Home is Where Your House Is

I'm now settled in my new parking spot and I think I'm going to like it here. This morning I woke up to sunshine and rolled over to discover two hummingbirds sipping nectar from the flowers on the bush outside my skylight. Glorious deep purple blooms of the old lilac trees just outside my window seat provide shade and a lovely aroma. My front door is near the street so I wave to neighbors passing by. Ella is settled into the chicken coop (It's totally amazing that I happened to find two parking spots with empty chicken coops!) The folks who live in the house seem very nice. And there's a garden and a hammock just steps from my front door.

I had fun showing the place off this afternoon to Hannah Doyle, a journalism student at the University of Oregon who is doing a story for OR Magazine. She and her colleagues visited with me on a picnic blanket, munching chips and salsa, asking questions about the Little Life, and taking tons of pictures.

One of her questions was "What has surprised you about living in a tiny house?" I told her I've become more attuned to the weather. I explained that when you can see every side of the house from where you're standing you know where the moon rises, which way the wind is blowing the driving rain, which constellations are hanging over the skylight.

It's incredible how rotating the house 180 degrees from how it was oriented at the last location really

changes the feel of the house. Now my windowseat is to the south and my kitchen window is to the north which is completely opposite how it was before. I've especially been marveling at how the light moves through the house differently.

My kitchen gets direct sunshine first thing in the morning before the sun rises behind the trees. That morning light is fresh and bright, but without the rich golden hues of evening. By the time the sun makes its way south it's partially blocked by the lilac trees which dapple the light coming into the house. Even though we have had a streak of unseasonably gorgeous weather the house hasn't overheated. Unfortunately, I can't see the sunrise from my bed anymore and I'll miss the pink sunrises. But now my kitchen window now faces west so I can see sunset skies while cooking supper.

It's neat to see how the same space can have a different atmosphere because of it's orientation. It's a great argument for strategically siting and orienting a house that is fixed to a foundation! Nevertheless, my tiny house still feels very much like home in its new location. I hope someday to live in a tiny house that can be transported easily so that I can try out different settings. Way better than rearranging the furniture!

Tiny House on the Move

My tiny move only took me a few hours. Packing was a piece of cake. My to do list read like this:

1. Wrap breakable kitchen items (dishes and mason jars of rice, lentils, oats, etc.) in towels and put them into a storage tote
2. Snug shiftable things (spice rack, olive oil, office supply basket) into laundry hamper
3. Take wine bottles out of rack and tuck them into dresser drawer (ditto with candles)
4. Strap kitchen drawers and refrigerator closed with a bungee cord

Since I was taking my whole house with me there were all sorts of things

I didn't have to pack up at all. My jackets remained on the rack, my shoes in their basket, and my pots on their shelf. My bed stayed made up and ready for another night's sleep. I left all my clothes in their dresser drawers and just strapped the drawers shut with a bungee cord. For me the last step of feeling settled in a new place is getting art up on the walls, but this time it was already there!

A few neat tiny house details made the move simpler, too. I have a little shelf with a bar across the front for my empty mason jars (read: drinking vessels, aka glasses), so I left them where they were.  Since my dishrack hangs on hooks I knew it would likely sway a little but that nothing would fall and break. So I just left the dishes drying in the rack. I even decided to just leave my Christmas cactus hanging from its hook on the ceiling! No problems there. As I design a tiny house for myself that will be more mobile than this one, I will try to remember these little tricks made hitting the road much quicker and easier.

Once I knew everything was secure inside I headed outside to disconnect the house from its utilities. I unscrewed the water supply hose and disconnected the waste pipe from the corrugated drainage pipe of my greywater system. I unplugged my electrical cord and unscrewed my propane line and wrapped the lines up with zip ties so they wouldn't drag along the way. Then I closed the shutters so they would protect the windows in transit. I removed the wheel covers and tire blocks. With the propane tank, front steps, and jacks safely tucked inside the house, we were ready to roll.

We got the tiny house parked in its new spot, stabilized on jacks, and hooked up to water, power, and propane. Simplest move I've ever made!

A Tiny Move for a Tiny House

A new tiny house is moving into the parking spot I've enjoyed for the past seven months, so the tiny house I'm living in is moving on down the road. Literally. I found a new parking spot just three blocks away, so tomorrow morning I'll be packing up my breakables, strapping down my shiftables, and unhooking my utilities. We'll open the gate, hook my tiny house up to a neighbor's 3/4 ton pick up truck, and move the tiny house three long blocks to a new spot where I'll live for the next two months. After that Britt's Bungalow is on its way back up to Olympia where it will be a vacation rental for the summer. It's a tiny tester for people interested in living in a tiny house (or just curious about them).

I feel so lucky to have been a long-term tester of Brit's Bungalow. It's totally Lina approved. I love it! And I've really enjoyed the spot I've been parked, too. Today I'm savoring the delights of this place: the bamboo grove, the clover patch, the chicken coop, the garden, the view through the tree tops, the covered bike parking. It's been a perfect parking spot for a tiny house.

