About Blue Rock Station

How it all Began 1993

On the eve of the birth of their grandchild, Jay and Annie Warmke looked out over the eastern foothills of the Central Appalachian Mountains in Muskingum County Ohio and felt they had come home. In 1993 with a dream of creating a retreat for their extended family, they bought the 38.2-acre tract that makes up Blue Rock Station. Annie felt strongly that they needed to build a house that made a difference for the
region, not just their family, but what would that look like?

A few months later, Annie was snuggling with their brand new baby granddaughter when she heard the architect Michael Reynolds from Taos, NM talking about a new type of home he designed that used clean waste like old tires and bottles. He called his design an “Earthship.” Annie knew immediately what she wanted to do. The seed for Blue Rock Station had been sown.

In 1993 there was no lane to anything. The one structure on the land was a pull-through with two make-shift walls (one of concrete block with a couple of windows and the uphill wall was rusted tin). To literally top it off there was a roof that leaked like a sieve.

Construction began in 1996

The walk down the lane to the goat barn is a striking reminder of the amazing transformation of Blue Rock Station. Today there are three sleeping cottages made of rammed-earth tires and straw bales. A larger building serves as a sleeping cabin with a separate storage area. There’s a chicken chalet (house), and two small barns. An unfinished tiny house forms a compound of these small structures that surround the Earthship, an inviting home constructed with tires, cans and bottles. The entire area is surrounded by trees and food-producing gardens. A tiny child’s playhouse is used for raising chicks and two chicken tractors house a couple of hens.

By 1996 Annie Warmke had taken on the giant task of contractor and project manager of the first Earthship east of the Mississippi River. Summers were spent building and dreaming. At one point in the early construction of the Earthship Annie decided to start charging people to visit the job site because too much time was spent giving tours. Once she started quoting prices, busloads of people begged to visit. By 2005 every visitor paid to tour, or attend a work shop.

Her first act as the contractor and project manager was to obtain a permit from the EPA for 1,200 tires to be brought in from an illegal dump site near Roseville, OH. The tires were crammed with earth (weighing 300 lbs. or more) to create the walls of the single-family dwelling. A partial roof was installed, and then everyone went home for the winter.

In 1997 Annie needed better lumber than the crooked 2×4’s at Lowe’s so she set out to find old barns that were either going to be burned down or demolished. The first bank barn was bought at an auction. The next ones were free, and they all had amazing stories. Most of the wood used in the construction of the roof trusses, window framing and bookcases was re-claimed from the local barns.

Annie spent the summers with their granddaughter managing a motley crew of men (two women worked briefly) on the original structure, with Jay showing up every three weeks on weekends to act as a cheerleader and amateur carpenter.

In 2004 the Warmke’s and their young granddaughter moved to France to spend three years exploring and learning how to live more resiliently in a place of rich history and beauty. Annie likes to say that many of the things she learned in Europe continue to enrich her life. When the family returned to live in Ohio at what is now called “Blue Rock Station” the house was unfinished and no one had a paying job.

Workshops became the mainstay of life in those early years because the Warmke’s goal was to “teach people how to fish, not give them the fish” by offering hands-on opportunities to learn how to live more resiliently and sustainably through skill-building. Students from all over the world worked side-by-side with Annie and Jay to build each of the tiny cottages, the barns and the Earthship.

Internships were introduced in 2007, offering up to eight-weeks of living and learning by building tire walls, a rocket stove, bottle walls, framing doors, menu planning, living in community with others, installing electrical networks, and even a little plumbing. More than 100 young people have found some of what they were searching for by working hard and living in community with others. Some learned how to wash dishes for the first time, while others designed rocket stoves and bio-gas generators. No job or task or project has been too small or more important than another.

In 2007 Annie bought Eleonore Rigby and her two doeling’s. Her goal was to provide healthy goat milk for her family and guests. Eventually she went on to write three books about goat herding and natural health. Over the years she has taught her own brand of cheese making, and has served as a mentor to countless folks who want to know how to create a homestead, make a living, build an Earthship or raise
goats.

In 2009 the Warmke’s wrote the first comprehensive text book on renewable energy. Jay began training teachers to utilize the book, and eventually he became a leading expert in the field of solar energy education. Through the online courses and textbooks, he designed and wrote, students from all over the world have been introduced to the field of solar energy.

Over the years interns kept returning for special occasions or Yule which led to the Blue Rock Station traditions of a summer Goat Stock Reunion for interns and friends. Tie dye, live music, games and the best potluck ever are all part of the fun. Yule is another celebration embraced by former students and interns which leads to hearty celebrations to welcome the return of the sun.

About five years ago Annie, with Chad Cully began the formation of a food forest garden in the West Field. Chad propagated most of the food forest plants, and then just before a blizzard everybody pitched in to finish planting more than 100 plants into the field. Today there is also the addition of a high tunnel for raising propagation material, and a new urban food forest garden at the Marietta office property.

2020 led to the formation of the Blue Rock Station Farm Advisory Board (FAB) to provide input and support to Annie as she began to think about who would replace her as the farmer some day. With the assistance of this group of former interns and a couple of friends, the Warmke’s are working with Farmers Land Trust to de-commodify the farm and make it possible for a new farmer to take over without debt.

By 2022 the Solar/PV Training arm of Blue Rock Station moved to 622 Eighth St. to set up a remote office space with reliable high-speed Internet. Plans are in the works to purchase a building that will eventually be the Warmke’s home in Marietta, Ohio.

The story’s not over yet though. The food forest arm of Blue Rock Station is coming into her own with the creation of Warmke Farm LLC, and the return of Women’s Peacepower Foundation. With this powerful combination Annie plans to “grow” the food forest business with the help of various advisors and young workers. Value-added products are a hot topic right now as Annie considers budgets, pricing,
marketing and how to reuse, re-purpose, & respect an industry that’s just emerging. The same could be said of Jay’s classes and his hard work at promoting the solar installer industry.

Tours and Internships
Blue Rock Station was never intended to be open to the public. But folks just kept showing up, interrupting the work day. At one point Annie started charging visitors to the work site, and that’s when bus loads of people began calling to ask for a visit.
In the fall of 2004 Annie and Jay began hosting tours and workshops, creating the premier green living center. Since opening to the public, more than 60,000 visitors have walked through the living room of the Earthship.
In 2007 they received a call from a young woman that had responded about a poster Annie had sent to Oberlin College. She wanted to become an intern. That started Blue Rock Station’s internship program, bringing more than 100 young people from around the globe to live, work and laugh in the foothills of the Appalachians.

Their Goals

The goal of Blue Rock Station is to create a world that Annie and Jay want to live in. A world where there is enough for humans, critters, insects, microbes and more. They have accomplished this by merging opportunity, engineering, art and re-use of existing materials. This is accomplished by sharing resources that encourage the world around them to imagine an environment where the act of creating safe spaces,
interesting meaningful work, good-tasting healthy food, and education generates a renewal of thinking and living.

The buildings of re-used materials don’t just demonstrate a series of alternative building techniques, including the Earthship, and straw bale structures, but they generate thought about how to live and work resiliently and sustainably.

By living with the systems that they create, Annie and Jay have tried to go beyond the theory of green living – finding out just what works and what does not. Through books, videos, podcasts, internship programs, workshops and tours – they have shared a bit of what they have found out with like-minded folks across this big blue marble called “home”.