Archive for the 'Alternative Housing' Category

alternative:
a chance to choose between two or more possibilities;
one of the two or more possible choices.

Sometimes I forget that our little family is not normal. I forget that our life is a little on the “alternative” side…because it’s just us. It’s just life. But the more people I meet on the road…the more I realize just how different we are than the typical American family.

And yet, we are all so similar. Everyone longs to be free. Free from the burden of a mortgage. Free from the constraints of a nine to five job. Free from the pressure to conform. I see that longing in people’s eyes and hear it in their words over and over again…and yet, comfort usually wins out. It’s comfortable to be like everyone else. It’s easier to give in to the pressure to live the “American Dream” because everyone else is doing it too. Everyone else is at the mall. Everyone else is buying a house and cars they can’t afford. Everyone is charging it on their most recent 0% interest rate credit card. But I don’t want to be like everyone else. I want to live in my own little alternative dream world.

Over the last couple of years, we’ve worked towards making our dream world a reality…and it has all come down to choices. We chose to sell our house and move to a smaller apartment so we could pay off debt faster. We chose to move West and simplify our life even more…with the goal of truly enjoying each day. We chose to go on the road full-time and explore the country while teaching others how to live green. We chose to give up the stability of a steady job in exchange for a wild journey of faith. Here are a few thoughts on the alternative parts of our life…and the variety of choices that are before us.

Employment
One of the most common questions we get asked is “how do you make money?!”. Most people are so accustomed to thinking about making money in the most traditional of ways…so making a living without a 9-5 job is a completely foreign and scary thought. The reason that it’s so scary is that we are constantly told by the media (and sometimes our family/friends) that to be accepted, we must appear to be successful. We must own a house. We must own a new vehicle. We must have a job with a fancy title. None of these things are bad…but they really aren’t necessary to have a happy life. When I started thinking about what was motivating us to have the big house, the car, the fancy job, etc…I realized that it was mostly driven by other people’s expectations. So, we left the very nice steady job and now we make money doing lots of small jobs. And we couldn’t be happier…because we are doing what we LOVE. Demos for the tour, photography, life coaching, handyman work, graphic design…everything adds up, and by the grace of God, we are able to pay bills and stay on the road! God has been so faithful throughout this journey and continues to amaze us with His provisions every day.

Housing
If you browse around my blog a bit…you will quickly notice that I am WAY into alternative housing. Yurts, cob houses, earthships, tipis Anything that looks a little quirky and I’m all over it. So it wasn’t a huge jump for us to move our entire life into a teeny box with wheels and hit the road. And we LOVE it. We love the smallness. We love having our home with us wherever the road leads. We couldn’t imagine it any other way! When we do settle down again somewhere…I’ll be checking one of my favorite books out from the library: Mortgage Free: Radical Strategies for Home Ownership. Love it.

Faith
Relying on something other than yourself is a foreign concept in our culture. We are constantly bombarded with messages of self-sufficiency and using our own “power” to create a new reality. And while I agree that we have amazing power within…I believe that power comes from Christ. He alone gives us power to pursue those dreams and He opens doors and opportunities beyond our wildest dreams when we abide in Him. Living a life focused on Christ is not always a popular choice, but for us…it’s the only choice.

Parenting
It’s a crazy thing…this parenting job. We are trying to do the best that we can with the information that we have…and adding a whole bunch of love and kisses along the way We are a homebirthing, cloth diapering, non-vaxing, gentle disciplining, babywearing, co-sleeping, extended nursing family…whew! That’s a lot of labels. I prefer to think of it as natural parenting. We believe that children are to be treated with respect and mercy. It’s not an easy road and we’re not perfect by any means…but we try to treat Bella the way we want her to treat others….with respect and kindness.

Education
Another question that we get asked a lot is “…but what will you do when Bella needs to go to school?”. And to that my response is “…she is already in school!”. The school of life, that is Bella is learning new things every day…in the last week we have learned about railroads, numbers, seasons, food, money, and more…just by living life. She is learning about the world around her in every interaction we have. She constantly asks questions and I do my best to teach her new things each day. We fall into the “unschooling” camp and it fits perfectly with our lifestyle and beliefs about how a child should learn. For some great reading on this topic…here is a great book to start with.

Food
We definitely go against the flow when it comes to food…we’ve been vegetarian for almost 4 years and are most recently eating all raw vegan foods. We feel amazing and we’re having a great time teaching others along the way!

