Farmhouse Life Update

Kent, I continually check into Tiny House Blog because it is about so much more than small buildings. For me, the tiny house movement has led to a much greater awareness of community development, sustainability, our environment, local food initiatives, and my child’s future. Is this what was supposed to happen? Recently, I saw your note asking for updates on past feature posts so I thought I would send ours in.

Since our post on Tiny House Blog last spring we have had over 150 people tour Camp Coyote and Farmhouse Life. I am often surprised by people’s positive reaction to our little buildings. Most comment that Camp Coyote is the ideal place to “get away.” Proving, I think, that when we aren’t constantly bombarded by external stimuli we have the opportunity to focus on what is important. And while we are going to add small solar and wind for some convenience our plan is to keep things pretty basic.

Taking a cue from our visitors we have added a porch to our bunkhouse. We built two tent platforms that are big enough to house a large tent with room enough to sit and relax up front. A solar experiment was begun by adding a solar heat panel to heat the pool in our grain bin. The water is pushed through the panel with the standard filter pump and on sunny days will raise the water temperature by 20 degrees. There is still some tweaking to do on how to best retain that heat but we are pretty happy with the experience.

Over the summer we transformed our old pole barn to host events for larger groups. This fall we hosted a private screening for the movie FRESH and had lunch for 40+ people from across the U.S., Central America, and Africa who recently attended the Community Food Security Coalition conference in Des Moines. All this interest has encouraged my wife and me to finish a few last projects so we can open in the summer of 2010. I have included a few pictures on these events and you can read more at our website, www.farmhouselife.com.