Greetings from an Egyptian (hopeful) Homesteader

[Mohamed Hossam]

Hello!

I came upon this site while looking for articles on how to grow your own cotton on a small scale, this site's article was wonderful.

A little bit about myself, I'm an Egyptian guy currently studying in the United States, and will be returning to my country next year. I plan on having a small farm/plantation/estate (not sure what to call it) and growing crops and raising livestock.

I am eager to find out a lot of information on organic and small scale agricultural activity, as well as alternative, and reliable building methods, such as adobe/mudbrick (which has a rather long history in my homeland).

Well, hope my stay on this forum is beneficial to everyone, :D

Cheers,

[red]

hi and welcome

[glenniedragon]

الترحيب I hope that says welcome!

I should think there are bucket loads of info out there on using mudbricks for building in Egypt, how exciting using such an ancient technology in its 'home'. What's self-sufficiencey like over there? I should think solar power would be a fantastic resource over there. Anyhow, welcome to the site.

kind thoughts
Deb

[Mohamed Hossam]

Thank you for the warm welcome! As to the Arabic text, that says "Welcoming" (as in the abstract concept of welcoming), but it's the thought that counts, right?

As to information on mudbrick building in Egypt, it is near impossible to find out about mudbrick building in modern times, information abounds on ancient methods. It is not commonly used now, except very deep in the countryside and in Nubia and other southern areas. It had a brief revival thanks to the work of internationally acclaimed Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy (his major work being "Architecture for the Poor").

Self sufficiency in Egypt? Well, the way I see it there are two types:

1) What we've always done; namely, raising our own poultry (almost always on rooftops, which are more like patios than roofs), growing some vegetables, etc, on a small scale. This is becoming less and less common, since it is mostly practiced either in the countryside, or in lower class areas of Cairo and other cities, and because of the recent outbreak of avian flue.

2) "Conscious self sufficiency": which is actually a recent trend, including large corporate farms such as Sekem (a produce and food processing company with organic farms) and OrganicEgypt (I think that's the name, not quite sure). A new social program that is being promoted is called "green rooftops" or "soil-less farming" which consists of growing vegetables and fruits in beds on roof tops.

Cheers,

[Bonniegirl]

Kia Ora a greeting in Maori from New Zealand.

Egypt is one of those places I always wanted to go to, the pyramids fascintae me...of course my other half reckons they were built by aliens!

Never mind the medication helps!

[Millymollymandy]

Hi Mohamed and welcome to the site! We haven't had anyone here before from Egypt, so it is very interesting to hear how things are done in your country.

[glenniedragon]

There's a bit of experimental archaeology for you! a modern building using ancient technology if its not been written about then why not do it yourself?! I'm sure some of the green construction/living publications would be interested or the main site of this noble forum!, one of the crew on here built an extension using mud bricks so it can be done.
The sentiment of my first post was welcoming, and I hope you've found us just that!

kind thoughts
Deb

[Jarmara]

Hello and welcome

[ina]

Hiya Mohamed, good to see we are getting more and more international!

[ohareward]

Mohamed

Do they still use the Nile to flood the growing areas in any part of Egypt like they did in ancient times. Most of my knowledge of Egypt was learnt at school as 'ancient history', or the classics as it is now called.
Once again welcome to the forum.

Robin

[Mohamed Hossam]

Actually, the Nile doesn't flood anymore due to the construction of the Aswan High Dam. Although it does allow Egypt to produce all the electricity it will ever need, as well as export to neighboring nations, it did stop the yearly flood and the layer of silt it brings which was helpful in agriculture.

Now, agricultural canals/trench, or pipes or pumps or anyother means are used to bring water from the nile to Farmland.

And thanks for the welcome!

[hedgewitch]

Hello Mohamed Hossam and welcome to the ishers.

[Welsh Girls Allotment]

Hello and welcome - Egypt is a fabulous place - I only had a brief stay for my honeymoon and it was intense touristy stuff - but it was beautiful and the people are lovely I would love to go back

[Bridgette]

Hey Mohamed!

WELCOME!

It's cool to finally see another 'fellow African' on the forum - from one point of the continent to the other!
So what are you actually studying in the States! Don't you get terribly homesick in a country that I would imagine is so incredibly different (I've never left homesoil - so any other country sounds either alien or exotic to me! ).
I've never really thought about a 'transference' for using mud bricks in modern building methods - what would the true difference really be? I would imagine it would be in the 'manufacturing' stages... I can't see how the 'modern' aspect would differ - other than possibly taking the tensile strength of the bricks (as in using it for taller, bigger structures) into consideration.
Why in particular are you so interested in mud bricks in particular? Is it due to the practical aspect... or the integration of historical value? Ecologically speaking, there have been some major breakthroughs (or so I would like to think of them...) for using the land/earth itself on the excavation site for building, eg. Eco Bricks - but is that why you're interested?

Can't wait to chat more - Hakuna Matata for now (had to bring the Lion King African theme 'aspect' in !!!)!

Regards
Bridgette

[eva]

Hello from the US! Hope you like your experiences here so far.