Pedalpalooza ADU & Tiny House Tours on Saturday, June 29th, 2013

Last year, in conjunction with Orange Splot, I coordinated the Pedalpalooza Accessory Dwelling Tour and Tiny House Tour, which each drew around 100 riders. This year I’m co-coordinating with Kimber, who has completed the Oregon Tradeswoman pre-apprenticeship program and now helps out with Portland Alternative Dwellings once in a while.

We decided to host both tours on the same day this year so that people who are curious about small spaces can see a wide variety of them in real life. The tours are guided by a fabulous bunch of small space builders, designers, owners, and inhabitants, so it will be a great chance to ask questions. We have a great line up again this year.

On the Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Tour, riders will see:

• A super energy-efficient basement apartment built by Shelter Wise
• A backyard cottage built as a sister-in-law house by Small Home Oregon
• An eco-friendly and accessible granny flat in an idyllic setting, which was My Summer Garden Cottage last year
• A basement mother-in-law which provides flexibility for an extended family
• A set of houses with ADUs that create a little community called Sabin Green
• A house with two detached accessory structures in a garden setting called Ruth’s Garden Cottages

On the Tiny House Tour we will showcase:

• A tiny house built for a couple and their cat
• A garden cottage by Small Home Oregon
• The world's first tiny house hotel called The Caravan, which features 3 tiny houses (one of which I built last summer as my Yestermorrow Practicum project!)

Those who choose to join us for both tours are in for an epic adventure!

I’m still in touch with many people I met during the tours last year, so I’m looking forward to meeting this year’s riders. We have received more than a dozen inquiries about the tour, many of them from folks who are coming from out-of-state for the tour. There are no RSVPs required, so come join us if you’re able!

• Pedalpalooza ADU Tour (9AM-1PM), staring point Shelter Wise’s ADU (2726 NE 66^th Ave, Portland, OR 97213)
• Pedalpalooza Tiny House Tour (2PM-5PM), starting point Rigler Elementary School (5401 NE Prescott Street, Portland, OR 97218)

Tiny House Fair: Day 3

Day 3 of the first annual Tiny House Fair started off with a panel discussion regarding the alegality of tiny houses. To the best of our knowledge there isn't a zoning code in the country that directly addresses "tiny houses." Most municipalities would probably consider a tiny house on wheels a custom built travel trailer (whether or not it will be considered a recreational vehicle by insurance companies and banks depends on certification though). So in many places the only part of town where you can legally live in a tiny house is an RV park and many cities have restrictions on the maximum time you can stay there.

However, people around the world have become advocates of tiny houses for financial, social, environmental, and lifestyle reasons. There's also a groundswell of support for tiny house communities, so many people are working within our existing codes and figuring out ways that we can amend code to better suit our needs. It was, as you might imagine, a fascinating conversation with more questions than answers.

Following the morning panel, some of the participants headed out for a tour of local tiny houses. The folks who stuck around got to hear Dee Williams of Portland Alternative Dwellings discuss some of the sticky wickets of the tiny house world (building code, financing, and insurance). She also covered structural considerations for a house on wheels that undergoes hurricane and earthquake conditions when it hits the road.

After lunch I spoke about code and legal issues, including some of the legal ways people have found to live in tiny houses and some of the next steps we might take as advocates of small spaces.

Next Jay Shafer joined us to talk about Resizing the American Dream. Here are a few of my favorite lines from his talk:

• "The Tiny House Movement is more than cute houses and quirky people. It's subverting consumerism."
• "When it was about use value not resale value people built houses according to their needs."
• "The Small House Movement is about people living in the amount of space they need."
• "Tiny houses are self-portraits with innovation to meet individual needs."
• "It's all just about what's necessary. Eliminate everything else."
• "When necessity is allowed to dictate the form of things, they're beautiful!"

The Tiny House Fair officially wrapped up when the tiny house tour and Jay's talk were completed, but several tiny house advocates continued the conversation over dinner (at American Flatbread - shout out to Billy for insisting that we go there!) and then around the conference table. We are eager to see how the Tiny House Movement evolves.