Henpecked

All the backyard chicken forum posts I read about introducing day old chicks to a broody hen provided suggestions for how to successfully get chicks to imprint on their mama and visa-versa. We did everything they suggested: putting the peeping chicks in the box next to the mama hen for a couple hours, sneaking them under her in the evening one-by-one, and removing the eggs she'd been sitting on. We made sure that their food, water, and heat lamp were ready and available and we tended to them each morning and evening. We were successful in April Fooling My Hen and watching the chicks has been one of the best parts of Springtime in the Tiny House.

Everything has gone exactly as the chicken forums described. Ella literally tucked her babies under her wings to keep them warm. It was fun to see them follow her around and jump on her back for a ride. She taught them to forage and she clucked to her the little fuzz balls to show them worms and bugs.

But none of the posts that told us how to introduce chicks to a hen said anything about it being common for a hen to reject her chicks at four to eight weeks old. Five weeks from the time we gave Ella her chicks she started laying eggs again. Two days later she started acting really agitated and pecking at her babies. I separated them while I did some research.

Here's a post I found:

"We had our top hen a Black Australorp go broody this spring... We finally decided to slip three 1 day old chicks under her at night.  It was a success and Precious was an excellent mama!  She protected them, taught them how to forage, and integrated them into the flock of 6 other 1 year old hens.  Then when they turned 4 weeks almost to the day, she cut them loose.  She started laying eggs and roosting with the flock.  She didn't want anything to do with them and even chased and pecked them.  Poor babies didn't know what was happening!"

It was a relief to know we weren't alone in experiencing this. But knowing it was normal for a mama hen to reject her chicks didn't make it any easier to see it happen. Ella didn't like being separated so we tried letting them be together part of the time, too. Unfortunately, Ella pecked two of them so brutally that I've separated them indefinitely. Two or three times a day I've been putting ointment on the babies that were pecked. They aren't healing as quickly as I'd like to see, but they seem to be doing fine. Ella seems to be fine in solitary confinement in her little makeshift chicken tractor, though I think she'll be happier once I figure out a next box situation for her. So far it seems to be working well, but it's a bit of a pain to tend to the hen and chicks separately. Hopefully when the chicks are big enough to fight back we can reintroduce them. Meanwhile I hope I can keep everyone healthy and happy. Wish us luck!

Showcasing Accessory Dwellings in Portland

 

As part of my internship with Orange Splot, LLC, I've been doing case studies of accessory dwelling units in Portland and guest posting on the Accessory Dwellings website. Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) are separate living spaces on the same property as a larger house. They're also called mother-in-law apartments, granny flats, or backyard cottages. Sometimes they're build in attics or basements or over a garage. I think ADUs are a brilliant way to increase density, utilize existing infrastructure, build community, and provide housing flexibility and adaptability.

Here are the Accessory Dwelling posts I've written:

• Shawn's Live Work Accessory Dwelling
• A Sister in Law House
• The Granger House: Own Two, Rent 

The system development charges (SDCs) that make building an ADU cost prohibitive for most

families have been waived until 2013. This can save families thousands of dollars! So I'm working with a group of space-efficient housing advocates to share ADU stories so that people consider building ADUs while the fees are waived. We're hoping that if we can show that there's a demand for them the waiver will continue, making ADUs an affordable and efficient development strategy.

This week several space-efficient dwellings were showcased on a tour as part of the Living Future Unconference. Several more ADUs will be featured on the ADU Bike Tour I'm coordinating on Sunday, June 10th as part of Pedalpalooza.

Biking Rain or Shine

It's a unfortunate that we had such downpours today since we're kicking off the Bike to PSU Challenge. They have an awesome interactive website that's shiny and easy to use. I'm on a team of 10 and we're competing with other teams on total mileage and commute rate throughout the month of May. Our team challenge this week is to ride every day, at least one way. Day 1: so far, so good. I rode to campus in the morning and stopped into the Bike Hub to get my bike tuned up. The folks there are super friendly and helpful. I like that I can work on my bike myself there with assistance since it's educational and empowering. It was a good lunch break activity before getting back to my studies. When I finished up with a project in the computer lab at 8pm I put my bike on the bus and then rode it home instead of transferring to the second bus.

I'm a fair weather biker so I usually just take transit on the rainy days, but this challenge will help hold me accountable to cycling even in the rain. (That and the fact that I decided not to buy a transit pass this term!) I have a great pair of rain pants, but I really should put fenders on my bike, too. I've been told they're mandatory here and I can see why. I haven't gotten any yet because I plan to swap out my wheels for new ones which will probably need different fenders. My spokes are pretty rusted and the rims are steel instead of aluminum so the brakes don't always catch right away in the rain. I've been meaning to get around to it, but my wheels are an unusual size so I've been putting off doing the research. It may be that riding this month for the Bike to PSU Challenge will convince me the time is now!

Hammock Time!