Beauty
To be considered beautiful in our culture, it might appear that one needs to be a size 2, have long flowing blonde hair, and wear designer clothing. These are all things that the fashion magazines tell us…and it’s probably the most difficult thing for women especially to overcome. But for me, it’s much more fun to love myself for who I am, in the clothes I found at Goodwill….with hair that doesn’t have to be combed.

I love the definition above of “alternative” listed above…“a chance to choose between two or more possibilities”. A “chance to choose”. There is so much possibility in that phrase. What is your ultimate dream in life? Are you pursuing it? Are you taking steps each day towards that goal? Or do you just lay in bed at night and think about it? Do you think about how impossible it is? How life just isn’t fair? No more thinking. JUST START NOW. Take one step. And then take another. And another. Until you are living your dream and you couldn’t imagine it any other way!

God places passions and desires in our hearts for a reason. He wants us to be in the center of His will…pursuing the passions that He has placed in our hearts. Abide in Him. Listen. Dream. Take one step toward the alternative.

Photo credit: Flickr| tonystl

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a book that I’ve wanted for a LONG time….”Yurts: Living in the Round” by Becky Kemery. I have been pouring over it…learning about the history of this amazing structure and also falling in love again with the wisdom of ancient cultures. You don’t have to be a nomad to recognize the beauty of the nomadic life…there is much to be learned from people who are truly living.

There is a section in the book that I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. I wanted to share it with you because it describes my thoughts about simplicity so perfectly:

The Central Asian nomads live with deep-rooted simplicity. Nomads carry with them what they need. Each person, for example, brings his or her own cup, bowl, and utensils when traveling. Waste is unthinkable; once something has served its usefulness in one area, it is put to use as something else. Every possession is chosen with care an ideally serves multiple function. With few possessions, there is the opportunity to bring artistry to every element of daily life. And because everything has its place in the circle of nomadic life (a placement prescribed by the very fabric of the culture), the setting of daily life is greatly simplified. One can walk in to any ger (yurt) and know where most items are stored and what part of the ger and know what part of the ger is used for which functions. This level of simplicity liberates energy for art, laughter, family, and tribe.

A final gift of the nomads is their intimate sense of connectedness. The circle is the symbol of interconnectedness, and the yurt makes this very real by creating a space for the family to live together in one large room, all the generations, interacting and creating a sense of tribe and family. Likewise, the veil between inside and outside is much thinner in a yurt; one knows when the wind blows or the temperature drops. the earth is truly underfoot, the night sky is visible through the smoke hole, and a sheep bleating in the middle of the night wakes up the herder. It is from this intimate sense of connection with all things around them that nomads living in balance in such a way that Mother Nature is never harmed.

I have bolded my favorite part…I think that every one of us wants to “bring artistry to every element of daily life”. Imagine yourself waking up tomorrow morning. You walk into the kitchen…and as you pour the crystal clear water into the kettle, you listen carefully to the sound of the water splashing on the bottom. After preparing your coffee or tea, you reach for your mug which hangs on a colorfulfully painted peg on the wall. Each person in your family has their own mug that they use for drinking. You chose your particular mug for the beauty of the design and for how perfectly it fits into your hand as you enjoy a steamy hot drink. You pour your creamer in and stand amazed at the lovely patterns it makes as it blends into the liquid. With each sip, you are reminded of how beautiful life is. Are you laughing at me yet? Ok, ok…it does seem a bit crazy. BUT…how would your life change if this was your reality? If you were able to see beauty in the mundane?

Think about how different your kitchen would be if each person in your family lived with a nomadic mindset and only had what they needed? One plate, one bowl, one mug/cup, a set of silverware. *GASP! What about company?!* I didn’t say you had to get rid of your excess place settings…just put them away. In a cupboard above the fridge…or in the basement. If you have older children, they can be responsible for their setting (cleaning, putting away, etc.). If their bowl is dirty, they don’t take out another, they just quickly wash the bowl and use it again.

If you want to really have fun…go to the thrift store and let the children pick out their very favorite plate/bowl/cup. It would probably cost about $2 per person…but it would give each person a sense of ownership. Some of my very favorite dishes came from thrift stores! If you are someone that has to have matching everything, this obviously wouldn’t work for you I know from personal experience, that once I downsized my kitchen “stuff” by about 75%, life became very happy. Look at the things you use every day, and keep them. Everything else goes away (at least out of sight). I could have a fully functional kitchen with one large chef’s knife and a few bowls. And remember… “this level of simplicity liberates energy for art, laughter, family, and tribe”. Because who wants to do dishes all day? Be liberated!