I'm honored to have spent the weekend in the presence of such fabulous folks. I met people from across the country who are designing, building, dwelling in, and advocating for tiny houses. Our ranks included building inspectors, lawyers, carpenters, inventors, and educators. Collectively we have an enormous amount of knowledge and enthusiasm and I hope we can direct it in the best possible ways to support simple, affordable, sustainable housing options. Meanwhile, my celebrity friend crushes have only been reinforced by discovering how fun these folks are in real life!

I'm already looking forward to the second annual Tiny House Fair which is slated for the West Coast next summer!

Tiny House Fair: Day 2

Dustin and Deek Diedricksen of Relaxshacks kicked off Day 2 of the Tiny House Fair by sharing tips for building creative small shelters with salvaged materials. In addition to laughing hysterically  because these guys are just so darn funny, I found myself marveling at clever ideas (stretch band bookshelves, a salad bowl sink, and windows built from serving trays, entertainment cabinet glass,  and front loading washing machine port holes). I also loved the vocabulary lesson. Deek uses the phrase "space-efficient" just like us Portlanders. But he also uses the following new-to-me terms which I intend to begin using immediately:

• "the hot dog approach" - using the whole piece of lumber or every part of a found object
• "ground bound" for wee structures attached to a foundation instead of a trailer, skids, or a tree
• "free-form building" for tackling a building project with no plans
• "turnitecture" for transforming furniture

I wasn't surprised that Lloyd Kahn is one of Deek's greatest inspirations. Still, it was nice to have Deek share a reminder that sometimes the design for a structure presents itself when a great found object beckons. My own tiny house design evolved from a window I found one day when I wasn't looking.

Later in the morning Abel Zimmerman presented tips on tool use for finish carpentry. Check out Zyl Vardos to see his beautiful work!

After a phenomenal lunch (did I mention the food here is mindbogglingly good?!) Alex Pino of Tiny House Talk offered practical tips on parting with our stuff. Here is a sampling of Alex's pithy wisdom:

• "Tiny houses are a way of meeting our basic needs so we can contribute to our world"
• "If you're trying to get rid of stuff, open a drawer and figure out what to get rid of... or, better yet, decide what to keep"
• "If it's a valuable item, donate it to museum & give it to the world. They'll take good care of it & you can go visit."
• "Ask yourself 'why do I have this? do I use it? how can someone else use it?' Then shut up and listen."
• "What do you really love? A tiny house should help you get what makes you happy."

His talk sparked some good suggestions for downsizing from the audience. Dee chimed in with a reality check: "When we go to bed at night and get up in morning all we really have is our simple beating heart & whoever is leaning into us." True, that.

Later in the afternoon Mariah Coz presented information about the solar system for her Comet Camper. We had a chance to tour her place and a handful of other tiny houses here for the fair.

After a scrumptious supper we had 11 amazing presentations in what we think may have been the first ever Tiny House Pecha Kucha. With only 20 slides each and 20 seconds per slide it was a fast-paced glimpse into topics ranging from chicken coops to structurally insulated panels. Between great photos and renderings, laughter and goosebumps, it was a powerful session and I have a hunch it will be the highlight of the weekend.

Nevertheless, I'm thoroughly looking forward to today! I know there are more good conversations in store for all of us.

Tiny House Fair: Day 1

Ah, it feels good to be back here! During my very first Yestermorrow course (Ecological Design in the Built Environment - the 3 week Core curriculum for the Certificate in Sustainable Design & Building) my friend Shannon White said "I think Vermont is my spiritual home." The sentiment resonated then, but even more now, with the feeling of homecoming when I arrived at Yestermorrow again yesterday afternoon after nearly a year and a half away.

I loved wandering around campus yesterday and rediscovering this magical place. It was nice to see that although some great changes have been made (there are a few new cabins and the fruit trees in the edible landscaping have doubled in size) most things are just as I remember them. Those things that aren't exactly the same are improved from being well loved and well cared for: a fresh coat of plaster here, a lovely patina building up there, etc.

