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Silver Seed Farms
Sustainable Solutions for Greener Living * Landscape Gardening Services * Solar Energy Services * Energy Auditing/Weatherization * Sustainable Building Consultation 
Rex Rohrer
Rex Rohrer emphasizes sustainable solutions through design and installation of ornamental, native and edible landscape gardens, as well as residential solar power systems - both grid-tied and off-grid. As an energy analyst, he works with clients to provide the most energy savings, suggesting energy efficiency measures before going solar. He is a BPI Certified Building Analyst (BA) and Envelope Professional, a Weatherization Specialist (RBE-WHALCI). Rex draws together several decades of education and experience to teach earth-friendly living to the public and to help people reach their goals of greener living. 
Lorian Moore
Earth Mudder, Outreach/Presenter, Consultant, local state park interpreter and volunteer A nature-and-animal lover & home school mama (previously a social worker), Lori is interested in finding and bringing together networks of community-minded folks, as well as earth-lovin' people to play in the mud. You may contact us via email at silverseedfarms@gmail.com,
by phone at 314-995-9247, or through the Contact Form below. Check out our blog, which is growing, for discussions in Natural Living and for more up-to-date information about what's going on at Silver Seed Farms. And let us hear from you! Scroll down to read about:
~ Who we are ~ Our adventure into a natural life and natural building ~ How to contact us Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open. ~ John Barrymore _________________________________ "Earth, straw and bamboo, once materials of necessity by indigenous and pioneering peoples the world over, are now being rediscovered as materials of choice by those who are embracing an ethic of natural building."
- Bruce A. Silverberg __________________________________________________ |
Our Mission
The mission of Silver Seed Farms, LLC is to facilitate the growth of natural building and renewable energy practices, native gardening and community interconnectedness. This will be accomplished through education, experiential workshops, and helping others achieve their personal goals of living more sustainably.
Our WordPress Blog:
A solar guy and an earthy girl discuss Sustainable Living through off-grid homesteading, solar energy, natural and straw bale building, organic natural gardening, cob and earthen plaster, and increasing awareness. Go there to find a growing series of articles and to share your thoughts! Blog Categories
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Workshops
We are happy to chat with you about your project, and we occasionally host workshops - go to our Workshops page. If you find information here useful or have used our services, please consider supporting our mission efforts here.
Thank you!
We are happy to chat with you about your project, and we occasionally host workshops - go to our Workshops page. If you find information here useful or have used our services, please consider supporting our mission efforts here.
Thank you!
Silver Seed Farms, LLC is a small business dedicated to the belief that we can all live
in a more sustainable and holistic way, as a complement to
and a part of the natural world. We believe this way - the new paradigm -
is the "blueprint" for our interconnectedness and our survival.
We want to encourage people to think about their home and life
in a way that balances concerns for the individual with respect for the earth.
We walk a relatively sustainable path, weighing our decisions and doing our best to walk our talk.
We are dedicated to reducing our waste, recycling, reusing and upcycling
as much material as we can, still with room for improvement.
in a more sustainable and holistic way, as a complement to
and a part of the natural world. We believe this way - the new paradigm -
is the "blueprint" for our interconnectedness and our survival.
We want to encourage people to think about their home and life
in a way that balances concerns for the individual with respect for the earth.
We walk a relatively sustainable path, weighing our decisions and doing our best to walk our talk.
We are dedicated to reducing our waste, recycling, reusing and upcycling
as much material as we can, still with room for improvement.
Look through our website for more detailed information about what interests you.
Please feel free to contact us by phone or email - go to our Contact Form below.
Thank you for your interest!
Please feel free to contact us by phone or email - go to our Contact Form below.
Thank you for your interest!
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About Us
We have been a landscape gardening business since 1989. After having built our own straw bale house, the Missouri Octagon, in Missouri in 1994 (possibly the first straw bale house in Missouri!) and living off-grid since 1998 (decades!), we have found that what we truly love and what we want to emphasize is sustainable living in its many facets. There are so many ways that we humans can live sustainably, that we can apply our ingenuity and creativity to life and make something uniquely our own.
As our interests, research and practices have changed, so have our lives. A testament to the pioneering spirit inherent in each of us, we have found that many people want to know more about sustainable practices, and they want to implement them in their own lives.