The second part of this quote speaks about living in close quarters…specifically one large “great room”, and how it magically brings people together. Now that we have come “off the road” and out of the RV for a few months, we are noticing how hard it is to connect as a family. We really have to work at having time together…uninterrupted by TV, activities, and spacious homes. We REALLY like living in a small space because it’s so easy to bond together and to truly live. It’s been a great learning experience … I don’t think we will ever go back to a big house. Too much space to get away from your family! After awhile, you start to think you actually NEED that space.

Another book that I am planning on getting from the library…A Handmade Life by Bill Coperthwaite (maker/mastermind behind the tapered wall wooden yurt). A little about Bill…

William Coperthwaite is a teacher, builder, designer, and writer who for many years has explored the possibilities of true simplicity on a homestead on the north coast of Maine. In the spirit of Henry David Thoreau, Emily Dickinson, and Helen and Scott Nearing, Coperthwaite has fashioned a livelihood of integrity and completeness-buying almost nothing, providing for his own needs, and serving as a guide and companion to hundreds of apprentices drawn to his unique way of being. (amazon.com)

For those of you in Maine, you should venture to “Dickinson’s Reach” on the northeast coast sometime to visit his homestead. I wish I would have known about it while we were up there this fall! Here is a nice little article about him…he’s a man after my own heart: ”If living is to be right, it ought to be beautiful,” declares Coperthwaite. Preach it, Bill!

Can life be beautiful even with just a few possessions? Yes! This is just one of the reasons why I am in awe of the Mongolian culture (their gers/yurts in particular) and how they have taken such care in making their life beautiful. Every time I see one of their beautiful doors, my breath is taken away. I have also fallen in love with their furnishings. Pure beauty…in color and form.

It’s so interesting to me that we can draw insight and inspiration from a culture and lifestyle that most of mainstream America would deem as “primitive”. Our country would be a different place if more families lived in such close community and focused on making life beautiful with less.

Creative Commons Photo Credit: dwarawlinson

Hello friends!
I’ve been gone a long time…but I’m back with a really exciting announcement! Matt, Bella, and I are going on tour! We have recently purchased an RV that will run on straight vegetable oil, and we are going to travel around the U.S. for the next year.

Wait a minute! Did you say veggie oil?! Yes. FREE waste vegetable oil…the same kind that your eggroll was fried in for lunch. Pumped straight from behind your local Thai/Chinese/Fast Food restaurant into our tank (filtered of course). I am writing this post from Springfield, MO, home of Golden Fuel Systems. Golden Fuel Systems converts any diesel engine to run on veggie oil…and we are so excited to be a part of this alternative fuel movement.

BUT…I NEED YOUR HELP! We have a rough route mapped out…but we want to base our travels on YOU! I would love to come and meet you face to face…and also have you assist us in finding green/sustainable/alternative fairs, coops, and other educational opportunities in your local areas. We are going to be looking for companies/organizations to sponsor our educational tour as well.

While we are on the road, we will still need to make some money to live. I am going to be scheduling photo shoots in each area that we stop in. For those of you that could assist in getting the word out in your town…I will give you a significant discount on your own photos. You can see some of my portrait sessions here. I will also be available to help you simplify, downsize, and/or decorate your homes! Matt will assist by doing any handiwork/painting around your house.

If you are interested in adding your town to our tour…please contact me immediately and we’ll start talking details! We are planning to leave in late August/early September.

We just launched our new website today with many more details of what I have just shared… and we will be detailing the entire journey on that site. Check it out here: http://www.livelightlytour.com

Wheeeeeee! We are so excited to hit the road!

Home. Just saying that word makes you feel so warm and cozy. However, the definition of home is different for everyone. It seems that in America, we get so stuck in the “American Dream” mentality…more and more people are buying homes that they cannot afford and sometimes homes that they didn’t “need” in the first place. It’s common in other countries to save up until you can buy a house outright…taking whatever measures necessary to reach that goal (living with parents, etc). There is an article on the history of mortgages here. And another interesting little fact: the word mortgage is from the Old French language and translates roughly to “death pledge.”While it’s true that real estate can be a wonderful way to create personal wealth, owning a home is not essential to a happy life. In fact, I would argue that being free from a mortgage makes life VERY happy While it’s not always possible to be completely free of a mortgage or a payment for housing of some sort, there are housing options that cost much less than a traditional home AND are more earth-friendly. Here are some of those options:

Straw Bale

A straw bale home is insulated with straw bales. They can be beautiful and elegant…as well as efficient. I have always wanted to take a straw bale workshop…we had actually signed up to go to Dancing Rabbit for a week and do that, but it fell through. I have plans to go there someday and learn. I would love to build my own house as we can pay for it…and do the labor ourselves. More photos here…this one is particularly fun.

