Tiny House

I want a tiny house.

Now that I am home from Nova Scotia, it's time to look forward. I'm living at my parents' place, looking for a job (the one I came home early for didn't exactly work out), and thinking about how I am going to move forward with this way of life I have chosen.

It dawned on me some time ago that as a single, underemployed woman with no conventional "career" in the works (not true-- I'm a farmer, dammit!), I was going to have to be creative if I ever wanted a place of my own. Of course, I have an obvious advantage over those other budding organic farmers out there: I grew up on a farm. And I have a Dad who really wouldn't mind having someone to talk about farm stuff with. And he's willing to share the land.

So for months now, we have been discussing how this is all going to pan out. And we are far from figuring it out. But I realized that paying rent to have a job in the city doesn't make a whole lot of sense, if where I want to be is in the country, establishing my farm. So here I am.

So far, I have planted a lot of garlic, and that's about it. I've got plans to plant trees, dig a pond for irrigation, put up a greenhouse, and get a really rad compost going... but I'm also really preoccupied with getting out of my parents' house. Do you blame me? I love my parents a lot, obviously, or I wouldn't be where I'm at right now. But realistically, I need my space. Not a lot of space, but my own space nonetheless. And that's where the Tiny House comes in.

First, I was thinking I would build a cute little log cabin from logs cut on our property. Then, I thought I could experiment with cobb building and have a house made of mud! Then I realized I didn't have enough experience to do that myself, and I need to take help where I can get it-- I can get more help building something conventional than I can building something like this (but I am not ruling out doing mud plaster at some point!). Lately, I've come to the realization that I really don't want to have to go through the process of getting a building permit, largely because of the ridiculous cost, but also because the bigger your house is, the more money it costs to maintain it. And let's face it: I want to be a vegetable farmer. I'm never going to have a whole lot of money.

So, I need a teeny tiny house. Preferably on wheels, so it can be bigger than 100 square feet, which is the maximum size a building can be without a building permit. Trailers, however, do not need to be permitted. That's where the Tiny House people come in.

I heard about Tumbleweed Homes from some friends I know who are building a little off-grid cabin in the woods as a cottage/camp/recreation spot. A home away from home, but a really cosy home indeed! I am really inspired by what these people are doing, and I'm getting really excited for what I might be able to do. If I can source out as many used materials as possible, I might be able to build myself a home for really cheap! It would have a composting toilet (or maybe just an outhouse and outdoor shower), a sleeping loft, a cosy little living room, and an itty bitty kitchen. Plus, I can add screened in porches and other outdoor living spaces to make it feel bigger. Check out the web site-- it's really exciting! If all of this works out, I might have to start blogging about cooking in a teeny tiny kitchen.

So now I have to figure out about building materials. The logs from our property idea is the most environmentally friendly choice, but the problem there is that they need to sit a year after being cut. I'd like to build next summer. I could do cordwood (aka stackwood or stackwall), but I really don't know the first thing about it, except that it is pretty, and doesn't seem too difficult! I would consider buying the pre-cut logs from Chisholm's, but I would really rather not buy logs when I have them here. Especially since I'm not planning on needing a permit. And I want to do something that won't require insulation, because that can be costly and will take up my already limited space.

Does anyone have any suggestions, experience, or ideas with cordwood construction or building tiny houses? Know anyone who does workshops and needs a project to teach on? I am totally open to ideas and input... please let me know what you think.