Official Land Stewards

It’s a done deal! Yeah! We are now responsible for 5.7 acres of the Palouse! (including a .7 acre fully stocked pond!)

A Little of My Backstory

Without going into too much depth, I had some rough teenage years, like a lot of people. At 16 I found myself living in my car before I moved in with a guy who wasn’t very good for or to me. I threw myself into school, graduated with honors and then moved onto busying myself with college and work until I was presented with an ‘out’: I was accepted into the architecture program at U of I in Moscow.

At that point I was 20. Life was overwhelming to say the least but I was grateful for a change. I packed up everything I owned and started driving. I had never been to north Idaho. I didn’t have a real good idea of where I would live or what life would look like in a week. Up to that point I was both sheltered and over-exposed, if that makes sense.

As I drove up the Lewiston grade, listening to Modest Mouse, I had such a calm, happy feeling. Such a change of pace at that point. Going up that grade felt a lot like standing back up and dusting myself off. I looked around at the world for the first time in a long time and it was absolutely gorgeous. That feeling will always be burned into my soul.

We literally drove the entire country looking for a beautiful, inspiring place to call home. I had that exact same feeling driving back into Moscow. James has his own history going to school there too and he said he felt the same. It just clicked.

Everything about the Palouse whispers contentment to me. I thought, and have thought each time I drove that 30 mile stretch from Lewiston to Moscow, “Who is lucky enough to get to live here!”

So Who Is That Lucky?

Me guys! It’s going to be me!! And this amazing family I never imagined I would have. Even better: it’s paid for in full! To be fair, I think we got an unbelievable deal…

I Made A Pact To Myself

After my house was foreclosed on in 2008 I felt so out of control and so vulnerable. It turns out I REALLY don’t like the feeling of having the things I value taken from me. I’ll do whatever I can to minimize the chances of that happening again. I decided I was never going to finance anything again. I don’t think anyone, including James, has believed me on that one but I really do mean it! It hardly seems possible though, right?

So Far, So Good!

It would absolutely not be possible if I didn’t commit and make the decision to live tiny all those years ago. The $11,416.16 cost was paid for in savings the very first year I lived in it. After James moved in, he was able to use it to pay off all of his student loans and I just keep saving. Not everyone has a grand opinion of tiny homes but, they just don’t know in my opinion. I could not imagine getting here without first going there! But that’s not all…

Burning Question: What’s to happen to the tiny house?

We’re moving back in!! I could not be more excited about that! We have some changes in store for it but we have permission from the county to live in it for 6 months of the year. For now that works for us because we plan on continuing to travel for part of the year. I have also breeched the possibility of converting it to a legal dwelling instead of leaving it classified as an RV, they seem pretty open to that idea if that’s what we want. This will be the new view:

James and I talked to the county about our future plans to use the land for our projects and building lots of quirky structures. They seemed super ok with it, hypothetically. Our goals are to learn and teach about alternative construction methods. Eventually we have the mission of building a net zero house also but that’s a few years down the line. At this point we have the go-ahead to project away though!

Other Things Of Note

This post is getting pretty long already so I will save the in depth details for another post, later. James and I are most passionate about alternative construction, getting our hands dirty and design. We have plans to possibly host a workshop or two a year. We want to experiment with cob, straw-bale construction, masonry, underground structures, rammed earth, a floating structure, maybe a shipping container. Things that pull at our heart.

This summers plan is to get water, power, septic and a barn/workshop in place. We’re kind of setting a foundation for the perfect projecting.

Here are some pictures from around our new place:

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