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Six Nation's 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 Biotechture 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 (Continued On Page 5)