I pitched my tent near Dee Williams and Joan Grimm of Portland Alternative Dwellings and Tammy Strobel and Logan Smith of Rowdy Kittens. After a nap in the sunshine to make up for that red eye flight I headed down to the giant tent set up to accommodate a dining area for the unprecedented 120 guests on campus for the Tiny House Fair. I miss my old perch on a stool in the kitchen where I could heckle Heidi (Yestermorrow's amazing whole foods chef). But I got to make new friends yesterday. I had the pleasure of finally meeting Elaine of Tiny House Community, Brian and Lee of Boneyard Studios. It's so fun to meet people I've been reading about and communicating with and to see that they're even more amazing (how is that possible?!) in real life. I enjoyed talking to Patti Garbeck who teaches carpentry here at Yestermorrow and will be co-instructing the Tiny House Design-Build class this coming September.

Brian and Lee did a great presentation last night about Boneyard Studios, telling the story of how they're creating a showcase of tiny houses in Washington, D.C. I loved hearing about their meet ups, work parties, and garden projects.

There's a great line up of speakers scheduled for today:

• How to Build Your Own Home for a Lot Less (using free or recycled materials), Derek (Deek) Diedricksen of Relaxshacks
• Clever Cabinetry and Finish Carpentry, Abel Zyl Zimmerman of Zyl Vardos
• Progressive Sharecropping with Tiny Houses, the "Gardeneer" concept, & the Destination CSA, Peter King of Vermont Tiny Houses
• How to Free Yourself From Your Stuff, Alex Pino of Tiny House Talk
• Building an Ecovillage, Gwendolyn Hallsmith of Headwaters Garden and Learning Center
• Composting Toilet Options for Tiny Houses, Abe Noe-Hays of Full Circle Compost Consulting
• Designing and Building a Tiny House Q&A, Dan Louche of Tiny Home Builders
• Small Scale Solar Power for Your Tiny House, Mariah Coz of the Comet Camper
• Design and Construction for Specific Climates, Abel Zyl Zimmerman of Zyl Vardos
• Tiny House Pecha Kucha - 12 presenters each show 20 slides of their tiny houses

I don't know how I'll decide what to attend since I don't want to miss any of it, but I'm glad they're videotaping most of the sessions so I can catch them virtually afterwards. If you'd like to follow along today, follow me on Twitter @littlelifepdx!

Off to the Tiny House Fair

If you've been following along on my Little Life adventures you've probably noticed I've been lax about blogging these days. The past three weeks have been a whirlwind. I graduate from Portland State University today with a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning. But I'm skipping the graduation festivities this weekend to speak at the first ever Tiny House Fair at Yestermorrow. I know my classmates will take pictures and eat cake for me, so I feel safe leaving the wrap up in their hands. Instead I'm taking this commencement thing really seriously and getting started with new adventures! In the coming weeks I'll share more information about my new sustainable design consulting company Niche Consulting LLC. Meanwhile, watch for updates this weekend from the fair!

I've just arrived at the Burlington Airport and I'm thrilled to be back in Vermont. Dee Williams and Joan Grimm of Portland Alternative Dwellings will be fetching me soon and we'll head to Yestermorrow to get settled in and meet everyone. There's an incredible line up of speakers, including several other tiny house dwellers, designers, builders, and bloggers. There are also 100 participants signed up and I'm horribly excited to meet them! We're going to have such fun geeking out about nano houses.

I haven't been to Vermont since February 2011 when I wrapped up the last of my coursework for my Certificate in Sustainable Design and Building. But I've been in touch with the fine folks of Yestermorrow via my practicum project (building a tiny house on wheels). I also skyped in on the Tiny House Design Build course last year and I've recently been asked to be an instructor for upcoming Yestermorrow courses. I couldn't have been more thrilled to receive that invitation. I love Yestermorrow and can't wait to set foot on campus again.

Here's to commencement! Hip, hip, hooray!

