This article from Mother Earth News offers a broad overview of how the Integral Urban House promoted an ideal of self-reliance. Mother Earth News was founded in 1970 as a newsletter giving tips on organic farming techniques and how to switch to solar power. It was one of the most popular sources in the US for back-to-the-land homesteading and self-sufficiency.
Unlike other accounts of the house, the piece is more colloquial, informal, and sympathetic in tone. Given its placement in Mother Earth News, the author builds on her audience’s assumed interest in urban homesteading projects. Her account seeks to build excitement in the reader:
Nearly all the IUH’s hot water needs are met by a solar heater that can warm 120 gallons of water in an attic storage tank to surprisingly high temperatures . . . often past 170° F.
In terms of content, the piece provides a fairly detailed overview of the main amenities at the Integral Urban House. The author leans into describing the components of each feature; she gives a long list of the crops grown in the garden and gives a list of what elements go into the compost pile.
A curious reader could read this and relate their own gardens or compost systems to that of the House for inspiration. Quick back-of-the-envelope calculations help inform the reader how much they could save if they invested in a solar water heater or began raising chickens.
