This was in a large field, maybe 2 acres. It looks like it could be fixed up for living. I always look to see if the eaves are sagging in old buildings; if not, it probably means the foundation is OK. There wasn’t a “for sale” sign, but if I lived up there, I’d track it down. It could be a great home, with a lot of land for gardening, chickens, a few farm animals.
Ayla Rose, 16 months, reading the mini book of Small Homes yesterday at the Mother Earth News Faire. She kept turning pages, and then followed me over to the stage where I was about to do a presentation on the book. (She even had the book right side up, i.e., not upside down.)
This is on the outskirts of Corvallis, Oregon. Barns in this area (the Willamette* Valley) typically have gambrel roofs, as you see here, where the straight lines of a gable roof are raised to provide more room in the loft or 2nd story.
I had a great time at The Mother Earth News Faire, now heading for Portland where I’m doing a TV interview on AM Northwestern Live, KATU-TV, that will appear between 3-4 PM today (Monday), then an appearance at Powell’s on Hawthorne in Portland at 7:30 tonight.
* pronounced will-lam-ett, emphasis on middle syllable
We wash dishes by hand (in a rectangular Rubbermaid dishpan), rinse and place in this drying rack/storage unit, built maybe 20 years ago by Lew Lewandowski.
When we had goats, I had installed a dishwasher, but found that we practically had to wash the dishes first (so as not to have food particles going into the septic system). Plus it used a lot of water and electricity, so I took it out and we’ve used this system ever since.
Another feature in this kitchen is a 5-gallon electric water heater right under the sink. While I’m not fond of electrically-heated water, this unit is so small, it’s energy-efficient, and we get instant hot water.
We use rubber spatulas to get food off plates, pots, and pans; edible scraps go to chickens, non-edibles (coffee grounds, avocado pits, etc.) go in a stainless step-operated trash can for the compost pile.
After I finish the book on the ’60s, I plan to do one titled The Half-Acre Homestead, all that I’ve learned abut building and raising food over 50 years.
Apropos of nothing here, the Amazon series “Sneaky Pete” is wonderful. Great story, fabulous acting all around.
I’m off for Oregon early tomorrow morning.
This time I kid you not. 1999 Mercedes E320, 180,000 miles, reportedly 22-29 mpg, $3500 thru complex set of circumstances. Purrs like kitten. We’ll see…
I’m heading up to Oregon (a state I love in its entirety) on Friday. I’ll be doing these events:
Saturday, Aug. 5, 10 AM, SMALL HOMES at The Mother Earth News Faire in Albany (70 miles south of Portland on I-5)
Sunday, Aug. 6, 2 PM, 50 YEARS OF NATURAL BUILDING at TMEN Faire
Schedule: https://www.motherearthnewsfair.com/oregon/schedule/
I heartily recommend the TMEN fairs, They’re genuine country fairs, with chickens, goats, dimensional lumber mills, a ton of workshops, great food, good country vibes. There are 2 more coming up, September in Pennsylvania, October in Kansas
Monday Aug. 7, 7:30 PM SMALL HOMES at Powell’s on Hawthorne in Portland: https://www.powells.com/locations/powells-books-on-hawthorne/
On Tuesday I’m gonna go hang out with Foster Huntington, surfer, skater, filmmaker, Instagram master at his treehouse/skate bowl complex just over the border in Washington. Back home Wednesday. Then back to Oregon in a week (driving this trip) for the solar eclipse.
My annoyance at all the lame krap floating around now about 1967 in the Haight-Ashbury district, “The Summer of Love,”just about turned to repulsion of late. Yeah, strong word, but man is it bad! We went to the deYoung Museum in San Francisco (an architectural catastrophe) Friday for their exhibit. $25 entrance fee! Most of the exhibit consisted of posters and yes, the posters were magnificent, but the exhibit was mostly ’60s drivel.
The “hippie clothing” was awful. No elegance, no simplicity. People with bad taste and too much time on their hands; bad colors, mishmashes of design. A truly awful crocheted bedspread commissioned by Bob Weir. Two rooms of flashing video montages of blurry dancers — senseless, dumb; not trippy — sloppy.
And the clincher: when you leave the exhibit, they funnel you into The Summer of Love Gift Shop. I kid you not. T-shirts, hats, trinkets, a poster of lame buttons — all made in China.
These curators are giving the ’60s a bad name.
The “Hippie Modernism” exhibit at the Berkeley Museum was way better.
As is the exhibit at the California Historical Society. Really good b&w photos, tracing the ’60s from the Beats-on. $5 entrance fee.
There was a conference this weekend, some 45 presentations on the era, mostly by college professors.
Sorry, I’ve been brooding over all the distortions, all the weren’t-there, don’t-get-it pontificators.
“The Haight-Ashbury was a neighborhood. The ’60s was a movement.” -Ken Kesey
PS The “Summer of Love” (1967) was in actuality a disaster in San Francisco.