Reciprocal Admiration

Yesterday I received my first fan mail via the Postal Service and it made my week. Rediscovering that inspiration goes both ways was both humbling and reenergizing. So I responded with fan mail of my own.

This lovely little note came from an 18-year-old woman who is so creative that I want to be like her when I grow up. When Addie attended our PAD Tiny House Workshop in April I was impressed by her reasoning for building her own tiny house. Before even graduating from high school this young woman has recognized that living in a small, simple home will enable her to save money, retain locational flexibility, and use her artistic talents to create a place that truly fits her and feels like home. I wish I’d been half as wise as she is when I was her age. And half as talented, too.

During our workshop Addie was sipping out of a wide-mouth pint jar that was etched with a cool vintage-looking picture. I’m a huge fan of wide-mouth pint jars. In fact, they're the only thing I really have a collection of at this point in my life. So this beautiful jar caught my eye right away. Over lunch I asked Addie where she found it and she told me she’d made it. Then I had to know all about the process and Addie happily obliged me. She explained she’s been selling these beautiful jars on Etsy as one of her fundraising strategies for the construction of her own tiny house.

I turned to the person on my other side at our lunch table and mock whispered, “The woman who made this mason jar is going to build a tiny house. It’s going to be a work of art and I can’t wait to see it!” I told Addie that I, too, am focused on keeping my expenses down so I can get my tiny house built soon. And that as soon as I’m settled into my tiny house I’ll be commissioning her to make me a whole batch of beautiful mason jars.

Addie had already secured herself a place on my growing Tiny House Heroes List.

So I was delighted to open the package that accompanied Addie’s note and find her business card and one of Addie’s beautiful mason jars. This was a very thoughtful gift on Addie’s part since this jar won’t count in My 200 Things Challenge. I’ve explained in Who’s Counting Anyway? that I’m counting my mason jars as a set rather than including each individual jar on My 200 Things List. So I’ll be parting with one of my other mason jars to make a spot for this special one. (Speaking of which… it’s getting to be time for a re-count. I was a little over 200 items last time I checked. I had 203 items at the time!)

Needless to say, Addie’s mason jar has become my instant favorite and my new to go container. I’ll be carrying soup and leftovers for lunch in this pretty jar and it will be a constant reminder of Addie and the other tiny house folks who inspire me.

If you want to buy an etched mason jar to add a touch of beauty to your kitchen while supporting an incredible woman’s tiny house fund, check out Addie's Etsy site. And if you want to learn more about Addie's reasons for going tiny and a write up about her stay in the Bayside Bungalow, check out Addie's post Why Tiny? on her blog Slice, Serve, Savor.

Thank you Addie!

Bettering Things

Yesterday was a good day for Rainy Day Catch Up and I decided to make a couple of the things I own a little better. Since I’m doing the 200 Things Challenge I figure I better really like the things I own and I better make them work well for me. So yesterday I spent an hour bettering my bike lock, my broom, and my ostrich egg lantern.

I recently acquired a new bike lock because the lock I bought last fall was driving me crazy. I decided to purchase a combination lock this time so I won’t have to deal with a bike lock key anymore. (Even thought this is one less thing for me to think about, this doesn’t count as one less thing since I count even the lock as part of my bike. I explain my rules for counting for My 200 Things Challenge in Who’s Counting Anyway.) However, I preferred the lock holder for the old lock because the little metal bracket attached to the lock itself snapped tightly into the holder on my bike. I found it was much less likely to fly out of the holder when I go over a bump than the new one. So I modified the new lock to accept the metal bracket by slicing away a part of the rubber and adding a gasket. It only took a couple minutes to create my ideal bike lock.

I also recently bought myself a broom since I didn’t own one. I lived without any carpets for several years so I bought myself a Bucket Head vacuum cleaner when I moved into the yurt, which had rugs. This worked pretty well for me, except that the rugs contributed to the Moisture Management problems I was having. A few weeks ago I decided it was time for Spring Cleaning the Yurt and I removed the rugs. But then I needed a broom. I decided to buy myself a kid-size broom but it was just a little too short, even for me. I realized I could probably find bike parts to extend the handle of my little broom. My local bike repair shop hooked just happened to have exactly what I needed and $3 and 3 minutes later my little broom is better than ever.

