Tiny Homes Madness, Splitting Firewood, and SunRay Kelley’s Temple in the Woods

By Lloyd Kahn on January 27, 2012

Things are popping around here. Tiny Homes is selling like mad. It’s been reviewed on about 20 blogs and/or websites. It’s coming up in two of the biggest newspapers in the country (my lips are sealed until articles appear) next week. We’re scheduling a tour for me with slide show and book signings in Feb-Mar-April-May June. Gadzooks! I’ve never had a book get this kind of attention.

   The other day, it occurred to me that this book directly addresses the overblown wasteful indulgent home building industry. I’ve been saying to people, “No, you don’t have to live in such a small space, but it’s the direction that counts. How can we do things better? How can we use materials that do the least damage to the planet? How can we heat water and living space most efficiently?” That’s in addition to all the poetry of building in the book.

I took off from the madness yesterday and went up to my brother’s farm in the Napa Valley to split (oak) firewood. A chance to do something physical. Exciting to get on the road with camera (yesterday only the Canon Powershot G-95). Afterwards I went over to Harbin Hot Springs to take a look at SunRay Kelley’s temple (pp. 65-71, Builders of the Pacific Coast), and it looked in great shape, cob and all. It’s a beautiful building, and it should have a little brass plaque on it saying : “Designed and built by SunRay Kelley,” but the Harbin management is a weird bunch, and they give no credit to SR. There were about a dozen people inside doing yoga, and it was a lovely atmosphere, the wood and the cob and the lighting all in a soft glow.

About Lloyd Kahn

Lloyd Kahn started building his own home in the early '60s and went on to publish books showing homeowners how they could build their own homes with their own hands. He got his start in publishing by working as the shelter editor of the Whole Earth Catalog with Stewart Brand in the late '60s. He has since authored six highly-graphic books on homemade building, all of which are interrelated. The books, "The Shelter Library Of Building Books," include Shelter, Shelter II (1978), Home Work (2004), Builders of the Pacific Coast (2008), Tiny Homes (2012), and Tiny Homes on the Move (2014). Lloyd operates from Northern California studio built of recycled lumber, set in the midst of a vegetable garden, and hooked into the world via five Mac computers. You can check out videos (one with over 450,000 views) on Lloyd by doing a search on YouTube:
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5 Responses to Tiny Homes Madness, Splitting Firewood, and SunRay Kelley’s Temple in the Woods

  1. Lloyd,

    Thanks for putting the Tiny Homes book together. It is wonderful and the timing is right. I hope your tour will take you to Book People here in Austin, Texas.

    Reply

  2. Splitting wood?
    Is your shoulder better then?

    I love it when you bring us along on your journeys. I always have a blast finding out about all those amazing places, people, websites, etc. you write about. I had a fabulous time of endless discoveries last week when you posted about your day in San Francisco. Thanks for sharing. It is truly a privilege to have the chance to read your words.

    I am very very happy for the success of your book.
    Enjoy the good madness!

    Reply

  3. hey lloyd ,thanks for all your inspiration and your excellent blog ,hope you make it up to british columbia for a book signing…..please come up,would love to meet you!!!

    Reply

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