“We are refining the entire process of living as ski bums,” Zack said. “It is really about figuring out what you do and don’t need. For me, I want to ski and there isn’t much else that I need.”

Initially, the group thought they would take the trip in a van with a wood stove – similar to one that Zack lived in in the parking lot of Mt. Baker. But, after seeing some of the Tumbleweed tiny houses, the crew decided a custom built house would meet all their needs.

“Zack (who works as a carpenter in the summer) built the tiny house over the course of seven weeks,” Molly told me as the group made their way up to Big Sky, Montana. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone work that hard every day with no breaks. It was a labor of love.”

While building the tiny house, Zack and his crew had to deal with snow piling up on their open frame, a freak cold snap and a tree falling on the tiny house. Zack utilized some reclaimed pieces of wood, doors and windows and re-used some cherry trim from an old job site.

The tiny house has a loft that sleeps two people, plus a “drawbridge” bunk bed that comes down from the loft and a pullout sofa bed. A storage area above the door hold ski and camera gear. There is no bathroom or shower, but there is a kitchen sink and a hot water heater as well as a small refrigerator. The group relies on hostels and the kindness of friends and strangers for their bathing needs. The tiny house has electricity, a battery and generator, and the skiers cook with a toaster oven and a two burner propane stove. The handsome, French wood stove came from a mill in the old mining town of Gold Hill, Colorado.

“The only meals we’ve really cooked are breakfast and maybe some bagels,” Molly said. “We’ve yet to do a full-blown dinner. We are usually too tired from skiing all day.”

The ski bums and their tiny house have had extremely warm receptions from the places they’ve visited. Firewood has been gifted to them when they are out during the day and they have even received some Secret Santa gifts. Molly also said that her parents, who are in their 60′s, also want a tiny house.

As the group makes their way around to various mountains, Molly is also impressed with how easy the living is in a tiny house – even as the only woman living with four men.

“They are really tidy,” she said of her fellow ski bums.

Photos and videos courtesy of Outdoor Research

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

Lammas is the United Kingdom’s first planned ecovillage and is sited on 76 acres of mixed pasture and woodland in Pembrokeshire. The houses use low-impact architecture which uses a combination of recycled and natural materials. The village will contain five detached buildings and one terrace of four dwellings. The homes will be built of straw bale, earth, timber frame and cob; they will have turf roofs and wool insulation and will blend into the landscape.

The videos (also available as podcasts) cover everything from searching for land, working with local codes, inspectors and design councils, examples of different types of natural building including straw bale and cob, surviving cold weather, self-sufficiency, growing your own food, and keeping community intact. The ecovillages profiled are Cae Mabon, The Village, Ireland and Findhorn. That Roundhouse by Tony Wrench is also featured.

The videos are filmed and produced by Undercurrents, an alternative news blog, and presented by Paul Wimbush, an architect who has lived in several intentional communities where he learned gardening, horticulture, goat-tending, land management and simple living skills.

You can support both organizations by purchasing a 50-minute DVD of all the videos.

Photos courtesy of Lammas Ecovillage and Undercurrents

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

The couple built the house on wheels on an acre of land in Florida that also houses several chickens and their vegetable and fruit garden. The house contains a small kitchen with a sink, microwave and fold down table, a bathroom with a shower and toilet, a small TV room with a couch, and a sleeping loft. The baby’s crib will be placed in the kitchen next to the dining table. They also have a workshop for tools and a prefabricated shed for some boxes of clothes and books. The TV, refrigerator, water pumps, air-conditioner and LED lights are powered by solar panels.

Marc, a university professor and videographer, and Trudi, a graphic designer, have been living an eco-conscious lifestyle for several years. They’ve documented their conservation and tiny life in their blog, A Greener Boese. The house was modeled after some homes the couple saw in Oregon and cost $12,000 to build over the course of a month. The solar panels cost an extra $8,000. Trudi mentions in the video that the transition to a smaller house was easier than she thought, and that getting rid of most of their possessions was liberating.

Photos Courtesy of Bob Self/Times-Union

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

Bures are used in Fijian tourism as travelers’ cottages or small resort structures. They are usually eco-friendly and powered by solar and with rainwater or spring-fed plumbing. They can range in sizes, but most of them are one-room structures. Because of the heat and humidity of the area, most time is spent out on a large, covered deck at the front of the bure. Also, because of the amount of rainfall in the Fiji islands, many bures are built on stilts.

Inside most tourist bures are some simple furniture, but in traditional bures most villagers sit on the floor on handwoven mats made from the pandanus plant.