We've had a rather convenient weather pattern of gray weekdays and sunny weekends. There's a joke around here when you have lovely days in the spring followed by another gray day. People start saying, "Don't worry. It will be back. We'll have another nice day in July or August!" It's enough to keep people hoping. Portland is like Seattle in that they don't get dolled up in their nicest weather very often but when they do they're beautiful and everyone gets outside to make the most of it. Glad I was able to soak up the sunshine while I did.

Today my friend Marti who was here for a contra dance festival came over for a picnic lunch

(complete with lemonade!) Afterwards I hung my hammock up and lounged in it while I read a book for the paper that's due today. I've been enjoying reading on my kindle, especially after I figured out two tricks: 1) I can load my articles for school onto it, and 2) I can highlight and bookmark. It's especially nice for reading on transit or outside because I don't need to have a pen or a notepad with me. The pages don't rustle in the breeze, I don't get that funny ache in my hand from holding the book open, and all the paperwork I need is right there on my slim, portable reader.

In this lovely weather my Christmas Catcus finally decided to bloom. That is a nice May Day treat! I think it likes its new spot dangling from the tiny house's ceiling near the skylight.

Springtime in the Tiny House

I returned from my trip to California to discover that springtime had arrived in Portland, too. I took the Max Red Line home from the airport this afternoon, switching to the bus and then walking the last couple of blocks. It was fun to have that time to see everything so vibrant: people mowing their lawns, trees and flower in bloom, backyard chickens foraging for worms.

I turned my heater off at the beginning of April since we'd had a couple of warm days. We've had some gray and rainy days, too, but overall, it's been quite pleasant. I especially love those first few days of the year when you open all the windows and leave them open all day and all night, fresh air flowing through the house. I debated leaving the heat on low when I left for my trip, but ultimately decided my cat could burrow into the blankets if he needed to. Hopefully I'll be able to leave it off from here on out. If I do, I managed to use the heater for just five months this year, from the beginning of November through the end of March. I seem to have survived a Portland winter in a tiny house no problem-o.

Now the tulips are blooming outside my front door and the lilacs along the fence. I helped my landlady get her compost system set up so that's ready to go again, too. The garden is looking lovely and I've especially enjoyed watching a Calliope hummingbird that zips around the blueberry bushes. The greens that have overwintered are now bolting so I'm eating greens as quickly as I can! I've been making a bruised kale salad with a little lime juice, black sesame seeds, and dried cherries. I know, it sounds like a strange combination, but it's really quite tasty!

Meanwhile, the chicks are big enough that they've been playing outside the coop. It's sooo cute to watch them figure things out. They're still puffballs but they're getting more feathers all the time and they chase each other around, playing catch-me-if-you-can with worms and slugs. They all sleep tucked underneath the mama hen Ella and she clucks to them when she finds a worm or some greens for them. Spring is my favorite time of year and I feel really lucky to be able to spend it in such a pretty place!

Tiny House in Portland Tribune's Sustainable Living Section

Raffi, the tiny house, and I were on the front page of the Sustainable Living section of Friday's Portland Tribute. Check out Home Tiny Home to see the story and photos. There were a couple inacurracies: 1) the article said that I plan to have a tiny house built for me someday but I actually plan to build my own tiny house someday, and 2) the tiny house I live in is only 121 square feet, not 144 as the story claims.

But overall it was a good article and it's exciting to be part of it. The story has been picked up by other local papers like the Tigard Times and the Beverton Valley Times.

Tiny Barn Exterior Wrapping Up

Today marks three weeks since the tiny house build began. After a beehive-like first week of building, things quieted down in the second week as the roof framing, sheathing, and tar papering continued with a smaller crew. In week three the evolution has continued thanks to Jane and her talented friends. I've been busy the past two weeks with the start of a new school term so I've managed to do just few little things (installing hurricane ties for the roof rafters, deconstructing and then rebuilding the storage loft at the new and improved height, and prying up the subfloor so we can let the floor joists dry out). I discovered I really like using a palm nailer!

This week Jane's friend stained the beautiful leaded glass door and a friend of his installed it. An artist whose medium is woodworking, spent the past week in Portland applying his craft to the tiny house. I've been thoroughly impressed each evening I've stopped by on my way home to see the progress. In one week he finished the roof overhangs on the gambrel ends, installed the metal roof, trimmed out the windows and the corners, installed belly boards, hung the beveled siding, and installed shakes on the gambrels. He even carved a little lotus pattern into one of the shakes, adding an extra little touch of beauty. Thanks to his excellent craftspersonship, the house's exterior is buttoned (and nailed, screwed, and stapled) down (and up and sideways), waiting for us to resume with interior design and building.

I'm taking a break from the tiny house for the next week since I'm headed to Los Angeles for the national planning association conference and a visit with my sister. Jane has said she might take a break, too, to catch her breath before the next phase. Don't worry, we'll be back at it soon. In the meantime, I wanted to leave you all with some photos of the tiny house's progress.