Wow! It's been almost three weeks since I posted to this blog! A lot has happened so I'll try to break down the events into several posts.
Let me take you back to around May 5, 2016 when we finally got our tiny cabin brought to us and set up. I took videos and pictures just so I could share them with you folks and with my YouTube subscribers.
The cabin is very small, but we knew it would be. About 200 square feet on the main level and about 168 square feet of lofted area. We had been planning and planning, drawing floor plans and trying to figure everything out to make it a livable cabin, for several weeks. And, we've pretty well stuck with our plans to get the most use from the small space. I'll be updating you on all that in the coming posts, too.
Mainly, though, I want to share with you what the cabin looks like. I posted the cabin install in 3 parts, and below is part 1. I'll also link you to the other two parts.
I haven't so much as taken pictures or videos of anything for several days, but I have been continuing with plans and some purchases for the new homestead.
We are still waiting for the cabin to be delivered, which should be any day now. Once that happens, there will be a LOT of work to do making it into a proper, livable cabin. It almost seems like we need to do 100 things at once!
Insulation
Plumbing
Off grid wiring
Floor plans
Floor covering
Water catchment
Fencing
Chicken coop
Goat barn
Pig barn
There's still more purging to be done in this house, and more things to reconsider when it comes to moving them to the cabin. For instance, I have a sofa, sofa table, and two wing back chairs. I've decided to not take them at all. I'll take the cushions from the sofa, clean them up, use them as seating/sleeping for a built in bed for me. Sort of like one you'd see in a RV. It will have storage under it.
I do have a rough plan drawn up in Paint that I'll share. Tell me what you think about it!
This is similar to the cabin we're getting. Remember, ours will be a white roof and off-white sides, and longer than the one shown. However, this is the style we're getting.
This portable cabin will be home sweet home for a long time, so we want to be sure we do it right from the get-go. The one pictured is 16 feet long, so using your imagination, you can visualize it being 4 feet longer. Only 200 square feet for the main part but by the time we're done, the loft should bring in another 160 square feet of useful space. Right now, the loft is 80 square feet so we'll be doubling that. We'll wind up with a grand total of 360 square feet! Still tiny and about half the square footage where we are now (yes, this house we're in is only 600 square feet) but doable if we severely purge!
We will put a small deck on the front, build up some flower beds, and basically try to make it as cute as possible.
In order to be able to get on a new piece of land faster and get a cabin put on it, we've decided to buy a smaller spot that already has a well and septic tank on it. Over the long term it will cost a little more but there's really no way I'd have the money to install septic, even though we could figure out the water situation by using rain catchment, food grade barrels, and in-line water filters and pool shock pucks in the filters. (We still might do that.) I'll share a video at the end of where I saw this particular idea, and the shock pucks will treat 10,000 gallons of water!
Where we live, if perc tests show septic to be viable then you must use that. If not, you can use off grid plans ,such as a composting toilet, but it has to be one of a couple of approved brands, and they are very expensive. I have located a house-type toilet for only $40, so we'll go that route. I should be able to use straight rainwater from the roof, via gutters, downspouts, and a 275 gallon IBC tote, to run the toilet. It doesn't have to be potable water. It just has to flush.
Gray water must be diverted into it, as well, though I might still put the kitchen gray water into a barrel out back to use for watering the garden. I just need to figure out a filtration system for that.
In order to get a potty, shower, and point-of-use hot water unit in, I need the extra money I'll save from the down payment cost. I have 205 watts of solar panels now, and a couple of batteries. I've been shopping online for a whole list of things we'll need in the cabin pretty quickly. And, I normally allow about $100 a month for needs such as these anyway, so there's that money to add to what I have.
Insulation
Water management (12v 50w solar submersible pump)
Propane tank (small ones)
Toilet
Sewer pipe
Water pipe (we may have enough PVC on hand to cover that. Need joints and elbows.)
Staples (for the heavy stapler to put insulation in with)
Shower (thinking a watering tub from Tractor Supply, with a drain made into one end of the bottom would probably work.)
Everything we need to start with also needs plumbing to operate, so we're really going to be learning a lot with this new adventure.
I have all these thoughts spinning in my head, and a lot of them written in a notebook. I've been sketching the inside layout of the cabin to get optimal use of space. Already started packing the limited number of dishes we need on a daily basis. Others will be stored in rubbermaid totes.
No pictures or videos to share today. There will be some coming soon as we go about taking on this new task.
I really shouldn't get my hopes up, I know, but I came across a parcel of land on Craigslist and the land isn't far from where I live now. It is 5 acres with pond, some fencing (probably barbed wire - no good for goats), and a seasonal creek. Open areas and some woods.
I heard back by email from the man who's selling it as owner financed. The terms are well within my budget. I'm hoping we can go take an in-person look at it in just a day or two. If it really does seem right, then I'll sign for it and we can get started soon on setting up our new homestead. This time it's all ours!
Please pray I'll have discernment where this is concerned, and that if it's not right, I'll know. If this is "our" place on this earth, then we've really got a lot of work to do to get ready to move, including tearing down fences here and putting them up there, selecting a spot for our tiny house, solar panels, barn, chicken coop, and whatever else we'll be needing before winter comes. I'm sure it will be a summer-long job to get ready for winter!
Here's an edited picture of the Craigslist ad, so no one's info is revealed.