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

This modern, sustainable home is constructed mainly of wood with a rustic masonry face, and features a rainwater-recycling system, geothermal energy, and solar panels that keep this house off the grid. The building materials are recyclable and locally sourced from within 100 km of the home’s location, and then assembled on-site. Vegetable fibers are used for walls and insulation, heating comes via wood-burning stove, and cooling and ventilation are passive. In addition, all the equipment providing hot water facilities have been placed outside the home, in a gallery 30 meters long, which is dug into the hillside. A final system supplies the toilets from the recovery of rainwater, stored in a 200 liter underground tank.

While the architect utilized an older house as a base for this project, I can see a tiny house being created from just the “wing” portion of this design, utilizing the clean interior and the green systems already in place. The concept is that you can take what you need and leave the rest behind.

Special thanks to Trendir

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

EcoNests are simple, elegant, and healthful handcrafted dwellings that welcome owner participation in their construction. They are the product of a design/build collaboration by Baker-Laporte: Robert Laporte, a timber framer, author, natural house building pioneer and teacher, and Paula Baker-Laporte, an award-winning architect, Bau-Biologist (building biologist), teacher and author specializing in healthy and ecological design. The EcoNest utilizes natural building techniques including: timber framing, light clay/straw walls, earth plastering, and natural, non-toxic finishes throughout.

Most of the EcoNests are a little larger than a tiny house, but the philosophy remains the same: create a healthy sancutary.

The smallest stock plan for an EcoNest is 700 square feet. But Paula said that Baker-Laporte, and their workshop participants, build quite a few “Hummingbirds”. Small studios without a bathroom or kitchen that are about 200 square feet. A Hummingbird can be integrated into a community with other small buildings that contain bathrooms, kitchens and sleeping areas.

EcoNests are built with timber framing and light clay and straw. Unlike standard building methods that employ vapor barriers, clay/straw walls actually breathe. They are weatherproof yet porous, and they allow for the slow transfer of fresh air and moisture much like human skin. The one-foot thick, light clay/straw walls are a unique combination of insulation and thermal mass, keeping the interior cozy and warm in winter and cool in summer.

The light clay/straw walls are then coated with earth plaster. The walls are ideally suited to plaster because they are perfectly flat but coarse in texture so that the plasters adhere to them without needing lathe. Earth plastered walls are both durable and beautiful. The floors of the houses are made of natural materials such as earth and stone.

Econests have been built in many different locations including Portland, the Northeast and Canada. Most of them are primarily in the American Southwest.

Baker-Laporte offers workshops on how to build your own Econest. You can take workshops in timber framing, clay/fiber construction, roofing, natural plasters and finishers, an Econest intensive, or builder training and apprenticeships.

Photos Courtesy of Baker-Laporte and Associates

By Christina Nellemann for the (Tiny House Blog)

Inspired by David Thoreau and energized by the opportunity to live a more sustainable and simple life, Jim Wilkins of St. Paul, Minnesota, has designed and built several tiny green cabins available for sale.

Each of these cabins have been developed to be multi-purpose, eco-friendly, transportable and stylish.

Tiny Green Cabins are earth friendly cabins ranging in size from 48 square feet to 252 square feet.

The Wildflower cabin is 120 square feet and built with green certified materials and reclaimed products as well as recycled materials. The walls and the floor are insulated with Soft Touch Cotton insulation made from recycled blue jeans.

The 8×18 foot Wildflower cabin base price is $19,900. Several options are included such as pine or cedar paneling, a propane fireplace and solar tripod. An upgraded model is for sale for $23,500 which includes Trex decking and wavy edge cedar wainscotting (which I just love!).

Two other green cabins profiled on Jim’s website are the 6×8 foot Mini-Sota which starts at $8,358 or the 8×10 foot Sunflower Starting at $10,499.

Neither price includes cabinetry, appliances or shipping. A $2,000 deposit will reserve a production date for a Tiny Green Cabin. A 50 percent deposit is required two weeks prior to production, with the balance due upon completion and delivery of the home.

Standard Items in the Tiny Green Cabins:

• FSC Cert. Mixed * SW-COC-000669 Lumber
• Ultra Touch Cotton Ins 6X16 – Recycled Denim (cotton) Insulation – (Blue Jeans)
• Finger jointed 2 X 3’s and 2 X 4’s
• Recycled & Reclaimed Lumber
• Anderson Silverline Windows
• Pro-Rib Steel 29 gauge panel – Emerald Green
• Trex Decking (recycled plastic and wood fibers)
• Low VOC paints
• Acrylic caulks
• Energy Star Electrical Boxes
• CDX roof and exterior sheathing
• Tyvek Exterior building wrap
• Vertical OSB substrate “Smart Panel” exterior siding
• Rebond (recycled) carpet padding
• Insulated windows (low e on some models both in recyclable aluminum and vinyl)
• Type 6 nylon carpet from Shaw

Optional Items in the Tiny Green Cabins:

