Check this out.

http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2013-03/tractor-apocalypse?single-page-view=true

Intersting!

I saw the Polish name on that and figured this is an extension of the type of farm innovation you see in Communist countries. Polish farmers were known for home built tractor during the Cold War. Some would occasionally use battlefield salvage parts from WW2.

I just keep thinking this guy reinvented the bobcat tractor, but it is neat to see the work they are doing on the modular system and universal designs for self-build.

The idea of common open source machine plans for "building a civilization" is pretty impressive when you look at what is possible with it. I see the seeds of the body of knowledge needed for space colonization or recovery after a major series of disasters.

Here is the direct link to the main website.

http://opensourceecology.org/

Looks like something out of Defiance, which I will definitely be watching tonight on scifi.

More cool stuff here:

http://opensourceecology.org/wiki

Note, it is not exactly "free" when you have materials costs on everything, but people pitching in on tools and a location to build out in the middle of nowhere in places where real estate is dirt cheap anyway means you can leverage smaller amounts of individual person's cash into a better overall lifestyle but it is only going to work when people pitch in and work as a team while respecting individual resources and effort. Otherwise, you have someone with money having to pay the others to do the work and that's where there is no guarantee of cost effectiveness on open source maker stuff since there is no way to predict its value in comparison to the outside open economy where say, superior design equipment might be available on the farm auction market, or your economic profile allows for bank financing of big ticket items which will enhance production at faster rates or lower overall production costs.