[Christ]

LOL I love how each of your posts contains some drama.

"Rivers and small animals" - made me giggle a bit.

If you're thinking about using strawbales for walls, remember that you can't just stack them - they have to be braced/fastened together somehow. Re-bar comes to mind.

On another thought, you may be able to reclaim most of the materials you need from wrecked houses and barns in your area (ok, not in your area, but within a couple hours' drive). It's pretty common to build new with old. Plus, if you're set of building something anew, it will give you a fighting chance to work out all those little issues that will eventually happen over time if you don't prepare for them.

Do you live in Suburbia, a community, or a large(ish) plot of land? Maybe moving your garage to another location on the property will benefit you a bit?

Also - Instead of a concrete floor, perhaps a reclaimed brick floor will suit you better? It will be able to move to cope with the earth under it moving, and the sand under the bricks acts as a major insulator, since sand never really packs together. It also helps to keep water at bay, due to it's amazing absorbency, which, coincidentally, is also the reason it insulates... (sand is so absorbent because of the air pocket between each grain and the ones around it, and the fact that no two grains can be aligned so that they occupy less space than the total area of the two grains, thus leaving an air pocket between them, regardless of their orientation)