Two years ago my little sister and I traveled to South Africa and we both brought home ostrich egg lanterns. My sister found hers right away but it took me a long time to find my giraffe lantern. We were Packing Densely but we managed to carefully transport our lanterns home. Unfortunately, once I tried using my lantern the first time I realized that there were too few holes providing oxygen for the lantern to work with a candle. When I switched to a little light bulb I found there still wasn’t enough light emanating from the lantern for it to really be interesting. So I bought myself a 5/32” masonry drill bit this weekend and enlarged the holes in my lantern. Now I can really enjoy my lantern. I’m even planning a special spot for it in the tiny house I’m designing for myself.

Rainy Day Catch Up

Anyone who has been paying attention will probably have noticed by now that I'm backlogged on blog posts. Partly this was due to technological issues. Check out forthcoming posts Getting Smart About Phones, Planning Around Obsolescence, and Everything but the Photos for more on that. Partly it was because  I've been awfully busy with school recently as I'm on the home stretch for my master's degree.

But it's also partly because it's been awfully pretty out so I've been playing outside instead of sitting inside blogging. Check out Cooking Al Fresco for more on that!

This weekend has been rainy so I'm catching up on getting posts actually posted. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, here is a photo of the mock oranges blooming next to my hammock so you can see why blogging hasn't taken priority lately!

Everything but the Photos

Often when people are faced with the threat of losing everything they own they get really clear about their priorities. And many of them say that the only things they’d really miss would be the sentimental things like their photos.

I consider myself a sentimental person and I love my photos because they remind me of fun times. So I’ve always understood this sentiment. The stuff is Just Stuff, but the photos, they’re something special. However, I had an experience Friday that made me realize that as I’ve become less attached to things, I’ve also become less attached to photos.

Lately I’ve been Getting Smart About Phones and Planning Around Obsolescence. I had an appointment yesterday to consolidate my old iPhoto library (on an external hard drive) and my new iPhoto library (on my laptop) so that I could free up some space on my computer. So Friday morning I got out my external hard drive and took a look through the old photos. A few of them made me grin: my sisters and I wearing mud masks and making funny faces, my graduation from college, exuberant present unwrapping during Christmases past, etc.

But as I scanned the photos I realized that most of them don’t mean anything to me anymore. I had photos of people whose names I no longer remember. I had photos from a school project that I’ve long since forgotten about. I had photos that were blurry, too dark, or overexposed. I had photos of a backpacking trip that triggered unpleasant memories. (My friends broke up on day two and got back together on day four, which meant the four of us had two very uncomfortable days on the trail!)

As I biked off to the Apple Genius Bar I thought, “Well, it’s going to be a lot of work to sort through all of these photos, but at least now I know I can get rid of most of these.”

When I arrived I explained that I was trying to consolidate all my photos so I could purge the old ones and free up space for my work and new photos. We plugged in my external hard drive and it wouldn’t mount. Period. It was completely dead. Which meant that I’d just lost several years worth of photos. The moment of panic arrived. And then it quickly left.

I realized that I’d just looked through my photos that morning (which was more attention than I’d paid them in years) and I’d already figured out that I didn’t want most of them anyhow. I was hit by a wave of relief and I briefly explained my journey towards the Little Life. The tech seemed relieved, too. I’m sure he’s used to people breaking down when several years worth of photos evaporate.

We transferred the photo library from my laptop to a new external hard drive. (And it turns out that I actually do have all the photos I thought I’d lost because I’d already transferred them from my external hard drive to my laptop.) Now that I can, I probably will take the time to sort my photos and keep the ones I do still want. But hopefully I can do it relatively quickly because I’ll keep in mind that if even I don’t want to look through all of them no one else would either!

