Particulate.

We have had several Blower Door Tests performed to determine if there were any significant leaks where cold in the winter or heat in the summer could infiltrate into the house.

The Billings Gazette featured this photo and caption in their March 1 edition: THIS FEBRUARY WAS BILLINGS’ SECOND-SNOWIEST EVER.

Before we can start monitoring our Twelve Month Performance Period (the 12 months where we track all sorts of data for the Living Building Challenge documentation), we need to have an Indoor Air Quality Test performed.

Our two granddaughters (and their parents) came for a visit toward the end of March.

While I have been working on painting the upstairs linen closet and guest bedroom closet, Randy started building the spiral staircase to the Crow’s Nest.

It seems like Randy has clipboards everywhere. He has a clipboard to track the rainwater level in our water tanks.

Platinum is the highest level attainable on the LEED scale (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).