The requisite PDX carpet photo, with snow boots, of course!
Last night over dinner I said to my companions: “Okay, so where are you when you’re eating pad kee mao (with kale?!) while listening to live folk music on a snowy night and discussing building a small house out of bamboo in the Philippines and a tiny house on wheels in Greece, mostly in English, but also a little in Spanish?” They laughed and said “Yestermorrow!” Close enough. We were actually at Fit to be Thai’d at Sugarbush in the Mad River Valley, just down the road from Yestermorrow. But it was a Yestercrew. What a joy it is to be back here to teach the second two weeks of the annual month-long Tiny House Design Build Certification!
My flight to Burlington was a little delayed because our plane had to be deiced in Chicago (I try not to fly through O’Hare in the winter, but sometimes it’s the only option), but it was overall smooth sailing back to Vermont. It was wonderful to be greeted at the tiniest international airport with that row of white rocking chairs!
Being greeted by these white rocking chairs at the Burlington airport always makes me grin!
This is now my 15th year coming to Yestermorrow and it’s always fun when I first arrive on campus again to wander around and explore what’s changed: This wall has been replastered in a new color. This loft now has a new banister and an access gate. This comfy sofa is far superior to the one that was in the library last time I was here. But some things are nostalgically exactly the same: The scent of snickerdoodles wafting from the kitchen. The sunburst over the door in the design studio. The pile of boots and slippers by the front door. It’s nice to be “home” again!
So great to be back in the Mad River Valley of Vermont at Yestermorrow!
My co-instructor Jussi is our lead instructor this year and he’s the consistent presence for our students the entire month. The first two weeks of the cert Trish, another design-build instructor, was here with the team and I tagged her out when I arrived. I look forward to sharing what I can as I help nudge our students along in their designs and I have no doubt I’ll learn a bunch and be reinspired as well!
After introductions this morning we piled into the van and our TA Ezrie chauffered us on a field trip to visit the tiny house that was built by Jussi’s class in the most recent Certificate in Residential Design & Construction. The house isn’t finished yet, but that gave us a great opportunity to talk about what we could see. (I finally got to see TimberBatt in action!) A bonus is that this tiny is about the same size as a couple of our students are planning on their houses being, so they got to try that volume on for size.
I loved getting to check out this tiny house on skids that was built by the recent Certificate in Residential Design & Construction!
Next we visited a 25 foot diameter yurt and got to hear how the occupant manages her systems in a Vermont winter (shearling-lined slippers and a 4 am first stoking of the coals in the wood stove seem to be important routines). I marveled that the yurt was just over twice the diameter, but nearly 5 times the volume of the Home, Sweet Yurt I lived in when I was in grad school. On our drive we talked about roof shapes, witches windows, and the connected farm buildings of New England.
Pretty impressive how the occupant of this yurt makes it a cozy home in a Vermont winter!
Over lunch I caught up with two fellow Yestermorrow instructors: Jacob Mushlin (whom I met in 2010 when we were both Less is More students and with whom I’ve taught Tiny House Design-Build several times) and Lindley Brainard (who was an intern when I first came to Yestermorrow to take my core class for the Sustainable Design-Build Certification). So fun reminiscing about the old days and talking about ideas for the future!
Always fun to reconnect with folks I met when I first came to Yestermorrow in 2010!
We spent this afternoon in the design studio, talking about tiny house types and regulations before everyone hunkered down at their drafting tables to focus on their own designs. It was exciting to learn about the projects our students are pursuing: a tiny house on wheels in Greece, an ADU in North Carolina, a small home in Maine, and a (maybe) A-frame cabin in Southern Vermont.
We got to know folks from the Woodworking Certificate, which is running simultaneously with our course, at a “snacky hour” which involved puzzles, word games, and few quite passionate rounds of ping-pong. After dinner I checked in with students at their drafting tables, but everyone was either on a roll or wrapping up for the night, so I’ve had the chance to try to capture it all. I think it will be an early night before our build day tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing the progress so far!