Nevertheless, I’ve been marveling at how differently I handled the experience of losing my photos than I would have a few years ago. I suppose part of it is that many of my photos are out there in other places. I’ve shared them with friends or uploaded them to Facebook. But even so, it just wasn’t that big a deal anymore. I’ve come to terms with the fact that keeping track of my photos is not entirely within my control nor is it entirely my responsibility. Technology will continue to fail. Natural disasters will continue to happen. Boxes will continue to get lost in moves.

I know that for some people losing photos truly would be devastating and I can relate to that. But I’m glad that it wasn’t devastating for me. I’m glad that in my minimalist journey I’ve become less vulnerable to these losses. I don’t want to live in the past via my photos. I want my photos to be a tool for memory keeping but not a burden. I’m grateful that I know how to take new photos and make new memories.

Now, off to the Street Fair. With my camera, of course!

Planning Around Obsolescence

Last week I was Getting Smart About Phones. My lessons in planning around obsolescence continued this week with my laptop. My New Year’s Resolution for 2013 was to go paper-free so I’ve been Strategizing Digitizing and Getting All My Docs in a Row. Let me set the stage for this discussion of planned obsolescence by explaining some of the technological advances I've experienced in the past.

I got my first laptop when I was 16 years old. It had a 6 GB hard drive and it weighed as much as a newborn baby. It was made by an off-brand and it had plenty of quirks, but I coaxed it along for 5 years. When I was studying abroad in Florence, Italy, I could tell my laptop was dying a slow, miserable death. Nevertheless, it allowed me to write my papers and store the hundreds of photos I was taking. I had purchased my first digital camera just before leaving for Italy and I was click happy. When I returned stateside I laboriously transferred my photos to CDs via many batches with a flash card reader since my computer's CD drive was broken and it didn't have a USB port. My laptop had never really connected to the internet well with its clunky modem card and the ethernet port wasn't working anymore.

I did my research before purchasing my next laptop - a 20GB iBook G4 with a Super Drive. It weighed considerably less than my old computer but it was worlds more powerful. I was determined to use it as long as possible. I transferred my photos and papers right over from the CDs. In the 5 years I owned my iBook I had to have the screen fixed and the power adapter and hard drive replaced. (Fortunately, I'd wised up and learned to back up my computer. So I didn't lose anything but the document I was working on when I messed up the hard drive by working on my computer while I was a passenger in someone’s car and we went over a speed bump!) I only had to invest a couple hundred dollars over the lifetime of the computer, so all things considered my iBook G4 held up pretty well. But when I brought my G4 in to the Apple store to get a new adapter and the techs gathered around my computer like it was a fossil, I decided it might be time to upgrade for grad school. I transferred my entire computer onto a 250 GB external hard drive and then transferred its contents onto my new laptop.

The past two years I've been very happy with my refurbished MacBook Air. It’s powerful and sleek. And I can’t help liking the combination of a tiny laptop and a tiny house. My Air is slim and light enough that I can take it everywhere. I transport it from home to work to school and back on a daily basis. I take notes in class and meetings. I research. I blog. I download and sort photos from my adventures. I use Sketch Up to design tiny houses and Excel to keep track of My 200 Things List. I scheme up the vardo I plan to build for myself and I plot to make the world a better place.

About a month ago I decided to set up a second user on my laptop so I could separate Home and Work. (This is the trick I've discovered to use two Dropbox accounts.) Immediately my computer started giving me "almost out of space" error messages. At the same time, my power adapter quit working because the cover for the wire developed a stress fracture from being wound up and transported every day. I was considering trading my laptop in and upgrading to a new refurbished MacBook Air.

However, the friendly guy I talked to at the Apple store assured me that my MacBook Air still had plenty of life in it. He explained that setting up the second user took up a good deal of space so we took a look at what else was taking up space on my computer. Turns out I have 30 GB of photos! The tech suggested I bring my external hard drive in so we can consolidate my files and free up some space so I can run two users on my computer.

I’m grateful for Apple’s Genius Bar and for techs who would rather keep a good thing going than upsell me to something I didn’t need. He hooked me up with a new power adapter and I was on my way. I’ve set up a follow up appointment for next week.