An update

Suffice to say, I am not very good at blogging when it comes to committing myself to it.  Here I have all these viewers and I haven’t updated in four months.  Here’s what’s been happening around here...

From when we looked at this place for the first time we knew there was a sense of magic about the air.  The gentle breeze drags the scent of trees and earthy clay, leaving the taste of

sunshine on the back of your tongue; the trees for all of their magical, towering glory make only distant squeak of protest while they dance in that wind.   It’s not all perfect...

Just before the day breaks into a sunshiny glow, the birds scream and sing in revelry over what is to come, fighting and squawking and rapidly chasing one another through the air.   When they are silent, you can hear the squirrels bouncing off of seemingly too small branches to send a cascade of redwood feathers and dew to the ground.  This takes place at about 5am.  Do you know what the world looks like at 5am?  Dark and cold and angry; but the birdsongs are ethereal.  

Every morning, Ross and I throw on our PJ’s and amble down to the lower section of our property to make discoveries.  We have found wild roses, strawberries, irises, thimbleberries, various orchids - there’s always some beautiful bloom or otherwise edible treat to be found on this acreage.  At this time we also find mosquitos who are delighted to have fresh breakfast delivered to them on the daily (that’s us.).  Sometimes we want to go further but Ross is allergic to poison oak so the travels are not always so easy.

I haven’t been to the creek in ages.  I went down there and there were so many mosquitos I couldn’t move without eating a swarm - I am not going to lie: I cried like a baby and whined at Ross about taking me to rainforest-like areas without the good part (ie the animals and plants *in* a rainforest, versus *just* the nasty bugs).  We learned that there is a bird here who makes a wonderful sonar like sound and he eats poison oak berries.  So there is a use for that plant.  Phew.  

We started a rather large garden, where I have now learned to and have grown the following from non GMO Heirloom seeds:

Tomatoes, Strawberries, Cucumbers (I MADE PICKLES), Dill, Basil, Rosemary, Cabbage, Peas (sugar snap), Beans (bush), Borage, marigold, carrots, oregano, mint, potatoes, onions, spinach, lots of lettuce blends - I’m probably even missing things.  

The following are not finished growing yet, but are working on it: Cauliflower, brussels sprouts, corn, various squashes and watermelon, okra, peppers (bell and serrano), eggplant.  To ward off moles and potential gophers or what-nots, we have everything above ground in grow bags, wooden containers (Ross made me garden beds out of redwood!!!) and pots.  Insects, we have, but we bought tons of ladybugs and attract hummingbirds where we can.  The next step will be bats!  

On May 16th we got hot water - Woohoo!  It was glorious.  Yes, I spent an entire month without hot water.  I boiled water for sponge baths and used a heated hose in the middle of the day to wash my hair.  Needless to say, I wasn’t the cleanest hippy on the hill.  It’s the little things.

So far we have been blessed with good neighbors.  There are new ones up above us that we don’t know much, but the people at the end of the road are good and the lovely woman further up has been super sweet (considering a whole bunch of kids just moved onto her street after 27 years of peace).  

On June 17th I was climbing up the ladder and fell.  I didn’t “slip”.  I was almost all the way up when the ladder slipped out from underneath me (forward) and I landed flat on my back at the bottom of the floor (over 7’).  It hurt!  I bruised large portions of my body and could hardly move my neck for days.  I consider myself lucky - the ladder shattered into pieces as it exploded on top of me, making certain to bruise that side too.  I was mere inches from bouncing off of my oak door.  Luckily my brother gave me “falling practice” by pushing me off a balcony when we were little.  I bounced then too and I still bounce at the age of 31!

I also learned on June 17th that baby skunks are adorable and don’t care about humans being in their way.  Looking forward to more Baby Pepe’s next year.  We may lose out because we got a puppy.

BARLEY!

Living in the Tiny House did NOT make us tired of each other.  Actually, Ross and I are closer than ever (we haven’t had a winter yet, so check back when we’re stuck inside :P) and wake up with big smiles every morning.  Living without mirrors or scales doesn’t hurt either - neither one of us really has time to think in vain.  

I have a tan now - I know, sun is bad, but I have a tan and I forgot what it was like to live under florescent lighting.  

One day I woke up and told my friends and family I wanted to quit working, build my house, move to the middle of nowhere and live off the land.  Then I quit working, built my house, moved to the middle of nowhere and am currently growing food to live off the land- all in one year.

HOW COOL IS THE POWER OF HUMAN WILL? Good friends help!

Now, I WILL plan a wedding and I will also get married this year, just to make it harder to beat 2014 in "perfect".

So you can tell yourself "I would like to..." forever, but I can tell you DOING is a hell of a lot easier than doubting OR hoping.

Time to start a new post... I’ll explain what’s been going on with the outdoor kitchen, which seems to be popular curiousity.  

