Yurts, slugs, and life in a temperate rainforest
We’ve talked about Sacred Groves before — it’s Ariel’s mama’s land in Western Washington that used to be an intentional community. But it’s worth revisiting, since I just got back from the Offbeat Retreat with fresh photos and new stories. Sit back and dream your way through this quickie home tour.
Shop eccentric houses through AirBNB
Husband and I have been happily hosting AirBNB guests for six months now, and it’s an amazing place to find unusual housing types you might want to try out!
Log cabin contemplations: reacting & reflecting
As I was sweeping the first of the yellowed leaves from the cabin’s porch, I was trying to line up all the ways that the homes I’ve created for myself in my adult life have been both a reflection of this space, and a reaction against it.
Log cabin contemplations: hanging out at a commune
Last week I wrote about some of the weirdness of moving back into my childhood home for a month. It’s a little different than it was when I was an isolated only child growing up here, though: my childhood home is now a commune and functioning eco-retreat type thing called Sacred Groves. At any given time, there are a mix of a half dozen to a dozen adults and children living here, walking the paths I used to haunt alone. Sometimes it’s awesome, and sometimes it’s, well, a little overwhelming.
I grew up in a log cabin my parents built: Log cabin contemplations
It was 1975 and my parents’ “back to the land” impulses were in full swing. Although they had an infant (me) and were a geography professor and a nursing student (him, her) with no experience in construction or building (any of us), they decided to build a log cabin on Bainbridge Island, WA. My father, ever the researcher, read a bunch of books about the subject, and March of 1976 they broke ground on the 1000 square foot cabin I grew up in.
In 2011, I temporarily moved back in.
Communes: the pros & cons of intentional community
Ever wondered what it would be like to live in a commune? Well, let my mom tell you ALL about it.