• Recycled tires and axles.
• I-beam manufactured from scrap, recycled steel
• OSB Floor, Wall, and Roof Decking
• “James Hardie” Cemplank exterior siding
• Title 24 interior lighting
• Insulated fiberglass (50 year warranty) exterior entry doors.
• “Rinnai” tankless gas water heater
• PEX water systems (recyclable with no solvent connections)
• DR 24 PVC and ABS drain lines, less materials with recycled contents
• Gypsum panels (recycled paper)
• Energy Star appliances (most standard models and all up grades)
• Programmable thermostat
• 2×6 S4S Cedar Porch Decking
• Spray foam exterior wall insulation
• Electric Fireplace
• Cordwood Simulated Siding/Wainscoat
• Wavy Edge Rough Sawn Cedar Siding
• Water saver toilets, tub and shower diverters
• Quick recovery water heaters
• Aluminum (recyclable) mini-blinds

Jim also offers custom services for those that desire new designs along with products that can be incorporated into the tiny cabins, such as denim/cotton insulation, recycled and reclaimed materials, FSC Certified lumber products, solar panels for power off the grid, homemade soaps, organic products and other earth friendly sustainable products.

By Christina Nellemann for the (Tiny House Blog)

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Building houses from shipping containers is not new, but I think this might be the first company I have seen that builds smaller homes that are environmentally friendly and can be secured tight like a tiny little bunker.

Ecopods are built from recycled 8×20 steel shipping containers transformed into living, working and high end display spaces. The Ecopod is a transformed, designed built, multiple use, eco-friendly, building that promotes the best use of portability, off grid power supply capabilities and low environmental footprint.

The Toronto based company wanted to go even further with this ethos, so they incorporated rubber flooring recycled from shredded car tires into the design as well as an entire range of off-grid options including a solar-powered refrigerator, XM radio and 12V lighting and wall outlets powered from a roof-mounted solar panel. Even the composting toilet requires very little maintenance and costs a fraction of the traditional septic bed system. Download a PDF of the Ecopod brochure here.

Matthew Davies, the publicist for Ecopods.ca includes the following:

The ecopod started its life as a shipping container and traveled most likely half-way around the globe before being converted into the Ecopod. When the added hinged deck is raised the Ecopod maintains both the strength and proportions of its predecessor. It was our intention for the Ecopod to work ‘off grid’, although you can use it either way.

We first cut one twenty-foot side out of the shipping container and re-manufactured that steel wall into a deck that was then hinged back to the unit with six custom-designed offset hinges that allow the deck to lay flat and fit into its original position when closed. The deck is fairly heavy, so we engineered a 12V winch apparatus that has a lifting capacity of at least 4000lbs – its 12 volt battery takes its power from the solar panel. If you are leaving the Ecopod for an extended period of time, you can close the deck by flipping the electrical panel switch to supply the power to the 12 volt winch and the door closes by means of a handheld remote control. It takes about a minute to close and with the back doors locked, the pod is again returned to the form and strength of the original container.There is no conventionally-constructed building on the market that can compare to the strength and durability of the Ecopod.

Maintenance on the unit requires very little effort. The original steel walls and frame are made from a product called corten steel. Corten steel has a natural rust inhibitor that stops rust at the surface. The interior and exterior floor surfaces are covered with a product that looks very similar to cork flooring but is made from recycled car tires. This product has excellent interior and exterior performance qualities and is both impervious to water and easy to keep clean. The entire wall and ceiling cavities have been spray-foam insulated with the latest environmentally-friendly soya insulation available on the market today. It is a rigid ‘closed-cell’ insulation,’closed-cell’ meaning there is no moister transfer. All interior walls come clear-coat birch finished with a hidden fastening system and trimmed with aluminum. There are no visible mechanical fasteners in the wood finish. The front sliding glass doors and front glass side panels are double-glazed thermal pane units that allow you to enjoy all season weather conditions. We have equipped the pod with two electrical wall outlets that can supply power from the 12 volt battery through the inverter or are switchable to 120volts should you have access to either house or generator power. An 80 watt solar panel and 12 volt battery are included in the basic model.

Our intention was to give someone the option of enjoying a recreational property while creating a very low environmental footprint. The Ecopod can be used as a stand alone unit working off the grid or in conjunction with established building or cottage sites.

The Ecopod comes complete with all above-mentioned conveniences and finishes, all for a price of $26,650.00 CDN dollars.

What attracted me to the Ecopod was that it was not too expensive for a heavy duty self-contained space, and that you can completely close it up to protect it from animals, weather, vandalism and break-ins.

For Tiny House Blog readers who live in the Toronto area, you can view the Ecopod this month at the Green Living Show on April 24-26.

By Christina Nellemann

Photos by Ecopods

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