Being more sustainable is opting for a life of greater simplicity and appreciation, and taking more personal responsibility for our energy, water and natural resource consumption and usage. It is easy to do, if one is committed to a deeper questioning of daily choices and to having a greater awareness of personal habits.
We do not have to strive for someone's idea of "perfection".
We believe that everyone will find greater happiness in his or her heightened awareness and that the path toward sustainability is part of the fun.
We are available to offer information, as well as our consultation, installation and education services.
As our interests, research and practices have changed, so have our lives. A testament to the pioneering spirit inherent in each of us, we have found that many people want to know more about sustainable practices, and they want to implement them in their own lives.
Being more sustainable is opting for a life of greater simplicity and appreciation, and taking more personal responsibility for our energy, water and natural resource consumption and usage. It is easy to do, if one is committed to a deeper questioning of daily choices and to having a greater awareness of personal habits.
We do not have to strive for someone's idea of "perfection".
We believe that everyone will find greater happiness in his or her heightened awareness and that the path toward sustainability is part of the fun.
We are available to offer information, as well as our consultation, installation and education services.
Please peruse our website, which carries a good bit of information, and visit us often, as things are always changing.
You can also receive new posts by following our blog... .
Sincerely,
Rex and Lori
**If you like this website and feel inspired to make one of your own, please sign up for iPage through our website at the bottom of this page. This will allow us to receive credit for your referral. iPage offsets their energy footprint 100% by purchasing green wind energy credits. Any website building I do here at Silver Seed Farm is through solar power! Let us know if you need assistance in getting started on your own website.
Thank you! ~ Lori
You can also receive new posts by following our blog... .
Sincerely,
Rex and Lori
**If you like this website and feel inspired to make one of your own, please sign up for iPage through our website at the bottom of this page. This will allow us to receive credit for your referral. iPage offsets their energy footprint 100% by purchasing green wind energy credits. Any website building I do here at Silver Seed Farm is through solar power! Let us know if you need assistance in getting started on your own website.
Thank you! ~ Lori
Our Adventure
We receive many questions about the Missouri Octagon, our strawbale house we built in 1994 and have lived in since 1997. We love it. It has very high insulation value (r 30), and so it stays warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. It is very cozy, with it's thick walls, passive solar gain and adobe floor. Passive solar design uses the sun to naturally heat and light your home through south-facing windows. Our earthen floor absorbs the winter sun, contributing to our warmth. In addition to the passive solar, we use a wood stove for heating. During the autumn, winter and spring, our old Timberline wood stove also heats our water through a natural convection loop, while we are heating our home. It doesn't take much wood to heat up our hot water tank. During the summer and without air-conditioning, our home stays much cooler as we take advantage of tree and vine shading. We are also powered in large part by photovoltaic solar panels. Our family has lived off-grid and frugally for a good many years (since 1997), and we are very aware of energy usage, a little obsessed, really. After all these years, we still like to check the gauge (voltmeter) to see how much "juice" is still in the batteries. :-)
This little adventure started out in 1991, as we began to question many of the ideas we grew up with, assessing needs vs. wants. We decided we wanted to move out to the beautiful Missouri forests, and that we should "harden" ourselves a bit to make living in a tent a little easier. Of course, much research came first. The house we lived in at that time was darling, but terribly inefficient, with it's walls made of brick and covered with plaster. A selling point for us, back in 1988, was the solar fans, but whatever efficiency they had to offer was offset by the drafty brick. The winter before moving, we blocked off all but the kitchen and living room and heated it with our "new" wood stove, an old Timberline; this reduced our electric bill a lot and gave us more of the pioneering spirit! :-)
We had our first baby at home and felt infused with a new level of independence. After more research and lots of baby time, we were ready to go! We sold a lot of our stuff, stored the rest and moved into a tent, with our 11 month old baby, one dog, and 8 cats in tow at the end of April, 1994. What a time! We wanted to learn what it would be like to live without all the modern conveniences - and we did! We used cloth diapers and did our laundry in a wringer-washer, used a "humanure" composting toilet, hauled in drinking water, collected rain water, cooked our food over an open fire and on a propane camp stove and swam in the lake and showered under a solar shower, washing baby in a small tub. A 12'x12' screened-in porch became our kitchen and "living" area, when we weren't living in and exploring nature.
