McSweeney's Internet Tendency

Grey Water Harvesting

The Dirty Water Underground - New York Times
May 31, 2007
OAKLAND, Calif.
Jamie Kripke for The New York Times

LAURA ALLEN’S modest gray house in the Oakland flatlands would give a building inspector nightmares. Jerry-built pipes protrude at odd angles from the back and sides of the nearly century-old house, running into a cascading series of bathtubs filled with gravel and cattails. White PVC pipe, buckets, milk crates and hoses are strewn about the lot. Inside, there is mysterious — and illegal — plumbing in every room.

For Sale: Condo With Chicken Coop

RealEstateJournal | For Sale: Condo With Chicken Coop
By Sara Schaefer Munoz
From The Wall Street Journal Online

Forget the golf-course community or the manicured subdivision. A number of developers are now offering homes on working farms.

Catering to Americans' desire to live 'green,' developers around the country are creating communities on or adjoining farms, pitching views of sorghum fields, grazing livestock, and local -- very local -- food, such as eggs residents collect from the property's henhouse. The communities, however, aren't necessarily in the boondocks. Some are in suburbs or near cities."