Friends, family and the birth of our Utopia the Tiny House

Some people call their family when they go into labor and are having their first born.
We called to help raise our first house.
It wasn't that it was a large home or particularly difficult undertaking as it was a time constraint - we were closing on the land on January 22nd and wanted to be into the house by April 1st.   On top of that, we needed to do so while Ross continued to work a full time job as an employee at Creative Visions in Monterey and getting time off for the project was difficult.
In stepped his mom and dad, Nick and Cathy.  When they came, his sister Anji followed shortly thereafter.  Suddenly we had half a dozen people standing at the wheels of our base floor lain trailer, ready to raise the roof, as it were.

The framing for the walls was like magic.  Words were passed quickly back and forth between father and daughter, sister and brother, mother and son.  Jeff and I wedged in where we could, took commands when they came and did what we could where we fit.  They worked like a well-oiled machine in a way that would put the Brady Bunch to absolute shame.  Needless to say, the walls were done in a few frames, as it were.

Once this was done, it was simply a matter of putting the truck on the end of the hitch and cranking it up the hillside.  We had cleared a nice spot for it, after all, and the truck could tow 10,000 pounds, right?

Unless the tires are bald and it has been raining on the clay and redwood feather mush you're trying to climb.
Instead of getting up the mountain we went sliding further down the hill with our trailer and its walls, the weight simply too much against the natural slip-n'-slide we were up against.

"There is where you live now," Someone commented.  We all laughed because it was the first place we had chosen but there were too many trees in the way and we didn't want to cut back any more.

"Should we wait til' it dries?"

"Nah.  Let's get a come-along."

I stood there, useless and baffled by the conversations going on around me once again.  One trip to Home Depot later (did I mention we went there almost every day for those two weeks?) we were back on track.   We (Jeff and Nick, though I certainly tried and discovered that houses are heavy) ratcheted the house from the bottom of the hill all the way to the top one click at a time.

From there we had cleared most of the hurdles and tree stumps that could get in our way.  The rest was putting the walls up and adding the gables to get the "barn roof" I was hoping for (I needed the extra head space so I could stretch out and sit up completely.).  Remember, this house was being built for not one person but two, so every inch was going to matter!

While the guys lifted walls and constructed a roof I set to staining what would soon be the exterior walls.  The color?  Barn red, of course.  Anyone who has ever known me knows my fascination with the "Little Red House" that I've always dreamed I'd live in.

I promise you some of the stain was left on the wood and not all of it ended up on my hands...forehead...hair... face...

Anyway, Ross ground down anything leftover on the trailer sides we didn't need while Jeff and I wrapped the house to protect it from the weather.  After the house was wrapped (everything is easy when its this small) we did some exterior work by laying and hammering bead board into place.

Once I could hammer no more and the guys decided to work on the roof - we were also competing with oncoming storms - I wandered off and started pulling strands of poison oak off of the redwoods.

Yes, that vine in my hand is poison oak.

They say when it rains it pours and let me tell you that this was the point in which it started pouring, metaphorically or otherwise.

Just when we were in the midst of windows, frames, soffets, fascias, wine, plans and tea, Ross sprained his ankle.  Heck, it might actually be broken - we still haven't gone to the doctor for it. Hey, there was no health insurance at this point...

Not only did Ross hurt himself, the green truck took a rather bad turn and, just to remind us of silver linings, some itty baby seedlings began to sprout: Future food!!!!

Here, we took some much needed time to sit back and breathe.  Clearly we were in too much of a hurry and something was suggesting we take it easy.  At this point we were so exhausted we had begun looking for reasons to fight so sleeping in a morning or two couldn't hurt.

It didn't last long.
Soon thereafter we were back up and whooshing through the interior of the house, the electricity, the road and the water all simultaneously.  We certainly had enough hands to conquer all!

 I learned to use a Skid Steer and giggled like a mad woman all the while because I totally need one of my very own.

I learned how to wire those little boxes that the plugs to into (so I didn't learn all the names/terminology) and how all of that worked back there.  I laid a floor and helped build a door, walls and shelving.  I can proudly say I did a large chunk of the interior work; tongue, groove and all!

A stain later we were ready to move in.

When was the last time you moved?
It's just as awful now as it was the first time.
Did I mention it chose to rain while we were trying to beat the clock?  Some stuff arrived... wet.
Everything was in a constant state of stress and disarray at first, but it didn't take us long to change our tunes.

Within the first day of moving we realized, however, that not only had we moved to Paradise but we were now in a position to be "glamping" our days away!
Everything felt magical (it still does) and different.

If you've made it this far you've made it to the end (check further back in the blog if you didn't for the beginning of the adventures!) so thanks for coming to join in our adventures!


Here are some pictures of the finished product of the Tiny House, Utopia

And, of course, the Narwhal Bar and Grill

That's it!  That's how you build a tiny house!  Stay tuned for how this works out for me!  And the book can be found here: 
http://books.squidoo.com/the-small-house-book

While I catch up...

Be sure to read our listing over at http://tinyhouselistings.com/nine-and-a-half-week-utopia/