Two years ago I did a “1/4 acre homestead” talk at the Maker Faire at the San Mateo County (Calif.) Event Center). This time around, I have a lot more material, plus URLs on all the tools I’m going to show. I’ll be doing a presentation on the Maker Faire Stage, at 2 PM on Saturday, May 18th, and at 2 PM Sunday, May 19th. Information on the Faire: https://makerfaire.com/.  Reviews of the Faire: https://www.yelp.com/biz/maker-faire-san-mateo.

I’ll be showing slides of our homestead, and the various tools we use around here in the kitchen, garden, and shop — from 40+ years’ experience. I’ve picked the tools I think are unique and maybe not so well known, and left off all the ones that I think people may already know about. We’ve posted the URLs on our website here: https://www.shelterpub.com/_homestead/tools.html and I’ll be passing out cards with a QR code so people in the audience so they can check out any of these tools when they get home. I’ll also have copies of our Tiny Homes mini book (2″ x 2″) to give out.

Lew and Evan will be manning a booth (#4925) in the Expo Hall. This is the largest hall, and our booth is at the back. We’ll be showing the process we use in producing books, including the first draft layout pages done with scissors and scotch tape. We’ll also be selling copies of our building books, and giving away mini books.

Photo: draining dish rack in our kitchen built (20 years ago) by Lew Lewandowski

I thought this comment was worth bringing front and center. Also, I don’t necessarily endorse or love everything I put up on this blog. I put up stuff that I find interesting.

“Anonymous has left a new comment on your post “Tiny Homes: Container Housing in Salt Lake City”:

I get in trouble from container zealots when I say this, but I owned a container for over ten years—and they make lousy houses. They are short, hard to insulate, hard to cut doors and windows in, have flat roofs that leak, they are noisy and wet inside due to condensation, and, in general, make very good containers and very poor houses.

   When somebody makes a “house” from a container, they usually have to build a miniature stick built house inside, with framing, insulation, and interior walls. Due to the fact that ordinary carpenters dont have the metalworking skills, this usually costs MORE than if you just built a little house from whatever materials are locally used and local workers are fluent in- wood, concrete, brick, adobe, you name it.
Me, I am a metalworker, and, periodically, I get paid to cut windows in one, or weld tabs for studs, or drill holes for wiring or stovepipes, and I will continue to take their money…

Ries”

If only I didn’t live so far away from The North House Folk School, I’d be hanging around there a lot. The number of classes they have is amazing. Birchbark canoes, blacksmithing, tool making, timber framing, fiber arts, on and on. I’m just looking at one page, and I’d take the class on making a crooked knife, and another on sharpening. They are in the northwest corner of Minnesota, on Lake Superior, up Highway 61 (yes, that same Highway 61 — “…7th mother, 7th son…”) from Duluth.

   Get their catalog if you like making things with your hands (or if you have kids who want to learn some hand-made skills): https://www.northhouse.org/

This sent us by Eva. It’s pretty long, and I haven’t watched it all, but I sure would if I lived where there was stone. Looks like a very thorough explanation of the principles of stone walls with and without mortar. A great explanation of why stone wall joints should not be lined up under one another.

   I loved this part: “Every stone in the world has an ambition…” — pause, twinkle in his eye –“that ambition is to sink to the center of the earth as soon as possible…”

https://www.chelmsfordlibrary.org/anytime/videos.html

Tiny Homes On the Move Getting photos in from all parts of the world is slow going. Right now we’re trying to get large enough photo files on the Vaka Moana sailing canoes from the South Pacific. Three of these 66′ catamarans sailed into our bay here in 2011, and we’re doing the story of our local fishermen going out to visit them, and of their mission with the Pacific Ocean. They’re navigating by the stars.

   I’m also working on a story on The Moron Brothers, two good-ole-boy Kentucky bluegrass musicians who drift along the Kentucky River in a shantyboat, fishing, eating, telling jokes, and playing some really good bluegrass.

   This morning I just put together two pages on a 54 sq. ft. gypsy vardo with beautiful wooden interior; it’s on a trailer and can be moved at speeds up to 60mph.

   Right now we’ve done rough layout on about 40 nomadic units — on wheels or in the water. Slow moving, but the more days that pass, the better it gets.

The Half Acre Homestead I’m doing presentations on this subject at the Maker Faire in San Mateo this May and at the Mother Earth News Faire in Puyallup, Washington June 2nd. It will cover all the tools we’ve settled on after decades of building and raising and preparing food on a small piece of land. Also photos to give you ideas: kitchen setup, raised garden beds, bantam chickens, foraging, etc.

   You needn’t own a piece of land to utilize some of these tools or techniques. You may live in a city and want to grind your own grain and make your own bread, or carve a wooden spoon, or grow chives in a window box.

   These are tools for people wanting to use their own hands in crafts, or in providing some of their own food and/or shelter. Country, suburban, or urban. There are a lot of things you can do yourself.

   We’re working on URLs for each tool or technique, and we’ll post them on our website. If I really get organized, I’ll pass out cards at my talk with the our website URL and QR code.

  Lately I’ve been thinking of making this into a book. Right now I can’t see what form this one will take, but it should be smaller and cheaper than our color building books. Black & white? I’ve been looking at Sears and Wards catalogs from turn-of-century.

Music de Jour Marian Janes: “I Know a Good Time;” Magic Sam, “I Feel So Good.”