November Wrap Up

Hello, Yuletide! I can't believe it's time to start Christmas shopping soon - like, right now! Here are some of my favorite posts from this month:

Accidental Light Painting: Streaks of pretty lights - why and how!

Morning Over Mono: A Poem: Dawn breaks and poetry is inspired

Orange Season: A girl dressed in orange stalks through the woods

Manchester Hot Glass: Glass blowing 101

Go: WWOOF-ing!: Adventures farming in South Dakota <3 <3

I have also been trying to utilize Instagram more these days to stay in touch with family and friends. No lie, I've been cheating a bit because my phone and tablet have pretty shitty cameras. You know, gotta keep it crisp!

 

Go ahead, follow me!

Despite the foot of fresh snow (and the impending forecast - whomp), AGP and I have a pretty packed December including plenty of trips to Boston, Maine, and Connecticut. And after new years we have an AWESOME road trip planned to while away the frozen months like some youthful snowbirds before jumping back into tiny house building in the spring. Woohoo!

Go: WWOOF-ing!

WWOOF (/ˈwʊf/): World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms is part of a worldwide effort to link visitors with organic farmers, promote an educational exchange, and build a global community conscious of ecological farming practices. This is an account of my experience as a WWOOF-er at the Muddy Pumpkin Farm in South Dakota. It was certified awesome.

From where we were standing, we could see the whole, wide Missouri. Hal, the patriarch of the prairie family, was born right over yonder, as he would say, pointing out into the river, to a spot that has since been flooded to create Lake Francis Case. We first met Hal down at the bunkhouse, a building that would forever be in stages of construction - you know, the kind of building that would get a superfluous roof deck before it ever got a floor. We had been investigating the property because no one was answering the door at the farmhouse at the end of the dirt driveway.

Knock harder, he suggested. The door is probably unlocked.

Note: This was the first time I ever saw Tina. A momentous occasion indeed.

Back at the farmhouse, we knocked with renewed vigor until the door finally opened. Enter Jo, the dubious intern, who became our guide to the farm upon our arrival and eventually, one of my most treasured friends. We also met Mark, Hal's son and the brain behind the puzzle of farming in an arid climate, who immediately ignored us and left us to Jo's devices until he deemed us worthy of his esteemed friendship. (Believe me, it was worth the wait). We were also introduced to a handful of cats who would continue to come out of the woodwork for days, including the farm's namesake, Miss Mud Pumpkin herself.

(The pretty lady above is Mud Pumpkin. Pictured below is Milk Wort and Tippy, Tina's mother and brother, respectively.)
 

Picture this: nestled within 25 acres of prairie scrub, cedar gulches, and cattle land, lay 5 cultivated acres of unique farmland. A literal oasis in a statewide desert otherwise interrupted by cattle, wheat, corn, and soybeans, bordered by the Badlands to the West and the monocultural flatlands to the east. Here, the Missouri River and the White River cordoned off the peninsula of the homestead.

Prominently, the two story farmhouse was featured as central meetinghouse and agricultural home base. Beyond that, the decrepit and mysterious "depot", a vestigial landmark from the days when the prairie was sliced through with rails, currently at work as a colossal junk drawer and pigeon coop, but still eerily charming. A ways down the winding dirt road is the permanently under construction bunkhouse, resting on a grassy cul-de-sac alongside a broken down travel van and an out of commission tow-behind-trailer that we were sent to occupy for the time being. And peppered throughout all of this: vehicles hastily painted camo, tractor pieces and parts, and a three story tipi constructed with cottonwood trunks. A true apocalyptic hamlet, and in other words, paradise.

WWOOF-ing turned out to be like a dream for me. We would wake early, as farmers are wont to do, and meet at the farmhouse to drink coffee and eat a light breakfast before hitting the fields. During the bulk of our stay, there were about six of us twenty-somethings splitting the summer duties; we either weeded, harvested, trellised, or planted before we took turns preparing lunch, followed by a bit more work before the summer heat became unbearable for us. Then we might take a siesta or head down to the shale-y banks of the Missouri to cool off.

Either way, we were rife with anticipation of our nightly leisure. At least I was, for I quickly became hopelessly enamored of our hosts and ragtag team of transient workers. They were brilliant, funny, engaging, and boy, could they cook. We spent many evenings concocting smorgasbords, dipping into the day's bounties whenever inspired, challenging each other to create the tastiest meals we could imagine. My true chef was born within those short weeks and I had never before appreciated food like I did when I raised and harvested it myself.

And they could party, too. Even though we were exhausted from the daily, semi-back breaking labor, we still tried to make each day magical - going on adventures, sharing feasts, and turning everything into a celebration whenever possible, trying to incorporate beer and felt Settlers of Catan in to every possible nook and cranny.

When one of the adolescent chickens died, Clubby - the chick with the deformed foot, we threw a pizza party complete with elaborate funeral in which the deceased was laid to rest beneath a towering cottonwood tree. We wore costumes, made margaritas, and knocked golf balls deeps into the prairie. It was just that kind of whimsical.

AGP and I had so much fun we even stayed for an extra week so we could celebrate the Fourth of July with our new friends on the banks of the Missouri. So American.

