David Lee Hoffman has spent 50 years building a composting compound where waste – whether grey water from the kitchen or sanitation – is cleaned by worms, plants, and filters, then reused in the personal garden.
Water flows through ponds, moats, and even a boat (which hides a 30-foot column that taps into groundwater), and everything is powered by solar, using a series of 12-volt pumps.
Most of Hoffman’s system isn’t legal, according to his local county (Marin, California), and Hoffman has spent decades fighting the local government.
TIMELINE:
— David’s compound, The Last Resort, his home and tea production: 00:10
— Original property value: David paid $38K for it: 00:25
— Visiting the chicken coop: 01:15
— Boat pond reservoir, early structure in a property relying on circular water management: 02:00
— 30 feet well with solar-pumped water: 02:20
— Property’s motto, as explained by David Lee Hoffman in 3 Eastern characters (he lived abroad for years at a time): 03:00
— Water-flushed composting toilet: 03:30
— Fish tank connected to plants and to the toilet (biodigestion): 04:00
— Rainwater wash faucet (using a solar-powered 12-volt pump). Four 12-volt pumps circulate the water system, all connected to a single solar panel: 05:00
— The Last Resort’s “intestines,” or purification system: 05:50
— Composting toilet inner workings, using vermicomposting: 06:50
— Introducing the Worm Palace at The Last Resort: 07:50
— The worm colony descends from the worms David brought to the property 50 years ago: 08:20
— Feeding the Worm Palace (main worm composting bin, built on the shape of an Eastern pagoda): 08:30
— “The magic of worms,” as explained by David Lee Hoffman: 08:50
— Efficiency of the biodigestive system: “no odors”: 09:40
— Worms take care of food scraps and treat water. The black water composting bin “goes through more steps of decomposition”: 10:15
— Scalability of Hoffman’s biodigestive system, according to its creator: 11:10
— Difficulty in permitting unusual structures & systems in areas with zoning restrictions. David Lee Hoffman’s experience with the county: 11:30
— David’s kitchen furnace and slow cooking philosophy: 12:20
— Wood-ash activation with water for washing: 12:30
— David Lee Hoffman’s “lick your hands after washing them” test: 14:30
— Putting food on the table: 14:50
— Stone pots for cooking and storing food. First designed for the solar cooker: 15:20
— Chatting with David’s friend, movie director Martin Brest (Meet Joe Black, Midnight Run): 16:30
— Structural details, inspired by Eastern and Northern California vernaculars; tea storage: 17:10
— “Tea-heated” bedroom atop the proper, made of pencil factory scraps: 18:30
— Visiting the rest of the compound: 20:00
— Meet David’s 70-year-old working fridge, bought second-hand already “old” but still going strong: 20:35
— A paradise for hummingbirds and other species: 21:40
— David Lee Hoffman’s philosophy and drive: “it all works; the systems work”: 23:00
On the day we arrived at his worm-topia, he’d been told he had just one more day to evacuate the 2-acre sanctuary he calls “The Last Resort.” One of his supporters (he has many helping him raise money for his legal battle) opened the door for us and turned out to be Oscar-nominated director Martin Brest (Scent of a Woman, Meet Joe Black, Midnight Run) who recently penned a letter to the county calling The Last Resort “an environmental laboratory that has perfected systems that—among other invaluable achievements—have turned it into one that *uses only 10-20% of the water* of comparable properties, even while maintaining an extensive organic vegetable garden.”
For Hoffman, “water is life,” not just because he wants clean water to grow his own food but also to create the teas (the Phoenix collection of rare, artisanal teas) that help support his lifestyle (he opens up his property every Saturday for tea tasting). He doesn’t believe in waste “until it’s wasted” and lives by the principles: “Water is precious, soil is sacred, shit is a resource.”
His bedroom is a shack the size of a bed built from wood salvaged from a pencil factory. He has plans to place it directly on top of a tea fermentation room to capture the waste heat via piping to warm up his bedroom.
The Last Resort: http://thelastresortlagunitas.org/
Phoenix Collection teas: http://www.thephoenixcollection.com/
David Lee Hoffman on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lee_Hoffman
Martin Brest’s letter: http://thelastresortlagunitas.org/martin-brests-email-to-supervisor-rodoni-re-preserving-innovative-reductions-of-water-usage/
Save The Last Resort: https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-the-last-resort
David’s video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRZNJFzSrh4
Close-up picture of David’s hat since some of you are asking: https://media.faircompanies.com/p/2023/02/13015909/Screenshot-2023-02-12-at-15.58.20.png
On *faircompanies: https://faircompanies.com/videos/vermicompost-utopia-50-years-building-home-tea-farm-by-hand/
40 Comments
thank you Kirsten for bringing this amazing man to our attention, what an incredible set up he has built. Genius
Wow UTTERLY AMAZING!!!
