Our Tiny House Homestead

My name is Lindsay, and my boyfriend's name is Milo. I'm a writer/photographer, and he's a cook.

We have an opportunity to be a part of a group of 6 people who are looking to throw themselves back into the hands of nature and self-reliance by living off the land.

For a long time, it's been getting harder and harder to justify the way that we have been living. The older we get, the more excessive everything feels, and it's getting more difficult to justify our lifestyle.

As Pacific Northwestern natives, the impact on the environment is literally everywhere we look. Every type of terrain is represented in our state, and every day we damage it more and more in the name of luxury and comfort. "Condos over retail" is taking over, everything is individually wrapped, and while we're an eco-conscious city -- a lot of it is simply greenwashing.

A life-long friend purchased 5 acres of rural, fertile land that will accommodate organic vegetable farming, livestock, and tons of back-breaking, wildly educational, hands-on experience learning what it takes to provide for yourself and be entirely self-reliant.

Here's the area we'll be clearing out for the Tiny House.

As two children from suburban, middle-class families, back-breaking labor is largely foreign territory, but the opportunity to become self-reliant in a world full of conspicuous consumption is far too important to pass up - particularly for our "Me" generation.

The future home of elephant garlic.

So we need to build a home for ourselves, and we've chosen the popular and mobile "Tiny House" design.

Here's some bigger ways we're going to spend our cash:

- We plan on building this as ethically as possible, utilizing salvage, recycling, and upcycling of palettes, windows, basecabs, and other materials in order to keep our footprint (and also budget) to a minimum.

- We've decided to spent a large portion of the money on a new flatbed trailer in order to maximize the safety, structural integrity and overall value of the home. This will likey cost between $2k and $5k and be around 20' in length. (Update: It's been purchased for $3300.)

- Eventually, we will incorporate solar power panels onto the roof of the tiny house. This will mean that we can remain a contained, self-sufficient unit wherever we go. For a 350W solar panel kit, the price is around $2k. In the meantime, we have an opportunity to drop an electrical post and line to our home, as well as some surrounding structures, which would benefit everyone on the property and cost at least $2200.

- A composting toilet and grey water system will be installed in order to deal with the waste that will be inevitable produced by the home. This, along with other plumbing, will probably cost about $750-$1000.

- The nails, screws, fastners, bolts, and brackets we'll be using to secure the tiny house to the flatbed trailer will be the highest quality we can afford. Fortunately, we've already gathered the tools we need (sans a miter saw - $300) and just need the materials.

- For the exterior, we'll be using cedar shake over plywood. It will also provide structural support for the tiny house. The total lumber costs for a 20' tiny house with a maximum pitch of 13' is going to be around $1500-$2k.

You can see we're not asking for all of the money that we need to build the house entirely - we don't need that. We're working full time and it feels good to spend our earnings on the house, but here's the thing: we have a deadline.

We will need to vacate our current residence in August of this year. We don't need it to be finished before August - just live-in-able.

Thank you so much for anything you can contribute. I will be documenting the process of building the house through my website, and hope to be able to pass on the things we learn so others can minimize their lifestyle, as well! xo