"Six Nations Earth ship construction has launched"

By Lynda Powless & Donna Duric, Writers

It's a dream come true for Six Nations woman Fran "Flower" Doxtador as construction on her new "Earthship" kicked off on Monday. Her one-acre Sixth Line Road property is going to be a beehive of activity for the next two weeks as about 70 workers, both local and international, work to build the innovative home that will be entirely off-the-grid and self-sustaining.

"I'm still taking it all in and I'm feeling good, happy and overwhelmed, too," said Flower, 56.

The mother and grandmother of six has spent the last 30 years living in a run-down trailer affected by mould and vermin infestation.

She lived there with her daughter and grandchildren, struggling to make ends meet, while suffering from numerous disabilities.

Her daughter also suffers from a deteriorating spine.

A friend of friend made an anonymous suggestion to United States-based Earthship Biotecture recommending her to be a recipient of one of their innovative builds.

And the dream has come true.

People from all over the world have donated time and money to build the home, which costs about $20,000 but combined with labour, is coming in at around $80,000.

The build won't cost Doxtador a cent.

The home is being built on a slope on her property, facing south, and is constructed in a way that allows for off-the-grid living: it captures heat and retains it in the winter and cools the space naturally in the summer.

Cisterns that catch rainwater will supply the home's water needs and there will even be an indoor, year-round greenhouse to supply food for the family in the two-bedroom house.

"The people (here) are all great and friendly and helpful," Doxtador said.

She laughs and says "they asked me what I wanted inside. They are able to help me with some of the furnishings and I said I wanted a rainhead shower," said Fran with a shyly.

"I've always wanted one," she said.

Monday the site was littered with people, backhoes digging, tires that will form walls going in filled with gravel, outside insulation going up.

In the morning there was grass and by noon a hole had been dug, walls started and you could begin to see the home's outline.

Earthship managers bought all supplies locally or in surrounding areas and were thrilled when Six Nation's own Hill's Tires donated tires.

Tires that will now form walls.

Hill's Tire donated around 400 tires to the Earthship build, tires that would've otherwise gone to recycling. But this way, they're still being put to good use, said owner Greg Hill.

"We just wanted to help in any way we can," he said.

In another corner volunteers were cutting water bottles in half and then sticking them together to make water bottle bricks. Thousands of water bottles that will become part of the exterior walls letting light in, in between the concrete.

Mohawk Seedkeeper Terrylyn Brant is organizing all the planting that will take place inside the Earthship's greenhouse space.

"It will be all indigenous plants. She doesn't want any GMO's," Brant said.

The garden she said will be made up of beans, corn, squash, heritage tomatoes, herbs, potatoes, peas and others.

There are at least 10 Six Nations people working on the

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ship, some of them with their $1,000 tuition paid by the Haudenosaunee Development Institute.

The enrollment in the Earthship program will give them a two week crash course in earth ship building, a certificate at the end and the ability to continue to access Earthship information and help in building Earthships here.

Tyler Sandy is one of the volunteers learning the techniques so he can build his own home.

"I have a family and I want to build a home for us, but one that is like this so I asked the HDI if they would sponsor me," he said.

Hazel E. Hill, HDI executive director said they say the opportunity in learning new techniques to build homes.

"Yes, we sponsored Tyler Sandy. He was anxious to learn how to build one," said Hill.

"We saw this as a really good opportunity for our people to learn new techniques to help us create housing for more of our people in ways that are more friendly and this uses recyclable materials."

She said "it's creating a home for a family. It's the way, we believe, of the future."

Workers are camping out on her property and her sister's property next door for the next two weeks.

She cried as she thanked workers for all their help.

"It's amazing," she said.

"I want to thank the Confederacy chiefs for their support," she said.

She said she met with some of the chiefs at the Haudenosaunee Resource Centre last week to explain what she was doing and they supported the idea. "They thought it was a great idea," she said. "I can't thank them enough."

Especially after the build almost didn't happen when Six Nations Elected Council voted last week not to sign a letter inviting the international workers here, fearing they could be held liable for anything that might happen as a result of their presence on the territory.

The letter of support was meant to help workers clear customs but all the workers made it into Canada and at her property Monday to start work safely, said Doxtador.

She said she was disappointed but not surprised that some elected councillors did not want to support the workers.

She sees it as jealousy, she says.

"It's because they won't be the ones getting the pat on the back when this is all done and finished," she said.

Doxtador is disappointed in band council's housing program after sitting on the waiting list for a new home for 20 years.

She was one of a third of 12,000 on-reserve Six Nations residents sitting on the waiting list for a new home. The new build solves that problem.

She presented the owner of Earthship Biotecture - Michael Reynolds - with an eagle feather Monday morning as her way of saying thanks.

"That's all I had to give," she said.

But the gift came from a place of love and, she says, "That's what's important."

Fran extended a welcome to community members who wanted to drop by the construction over the next two weeks during daytime hours to learn about Earthships.

"This is what we should be building at Kanohstaton," she said.

"Can't you see it. A whole community of these," she said.