Hand Me Downs

You may see a theme developing over time in some of my blogs.  Housing is one of our basic needs, and also one of the biggest sources of stress in modern life, I think.  Having a mortgage is both a freedom and a burden.   

I have a fascination with alternative types of housing.  For that matter, housing that doesn’t necessarily require a mortgage. I think my Dad first sparked this.  It took me a lot of years to see any kind of curiosity to the idea that my dad, a career army officer, always subscribed to Mother Earth magazine.  Dad’s always been intrigued by other ways to have a house, other ways of building.  I love to call and say “Hey dad, do you know anything about cob houses?  Straw bale?”  We could talk about this for a long time.

By desire or necessity, lots of human beings seek other ways to dwell than the typical modern American  home.  Sarah Susanka has a wonderful book that sparked a lot of other wonderful books called The Not So Big House.  One of her driving principles is that we will have more satisfaction with a smaller, more thoughtful and well-considered space than a massive one.    I’ve checked her books out of the library at least a half-dozen times, just digging for ideas.  

A more extreme application of the “less is more” idea is the tiny house.  These are folks who find great freedom in having very little house to take care of.  And moreover, these houses are very often mobile.  But we’re not talking your standard mobile home, here- in some cases, we’re talking about little Victorians on wheels.  Jay Shafer is perhaps the best known proponent of the tiny house people, with the best crafted and most expensive homes.  But when I say most expensive, we’re talking $50,000, and building it yourself for half of that.  The tiny house movement experienced a boom after Hurricane Katrina, when the idea of a nice, small home that you could pick up and take with you on a moment’s notice sounded very appealing.  You can park it anywhere that you could park a large truck- in the woods, near friends, by the water…   

This section is an after-add, but I realized that though I mentioned Jay Shafer I entirely forgot add a link to Tumbleweed Tiny House Company.  Be delighted. 

“Home” is a very relative concept.  I went to a Pennsylvania county fair with my parents a couple of years ago, and toured some “upscale sheds”.  As they were considered “sheds”, they cost in the $4000 range.  We went into one shed that looked very much like a log cabin.  It had a front porch, a small front room, a restroom, a little kitchen and a sleeping loft- the basic amenities of a tiny house.  It was beautiful. For a single person or a snuggly couple who like to spend time outdoors, this could be a great possibility for a home!   

On a final note, another fascinating venture is the Earthship- a home made out of recycled materials- tires, cans, glass- crazy.  Think that sounds ugly?  Check these.  What an amazing way of making beauty and function out of “trash”.   A sidenote, here, and something to chew on.  I first heard about Earthships as a venture to help poor black people in the South- a means to financial independence.   When I googled them, the first sites I ran across were Aryan pride sites- for racists who wanted to avoided black people.  Funny how one person’s means of freedom can be another person’s means of propping up their fear.