homesteading (232)

Virtual Presentation of The Half-Acre Homestead

August 20, 2020 at 2:19 pm

I did a virtual presentation of my book, The Half-Acre Homestead on August 20, 2020) at Bookshop Santa Cruz, one of my favorite bookstores in the world. I usually do a bunch of bookstore appearances for each new book; this year I just got the first one done at City Lights, before Covid closed things down.

It was recorded. About 30 minutes are me doing a slide show from the book. The last 30 minutes are questions from the audience — what do I think of domes, A-frames, underground houses? How to build nowadays? Cob and strawbale and Hardy Board? Chickens. My image looks blurry (at least here) and I suspect this is because of our slow DSL connection. (C’mon Horizon, ride to our rescue!)

www.crowdcast.io/e/bookshop-santa-cruz-7

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Two Cabins on Washington State Island

May 1, 2020 at 3:30 am

We received these photos last week, from Vashon Island, which is in Puget Sound.

Hi Lloyd,

The A-frame cabin was built in the late 1960s by Tony Arndt, and my family purchased the property in 1978. My late Aunt Mary lived in it for some time with her son. I think she replaced the cedar shingles on the front and possibly the windows. Sadly, it is falling down now, I do believe beyond repair.

The newer cabin is my 12′ by 16′ cabin with a loft. All materials for windows and doors were salvaged for free. I’m trying to incorporate design elements from the forest as well as repurposing wood from the old cabin.

During the same time, my father and mother, myself and 2 brothers lived in a small one-room cabin and a bus on another part of the property, which is where I am building my cabin. There’s a 3rd larger cabin on the property built from all old-growth timber by my father. The property had no power or water when we purchased it in 1978. We dug our own well during the 1980s, and put power in.

–Chris Ramsell

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Tiny Home in Maine

April 14, 2020 at 4:17 pm

April 6, 2020

Dear Lloyd,

A photo of our daughter’s house

I have been reading your books for years (and have given them to my kids) and, more recently, your blog. I studied architecture in college (in the 70’s) and when your Shelter book came out I wore it out reading it. It has influenced the last forty years of my life as a builder/carpenter.

Ours is a relatively sustainable and self sufficient lifestyle, and one our kids have adopted as well. Our daughter has been living for the last 5 years in a 7′×10′ house she built, with no electricity or running water, and is building a traditional Washington County peapod (a double-ended wooden rowboat). Our son is currently living in a 42″ wide × 10′ long shelter he built to live in, while building a tiny house for a college acquaintance. before that he was living on a 36′ sailboat he fixed up and sailed solo across the Atlantic to the Azores.

We are preparing to sell the house in which our two kids were born and grew up, and on which we have worked for the last forty years. My wife created a website so we can sell the house ourselves and I thought, perhaps, you might like to see the photos of the house.

Here’s a link to the website richmondmainefarmhouse.com

Thanks for all the inspiration — just wanted you to know that you’ve had quite an impact on our lives.

Best wishes to you,
Joe Stanley

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Wonderful Houses Around the World

March 27, 2020 at 12:02 pm

Yesterday I read in the paper that sales of children’s books are booming, due to schools being closed. This brought to mind our one and only children’s book, Wonderful Houses Around the World, by photographer Yoshio Komatsu and artist Akira Nishiyama.

There are 10 photographs by Yoshio of homes in different parts of the world. All the homes are built of natural materials — earth, wood, thatch, sod, bamboo, and stone.

Each photo is followed by a watercolor drawing of the inside of that home, showing the children and their parents going about their everyday activities: food gathering and processing, cooking, sleeping, working and playing.

The book is timely in this day and age: it shows what people do in their homes. Timely also because it’s great educational material for kids being home-schooled: look at what what kids your age are doing in other parts of the planet.

Yoshio is my favorite photographer of homes in the world. Not only are the homes invariably soulful, but his composition and lighting are perfect — and he has a knack for making people feel comfortable, so that the homeowners look natural, often laughing.

The book is $12.95 and you can order it through your independent bookstore, or from:

Note: We have a money-back guarantee on all of our books (no matter where you buy them). If for any reason you are dissatisfied, call us and we’ll return the full purchase price plus shipping. No need to return the book.

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