This could either be used to live in while making a larger home (since that could take a year or more to finish) it could be used as a guest home, or it could be used as a very low-cost permanent home for a couple or two friends. It is NOT good for elderly or people with mobility issues.
Interior size is 7X12.
84 sq ft on main floor and 84 sq ft in loft - 168 total sq ft.
Kitchen/dining/home office is 8X7
Bath 7X4
Bedroom is 7X12






Main Floor. I've designed the house to be able to function off-grid but that doesn't mean it has to. The wood burning oven provides heat and cooking. The 2 burner cook-top is propane. The icebox is counter top height and is an old fashioned, actual icebox. The kitchen sink and the shower water are both heated by a portable propane heater in summer and by the wood burning oven in winter. The toilet is a self contained composting toilet - I've checked them out, they aren't gross and they don't stink, you can't tell they aren't a regualr toilet. The sinks and showr drain into a greywater area outside. The door between the bathroom and the main room is an accordian door. All over - open shelving so you have storage, but it still feels "open". The dining table is also a home office area.

Photos behind the cut to give you an idea...
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Main floor if you need more dining space if you have guests over. If the table, icebox, and burners are on wheels - they can be moved out of the way. Now, OF COURSE I would never recommend moving them in front of the doorway like I have shown. You can move them where you want. I'm just saying you could do something like this on ocassion.





And here is the loft bedroom. 7X12. Room for a queen size bed with rolling storage underneath and hanging and drawer space for your clothes on the opposite wall. There is a window seat on the south wall and you could have a small coffee table, but you would need to move it to opena nd close the trap door to go down to the main floor. Lots of book shelves lining the upper walls and windows on all sides except North. The room would be heated from the chimney.

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Building notes -
Strawbale and cob are both time consuming and hard labor, but cheap and well-insulated. Deciding to go another route instead. Post and beam plus straw packed wood pallets, 3 layers deep. That would go up really fast and have great insulation. Plus, the door, windows and corners would be easy compared to strawbale. Then cover it all with chicken wire stapled right onto the wood and cover the whole thing with a few inches of portland cemete (breathable). Portland, as opposed to cob, can be mixed in large batches in a mixer - saving soooo much time and effort. Spread it on like stucco. Still fairly cheap to do. The posts we can get cheap from up north, the portland we can order, the pallets and straw we can get for free. Foundation and roof are small so that limits the expence. What we put inside and how we finish it off is what will add to the costs. Do you have a finished wood floor in the loft or painted particle board? Discounted windows by using custom windows that people returned or didn't pick up - or make your own?

Talked this over with Tracy and should be able to build the structure for $3000 to $5000.

Just for my own reference.

New Hearth is dedicated to:
Reviving (supporting?)Hellenic Pagan worship through building and maintaining sacred spaces and hosting public festivals.
Fosteringgreater economic independence for its members who live on-site in healthy, sustainable communities and teaching these principles by example to those outside our community.

BTW....the virtual community (with blog, etc) pertaining to New Hearth is almost ready to go.

The following is a post by a person on my friend's list. I friended him not because I knew him, but because I heard about him and what he is doing. He is creating something very like what I would like to create - an independent homestead in the country that has sacred spaces and festival grounds. VERY interesting blog.

But I'm adding his post here because it says, far better than I have been able to articulate, why I'm doing what I'm doing. I'm not looking to wall myself away, or create some mythical place where everyone is happy all the time, or turn my back on the world. I'm looking to be independent to limit the amount of control "the system" has over me. To no longer be a wage slave. And to help others do the same - either by joining my merry band or by learning through my successes and fuck-ups. (although I do not believe there is any collapse of civilization coming - that would mean that we are now civilized and I refute THAT notion)



Thoughts on Forming New Perceptions of Utopianism, Survivalism, and Their Inherent Buddhist Underpinnings
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But, what triggered my to write this today was not their post but a response to my reply. One short line, that pushed several back burner thoughts to the front of the stove. "Utopia doesn't survive around urban hunger." This simple set of words unpacked several things in my mind and at the same time tied them together. I thought I'd share.
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So, it doesn't, but it also shouldn't. This latter is more of a personal opinion than a statement of fact, such as the former. I have often said to my friends "I am not a utopianist, but I'd like to be". I would like to believe in some happily ever after scenario. Where everyone finally figures "it" out. I used to be a big "back to the land, hide from the apocalypse" type guy. And then I got tired of waiting. But the phrase "Utopia doesn't survive around urban hunger" led me to realize something else. You know that little voice in the back of your head, the quiet one that when you ask it direct questions you can't seem to hear it? That one has always quietly been uncomfortable with these various "tune in, drop out, live happily ever after" utopian visions of the future. The phrase "No utopia exists..." has given that voice some volume. What I realized is that even if I could survive on an island of plenty and security, surrounded by urban hunger, and unrest. I wouldn't want to, and I would never call that a utopia. In fact I would call it a tragedy.
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Utopia shouldn't exist on an island surrounded by poverty. I realize that my fundamental agreement with this idea comes from a sort of Bodhisattva-esqe view of utopia. One that critiques strongly many of these attempts at creating utopian islands. It isn't about culling a group of like minded individuals from society and hiding away while everyone else goes to hell. That isn't utopia, its escapist survivalism. Real utopia can only be achieved through the survival of all people. As long as there is an "outside" to your utopia, regardless of size, you will have to forcibly defend your utopia from the outside. And, well, as far as I'm concerned using force against your fellow man, your desperate, starving neighbor, even in defense, is not much of a utopia is it?