I wonder what technique is he using to make the intestines, and some stuffs like part of roofing, that seems to me to be done with cementified teh waterproofed canvas.. Am I wrong ? Someone knows ? David if you read me… 😉
If politicians weren't so corrupt this could be the real "green new deal." Great show. Thanks.
Great video. I came to see if I could find info about the Stone pots you ate from. David said he has them laser cut in Taiwan or something of the sort. Where to find them?nThanks
So amazing!
Wow, an other legend doing it how it should be.
When people understand the reason they will not consent this is because it works.
This is independence and that's what the last 3 years agenda has been trying to destroy.
You can hear the little wings of the hummingbirds ❤
after the old-fridge and sourdough starter, near the end of the video, when you guys went out into the kind of courtyard area again and the hummingbirds showed up, I see he has really tall Nicotiana Tabacum plants growing there. I wonder if he uses it as a medicine at all. Great video, thank you!
Is there any contact. Information for this fellow? I want to go see his property if I can!
Picture the concepts just with a little more architecture and engineering then add a holistic nutritional psychology sanctuary with good acustic architecture Environmental psychology it would be a great place to fully decompress after a traumatic experience
you find some of the coolest places to visit with very interesting people with great imagination
Was it really deer?
I think this guy is a Kombucha maker
If only we could all live like this. What's wrong with society? Is he wearing a Trump hat?
Incredible! A true visionary, pushing the confines of this system. All the solutions so elegant is their simplicity, to follow the wisdom of our earth, our mother.
Lol his actualized personal philosophy is so totally at odds with how he represents himself politically
why don't you have biogas digesting, water purification / energy producton
This is genius and absolutely amazing.
oh my God, Kristen, I love each episode of ur channel, and this is the second wise master u ´ve showed and fullfiledl us with such amazing and important tools of life,architecure,art etc,etc. Such important man should deserve more recognition.Thank you for that.
Wow!!!
Mr. Hoffman, nice hat. lol!!!
Absolutely incredible. I hope and pray he has a young padawan to steward this sacred place and build upon his legacy! If not, I volunteer as tribute. 🫡
Wow!¡! Absolutely amazing! The whole property is so uniquely quirky & complex & functional & beautiful all at the same time. This guy is an absolute genius & incredibly lucky. My only question : I heard him say he's almost 80 yrs old. What'll happen to the place once he's gone from this world? Is he married? Does he have children? From the way he talks City Officials always give him a hard time. It would be a travesty if he doesn't have anyone to leave the place to & the city wound up getting their hands on it. They'd just bulldoze it all.
Well "fecal phobia" is so strong for good reason lol.
Anyone else thinking this guy could easily hide a body
Definitely a body farm…
I wish these guys nothing but love and many more years.
Wow, this most definitely needs to be the future. What a beautiful system he has created. Teaching this to kids would be awesome too. Wonderful work I truly love this.
There are better ways to process the products used to make life happen. This is one of them. The only thing missing seems to be a capture system to contain and use the natural gases produced in the digestion process. It would be interesting to see how much gas is produced using worms compared with a bio digester tank.
This idea that everything has to be done according to a code should be challenged because the "code" is worse than many city systems. The truth be known a good sign is the number of rats living in a system. The places following the code are always challenged with rats.
I'm conflicted. I see half genius and half mental illness
thank you so much for your awesome videos. you find the most AWESOME people to share with us.
That is so cool. It's too bad our society didn't realize the need to be self-sufficient like thus in the beginning. I was wondering if he had problems with mosquitoes and if he did how he dealt with them. Looked like a lot of stagnant water there in places.
Before water toilets, in Japan they had these public buckets everywhere, where they would then collect the waste to use it on the farms to grow food
It's kind of silly with all the political talk about sustainability today, especially in California, this man still can't get a permit
They asked twice how many worms were in there and he completely ignores them both times 😂
This is SO PURE and INCREDIBLE 🌻🕊🌠
COUNTY: You don't meet Code
FOREST: you're just attacking what you do not understand
COUNTY: Am Not! Pay your fine or go to jail, Forest !!
Could use a new toilet seat