Cob

Cob is a mixture of sand, clay, and straw. You are able to mold it to your liking…which allows for great creativity in your space. They are so whimsical and lovely with the rounded edges. I love the feel. Here is a cob house in Mayne Island, BC…I am in LOVE with it. Can it be any cuter? Her main website is here which includes more cob resources.

Yurts

I love yurts. I’ve always been attracted to the round shape and the fact that they can be put anywhere. They can be extremely basic and off the grid, or they can be decked out…to the height of luxury. Although they can be just one large room, they can also be separated into different areas and can also have a loft. Yurts have been around for a long time…and are still used in Mongolia today. There is just something about living in a yurt that thrills me. I love reading stories about those who are doing it.

• Yurt Magic
• Rainier Yurts
  
• Pacific Yurts
• Colorado Yurt Company

A “Tiny” House

Tumbleweed houses are so stinking cute…how could you not want to live in one?! If you buy their pre-fab models, the cost is quite high, but if you just buy the plans and build it yourself, they range from $4,000-$14,000. The B-52 Bungalow rings in at 500 sq. feet. Sounds just perfect to me! Check out this great little documentary about a lady who sold her “big” house and moved into a “tiny” house.

Living in Community

Ask any of my closest friends…and they will tell you that “Yes, Sara wants to go live in a commune. She’s crazy”. But seriously. I do. But not a “let’s-all-run-around-naked-commune” in the sense that you may be thinking. I want to live in close COMMUNITY with other like-minded people (it is often referred to as an “intentional community”). I would love to share gardens, share playgrounds, and share meals a few times a week (vegetarian, of course). I would love a community where everyone could have their own living space (preferably a cob home like Kate’s ) There would be a large area where cars were not allowed. Bikes would be the preferred mode of transportation…and everyone would work from home. There would be lots of music, drumming, and singing…and people who like to think and talk a lot (if you’ve ever been in camping ministry, it’s kind of similar!). Ahhh…so fun to dream. I love to read Communities magazine, the Intentional Community website, and dream about living in communities like this or this. When we were visiting our friends in Boulder, we met some wonderful people who were sharing a home to help make it more affordable. There was a married couple with a child, and two single guys. I loved that they were thinking outside the box…combining their resources to achieve their goals. Eventually, they want to acquire land in southern Colorado and build a community.

Renting
And of course, another option to buying a traditional home is to rent. We love renting right now. We have a teeny tiny little rent payment (like our square footage ), and we’ve never been happier…knowing that we’re not “tied down” by a house and that we don’t have to work endless hours to make a payment. Renting allows a certain level of freedom that many are attracted to. I know that there are lots of compelling arguments about why you should buy your own house and stop renting. I’ve heard them…so please don’t try to convince me I’m not AGAINST owning a home. There is a wonderful feeling that comes with making it your own and putting down roots. I’m not saying that we won’t ever own again. I just want people to really examine WHY they are buying a home…and to look at all the options that are out there. When we were renting before, we said “we should just buy so we can stop paying rent”. So we qualified for a loan, and bought a house (the house you see at the top of this post). It was a beautiful home and we were happy there, for awhile…but it was too big (in our eyes). but it wasn’t the best for us at that time. And it costs money to maintain a home. And just because you can “afford” a certain home does not mean you have to purchase all the way up to the loan limit. Be smart and buy a house because it’s the right decision for you and your family…and not because your cousin, your brother, and your brother’s friend’s sister’s uncle is doing it. Just think for yourself. And of course, wherever you decide to call home…make it YOUR HOME…whether you are going to be living there for 1 month or 30 years.

Other resources:
Mortgage-Free!: Radical Strategies for Home Ownership
More Dancing Rabbit photos
The Farm…one of the first intentional communities

Photo credits:
Straw bale: Flickr/cer!se
Cob: Flickr/the_usr
Yurt: Flickr/emdot
Tiny House: Flickr/ Telstar Logistics
Living in Community: Flickr/lalallallalala