So, like the Bodhisattva who realizes that because we are all interconnected, until we are all truly enlightened, none of us are truly enlightened, it seems also the case that until we all live in a true utopia, none of us live in a true utopia (if in fact the two are different concepts at all). If this is also true for utopias, than the goals and tactics of the "Bodhisattva utopianist" will differ from the goals of what I will call a "Bubble Utopianist". For example, the former is not primarily concerned with their peer group, they are rather, concerned primarily with those just outside their peer group. Living on a compound in the middle of nowhere is fine, but can we teach the inner city to grow their own food in organic gardens? Is it more truly utopian to grow your own food, in preparation for food shortages, or is it more utopian to try and prevent those food shortages from ever taking place?

I would like to appear to change directions a bit, although I hope to demonstrate that I have not. What do I mean when I say survivalist? Unfortunately survivalists, like other marginal groups, have been given quite the distorted image from mainstream culture. The image of "The Survivalist" that most people are aware of is one generated by a cultural system that does not want true freedom and independence. Simply put, if you are prepared for anything that is practically possible, if you are self-sufficient, if your life is sustainable, then you don't need "the system", the insecurities and fear it would like you to subscribe to, and the control it attempts to exert over you. The last thing the government wants is a nation of people who say "I don't need your intrusion, I can take care of my self". The last thing industry wants is a person that will tell them "I don't need your stuff, I can take care of myself". A survivalist is one who prepares for unforeseen circumstances of any nature in a way that is independent, sustainable and beneficial.
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So, yes, move to the country if that is what you like. Learn sustainable agriculture, harvest rainwater, live simply. But understand that no utopia can exist surrounded by a sea of suffering, nor should it. And yes, prepare, prepare for food riots. But prepare by both protection and prevention. Life is impermanant, all realities change, this reality requires we prepare for the alleviation of suffering, both ours and others, for they are one in the same. Prepare in a way not that is paranoid and fearful, xenophobic and pessimistic. Prepare in a way that prevents. Prepare in a way that builds confidence and security, that improves the lives of yourself and the world around you.


http://dionysusdevotee.livejournal.com/238086.html

Tracy had been coming slowly on board with this, but has been still reserved. We talked this morning and now I know why.

He was under the impression that I was aiming for subsistance style living - grow all your own food, raise animals, don't have any money. He already did that while growing up and has no desire to return to that. I'm not game for that either. No way am I raising animals. A large garden I'll do as I enjoy the hell out of that.

While there is an environmental benefit, and a spiritual benefit - I'm in this for economics. Eliminating housing and utility costs will give us more control over our lives. Period. Will we work for ourselves (in which case we will work for our customers) or work at another job? Yes we will. What being able to live off of a very low income will do is allow us to tell people/employers to go fuck themselves. It shifts the balance of power.

Because I am sick (as is Tracy) of giving your all, having your employer squeeze every last drop out of you, and then throwing you away or keeping you around for more bullshit as the whim takes them. I can't even fault employers for that. I understand exactly why they do this. Just because I understand it doesn't mean I want to play thier game anymore. As long as we have debt and bills to pay that equals more than 25% of our combined income - we are wage slaves.

After Tracy and I talked, we came to an agreement to give this a go. So we need to narrow down where we will live and look for employment there. Within 2 hours of a city, but out in the country. If Austin wasn't such a shitty town, it would fit the bill.

To get an idea of what I mean when I talk about a platform tent...

Something like this, but the floor in the bedroom is only 2 ft larger than the bed. Instead of the wall plaques, picture shelves on a wood wall.

As part of My Evil Master Plan, I (and my husband) will need something to live in during a Spring, Summer, And Fall while we are building our house. Now, we could just use a tent, but that is going to get old real fast. Plus, after working my ass off all day long, I want a real bed to sleep in and hot showers. Yanno?

It has to be something that goes up quick. Gets us up off the ground. Can last through a thunderstorm. And I want it to be durable enough that visitors could stay in it or we could rent it out later. No sense in letting it go to waste, right?





So....Here it is! A Platform Tent Cabin. 8ft by 12, 8ft high in the (off)center, 6ft high on the edges.

Bathroom - The shower will have a rain barrel on the ground outside of it with a solar pump to pump the water. As back up, we can have a Bivouac Buddy. (That's an 8 gallon tank that mounts above the shower and uses gravity to make it flow.) That will go down to the propane water heater. Hot showers. The toilet is a self-contained composting toilet. I've checked them out and they don't smell and are clean and easy to use. The sink, cold water only straight from the tank, is wall mounted on the only "real" wall (dividing the bedroom and the bathroom) Mirror and wall holders for bathroom stuff and towels.

Bedroom - Basically is a Queen size bed with drawers underneath for clothes and storage. The headeboard will have a shelf across the top of it to hold glasses, books, small lamp, etc. There will be shelves further up the wall that jut out more than just the 8 inches deep like the first shelf.

Cooking and dining will be done outside of the platform tent - the dining table could be in a small screen tent to keep bugs out. Could keep the food in there, too.

Estimated costs -
Canvas - $75
Canvas water proofing - $5
Mesh - $100
Posts - $48
Stand and tank for shower - $50
Sink - $10
Floor - $120
Shelves - $20
__________________
Total - $428

* Hotwater heater - $130
* Toilet - $800

* Those two items get moved into the house after it is built so I count them against the home costs. The bed I already have - two of them. The wood one will go with me into the house, the iron frame will stay in the platform tent.