But eventually, and much to my chagrin, we had to move on from the camaraderie of agriculture and continue with our trip. As we drove away, I worried that I might be saying goodbye to the Muddy Pumpkin forever, never to return. Never to see my new friends again. This vexed me.

(Spoiler alert, I do come back and I do see my new friends again! Hooray!)

AGP and I move on to Wyoming and delve back into our transient, adventurous lifestyle.

Catch up on the whole adventure!: The 'Go' Series

We Are Tiny House Builders

I mentioned earlier that we are in the business of building tiny houses on trailers so I want to give a little insight to the process and the journey to where we are today. We have actually just completed our fourth model, The Sherwood, and it is currently on sale! You can check out the full album of Sherwood photos here! This is the first year we've been able to build two in a season. Go us!

Actually, it's more like 'Go AGP!' This is his brain child and born of his blood, sweat, and raw determination. And barely out of college too. I work the books, hold boards for the nailing, and play number one fan.

What exactly are tiny houses? For the uninitiated to this rapidly growing trend in affordable housing, they are simply houses under 400 square feet. We take this notion to the next level by shrinking them so they fit on a tow-behind trailer, so what you get is a miniature sized house that you can move anywhere. What separates this from an RV or mobile home is that it is made from a traditional wooden stick frame and looks just like a shrunken house or cabin that you can live inside of full time (or part-time, whatever floats your boat). It has a bathroom, kitchen, superb heating, and all the comforts of home in an affordable, efficient, and stylish space. Except that unlike most buildings of its size and permanence, it rarely needs building permits since it is technically mobile, which makes it a perfect addition to undeveloped or lightly developed land. Think: insta-home.

How did we get here? Though he majored in environmental studies and international affairs, AGP 's heart was always first with carpentry and working with his hands. So, with the approval of his in-through-the-out-door adviser, he decided to produce an eco-friendly tiny house built on top of an old, used lobster trailer for his thesis. Fast forward through the obvious confusion about the major-to-thesis relationship and you will find AGP and I posting up semi-permanent style in a warehouse just outside of Worcester, Massachusetts in January of last year.

This was a thrilling time for us. Fresh from our humungous road trip cross country, I was ready to continue with my break from the corporate grind and AGP was ready to build. Over the next four months, we slogged away in a chilly and bare-bones workshop environment that we also (secretly) lived in, dividing our time - mostly - between weekdays at the warehouse and weekends in Boston with friends.

Yes, you read that right - AGP and I inhabited a warehouse for four brutally cold months in 2013. It was an interesting change of pace from my previous city-dwelling-cum-road-trip lifestyle, to say the least. We set up a small "living room" and "kitchen" in the lofted space over the bathroom and from there attempted to carve out a little normalcy in our concrete cave surrounded by the sounds of miter saws and nail guns. 

 

I chipped in here and there with my brute strength, blogging-steez, painting skills, and research acumen. And with a little extra help from his buddies, but mostly his own ingenuity and determination, the house was completed at the end of April, his thesis paper was submitted, and AGP graduated from college.

We were also the focus of a tiny house documentary called "Living Small" by student filmmaker Stephen Hewitt, which you can watch if you are interested in what us know-nothing idiots look like fumbling around with hammers and dreams. Although, I recommend sticking with it because it ends rather triumphantly, if I do say so myself. 

Living Small - Tiny House Documentary from DocumentedWorld on Vimeo.

From there we thought - why the hell not?! - and proceeded to rent an enormous Ford F-350 diesel dually and drag the house to Oacoma, South Dakota (after which we fondly named the first model). This is when we learned not to build a tiny house on a used trailer. While we were trying to make it to the other side of Indiana, we lost two wheels and ended up stranded in a very anxious way while a blessedly local tractor trailer repair shop tried to track down replacement wheel bearings for our ancient wagon. Though we did eventually make it to South Dakota, even through a snow storm, and back home with no further issues. And we were even plus one feline companion.

 

Once the house was sold, building went on a summer hiatus until our long awaited move to Vermont in the fall whereupon a commissioned shell was completed before winter came. Cue winter and some odd jobs in between until it is gloriously spring and a chance to put these tiny house skills to use again.

This summer has really been the heyday of tiny house buildings and as the ever-present observer, I can vouch that the quality of the houses has improved incredibly from his freshman build. Streamlined and ready to customize, AGP's tiny homes include a full bathroom with a shower and a super reliable hot water heater, a full kitchen with a stove and refrigerator, and a sleeping loft connected by a staircase with hideaway storage. And don't worry about those cold winters, because these units have a propane heating system that will keep your small space toasty and efficient.

But I'm not here to sell you these houses, I just want to chronicle the adventure from warehouse dwellers to small business owners. It has been an awesome journey that I am super proud to be a part of.  We really have our dreams and desires on the line with these projects and we are constantly scheming on  how we can improve and expand our vision with a little bit of elbow grease and determination. Right now building is headed into another wintery hiatus, but we have major plans to hit the ground running again once the ground thaws in spring. I will keep you in the loop as our business continues to grow!

Easy links: 

Sherwood classifieds - for sale!

Youtube virtual tiny house tour

Sherwood model photo album

Tiny house documentary featuring me and AGP!

AGP's Oacoma model blog