We had the amazing support of family and friends, which really helped our transition a lot. We began building our straw house in late October, a beautiful time to build in Missouri.
We now have a straw bale cottage and more conveniences (like solar-powered refrigerator, computer, and lights), but have continued to hold on to some of the "old" ways, too. Post-tent-living and decades later, we still use the humanure method with local sawdust. We like the humanure method, because composting makes sense to us. Composting what is normally considered waste into a precious resource (nutrient-rich compost) completes the food/nutrient cycle. Also, we don't want to use good drinking water (a precious resource) to flush a resource-turned-waste down the toilet! We cook our food with wood fires or propane - indoors using a "normal" propane range/oven and the wood stove, and outdoors during warmer months on a camp stove, over a campfire, and using our cob oven. Our home is a cozy but roomy 1300 square feet. Not only does it protect us from even the harshest elements, but it is an ongoing expression of us. Our doors open out onto small gardens and flagstone patios, and we are cradled by Missouri forest, with mossy rocks, babbling creeks and waterfalls. Of course, no scene would be complete without the helpful and loving companionship of the many dogs, cats, peacocks, chickens, goats, deer and horse with whom we have shared our lives over the years.
We wish you all the best in your endeavors. Happy Adventuring!
This little adventure started out in 1991, as we began to question many of the ideas we grew up with, assessing needs vs. wants. We decided we wanted to move out to the beautiful Missouri forests, and that we should "harden" ourselves a bit to make living in a tent a little easier. Of course, much research came first. The house we lived in at that time was darling, but terribly inefficient, with it's walls made of brick and covered with plaster. A selling point for us, back in 1988, was the solar fans, but whatever efficiency they had to offer was offset by the drafty brick. The winter before moving, we blocked off all but the kitchen and living room and heated it with our "new" wood stove, an old Timberline; this reduced our electric bill a lot and gave us more of the pioneering spirit! :-)
We had our first baby at home and felt infused with a new level of independence. After more research and lots of baby time, we were ready to go! We sold a lot of our stuff, stored the rest and moved into a tent, with our 11 month old baby, one dog, and 8 cats in tow at the end of April, 1994. What a time! We wanted to learn what it would be like to live without all the modern conveniences - and we did! We used cloth diapers and did our laundry in a wringer-washer, used a "humanure" composting toilet, hauled in drinking water, collected rain water, cooked our food over an open fire and on a propane camp stove and swam in the lake and showered under a solar shower, washing baby in a small tub. A 12'x12' screened-in porch became our kitchen and "living" area, when we weren't living in and exploring nature.
We had the amazing support of family and friends, which really helped our transition a lot. We began building our straw house in late October, a beautiful time to build in Missouri.
We now have a straw bale cottage and more conveniences (like solar-powered refrigerator, computer, and lights), but have continued to hold on to some of the "old" ways, too. Post-tent-living and decades later, we still use the humanure method with local sawdust. We like the humanure method, because composting makes sense to us. Composting what is normally considered waste into a precious resource (nutrient-rich compost) completes the food/nutrient cycle. Also, we don't want to use good drinking water (a precious resource) to flush a resource-turned-waste down the toilet! We cook our food with wood fires or propane - indoors using a "normal" propane range/oven and the wood stove, and outdoors during warmer months on a camp stove, over a campfire, and using our cob oven. Our home is a cozy but roomy 1300 square feet. Not only does it protect us from even the harshest elements, but it is an ongoing expression of us. Our doors open out onto small gardens and flagstone patios, and we are cradled by Missouri forest, with mossy rocks, babbling creeks and waterfalls. Of course, no scene would be complete without the helpful and loving companionship of the many dogs, cats, peacocks, chickens, goats, deer and horse with whom we have shared our lives over the years.
We wish you all the best in your endeavors. Happy Adventuring!
Mr. Big at Silver Seed Farms
Life is like riding a bicycle.
To keep your balance, you must keep moving.
~ Albert Einstein
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web hosting service, all with 100% Green energy sources.
Click on the link below to get started with iPage.
Contact us at silverseedfarms@gmail.com if you have any questions,
or if would like our help to get started.
web hosting service, all with 100% Green energy sources.
Click on the link below to get started with iPage.
Contact us at silverseedfarms@gmail.com if you have any questions,
or if would like our help to get started.