Hey All,
For those who haven’t heard (many, as we haven’t talked/posted on it much), I’m hosting another Relaxshacks.com Tiny House Building Workshop this year, something we’re dubbing “Tiny House Summer Camp,” and for good reason….
Last year’s sold out workshop went very well, and we had great feedback, so we decided to try a FOUR DAY workshop this time, with camping sites and lodging, and MANY guest speakers and demonstrators. I initially only wanted one guest presenter, perhaps two, but this tiny-house-athon has almost become a small living convention of sorts. Well, a convention where we’re only letting in fifteen attendees!
The aim is to keep it small, hands-on, fun, and eclectic. We want you to not only learn about the ins and outs of small space design and construction, but also to actually build a tiny cabin in the woods together. You’ll have the chance to see and stay in a small off-grid log cabin (one Kent featured as a “tiny house in a landscape” last year), my own Vermont Cabin (as seen in both Lloyd Kahn and Mimi Zeiger’s new tiny housing books), The U.B. 30 Treehouse, and we’ll take a field trip or two to The Pine Crest Cabins in Barton, Vermont, a local mom and pop sawmill, and “Uncle Bob’s Place” to check out some thrift-built tiny structures, and more….
Photos are by Deek and Bruce Bettis
See why do we need four days??
We might try out a few of the other ideas/approaches from my book “Humble Homes, Simple Shacks” as well- and you’ll see many of the sights depicted in the photos and text of that very book.
The hiking, fishing, and sightseeing in this area of Vermont (Orleans, in the Northeast Kingdom) is just incredible too miss. Coventry, a neighboring town, has THE MOST covered bridges in all of the US, an underground house too…and the local architecture (one town north boasts an actual castle) is just incredible.
Two meals included, campfire discussions at night, and lots of hammer swinging will make this a weekend not to be forgotten. $399 for four days, which includes camping spaces and/or cabin spots (first come, first serve). Email kidcedar [at] gmail [dot] com if you’d like to sign up.
For those who can’t make it I’m also heading workshops for the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company in Boston, Washington DC, Chicago, and more all in 2012.
-Derek “Deek” Diedricksen
Y’know how tiresome it is to want to learn all of this: tiny house building, solar, etc….and then go back and cry in the shower yet again, because everyone wants so very much money for the information–money I’ll never have, even if I work another 40 years? Why does everyone charge so much? Never mind…I get yelled at anyway, any time I dare to question why…
Athena,
Don’t want to burst your bubble further but unless you have someone of the male gender (son, husband, friend, etc) to help you with this type of thing it almost impossible. I know women have done it but it is so much more difficult. Also, it is not safe for a woman alone to live out in the woods. I wish it were not so, but that is reality. I hope someway you can tweak your goals and meet them.
Take Care,
Joni
It would be hard for anyone to build their own house if they don’t have the skills and help, but not all men automatically have the ability to build a house. Anyone can do it if they have the drive. Yes it’s a different lifestyle out there in the wilderness but who says it’s impossible. You truly have to have a different mindset so as not to limit yourself or others.
Huh? Why are the risks different for a woman? I don’t get that. Other than some “time of the month” issues and bears anyway. I know a lot of people who either live or have lived alone in the bush, built their own shacks with minimal help, whatever and many of them are women. Some are tiny, some are not. All it takes is being in good enough health to function and having the enthusiasm. The rest is just learning. Skills are not something you’re born with, you acquire them by doing things, including making mistakes and learning how to fix them. The library is full of books that show you how to do just about anything and there are videos all over the internet. Start small, build a storage shed or a doghouse, work your way up. Find somebody that can use unskilled help, watch and learn while doing the grunt work, trade for tools and skills then pass them on to others.
If an area is dangerous for women it’s probably dangerous for men too, so maybe nobody should live there!
The participants at Tiny House Summer Camp built two structures, the larger of the two was just eight feet by 10 feet. Bill Foxhill, a professional carpenter from the Adirondacks helped Diedricksen supervise the construction. Both hand tools and power tools run off gas generators were used.
I’m with you guys… Deek–how ’bout a 2 day weekend women’s workshop without special speakers (to keep the price down) with optional on-site childcare (for a fee, reservations required)? meals optional for a fee (or no meals). and time for side field trips on our own…
🙂 kim
What do you want to know that you can’t find out for free on the internet? What a bunch of whiners you sound like. You think it’s free for Deek to do this?
Oh deek and can you do a mens only 1.75 day program with free gerbil care and give me gas money to come down and find out it’s not free to build things and land costs money.
Call the Wahbulance.
The price is actually very reasonable. I think most people haven’t read all the details. Its four days, with a couple included meals, lodging spaces included, and alot of materials I have to buy and shuttle into the woods. There are ALOT of expenses that go with setting something like this up, which many don’t take into account before they judge. These things also take an ulcer-inducing amount of planning and prep.
That said, I might have a smaller one or two day one in MA in late fall
Update: This Nov 2-4, I’m having a THREE DAY hands-on building workshop, WITH camping, bon fires at night, AN INSANE amount of speaking guests and demos, and more- relaxshacks.com as the info….