My beautiful view of nothing. Friends know the road, know how to visit. If things get dicey in the city, they'll all be here and we can build a second house for them.
If things get rough in the city, rents quadrupling, joblessness, famine, rioting, burglar break-ins at any house with a fridge -- build your cottage in the sky. Take a one gas tank ride toward the mountains. Find a road that goes into a hollow, then climb to a valley and start building. Bring an axe to chop branches, Use the Medeival English "Wattle and Daub" system. Build your house, come back with a wood stove and a small generator for your PC. This Recession is going to be beautiful. You'll have the TIME to do all this! Get you out of your RUT! Use the muscles God gave you!
So, imagine free building materials by doing a WATTLE AND DAUB hut. Get a GENERATOR and put STONES IN A CIRCLE FOR A KITCHEN. A camp stove inside for rainy days. A nearby cooling cellar.
Who's afraid of the big bad wolf? One can never be homeless if you have an ax and there are branches. Mud makes the daub and branches make the wattle. PUHLENTY of those two things in nature.
CHECK OUT THESE PRO COTTAGE BUILDERS http://www.thatchingwales.co.uk/thatching_examples.html
See a CORD HOUSE http://www.masterjules.net/cordhous.htm
See the RUSTIC HOME http://www.masterjules.net/rustichome.htm
These are houses you could build! Lovely mud floors, a few braided straw rugs.
ESSENTIAL CONSTRUCTION requires a special joint. Once I found description of it on JOSEPH LITTLE ARCHITECTS.COM --you have to google that SITE.
Search terms are: "tricks of Wattle Daub construction". Google those terms
If you can find 'used' lumber, go for straight ribs.
http://fransramblings.blogs.com/photos/sca/wattle_and_daub_house_construction.html
http://www.wealddown.co.uk used to have articles on WATTLE DAUB.
A VERY GOOD PICTURE OF
HOW ASSORTED BRANCHES,
WICKER AND MUD BECOME A
HOUSE!
Read up on this. The Brits keep the art going bigtime. http://www.salvoweb.com/book.html
so take a look at all these books, online, maybe find them used at
abebooks.com
There are beautiful sites out there if you seek wattle and daub as a
search term.
http://www.gastateparks.org/core/item/page.aspx?s=160828.0.1.5
Make a copy of your house for the
local bluejays. Give it a bigger door though. This is a finch-sized door
And hey, this is what your finished house will look like with shingles.
There are many forms that were
used in medieval thru Tudor times.
See: http://www.mojobob.com/roleplay/props/buildings.html
http://www.brickfields.org.uk/text/tudor-homes.html
A PC doesn't take a lot of electricity, a small generator can handle it. You have a cell fone which you use infrequently so no big bill. Nearest town has a Post Office so you can rent a box, get mail. You can live quite happily in the middle of the forest like a gnome. Tell a few friends which roads to use to get to you. You have the best of both worlds. I've lived in retirement from the world for l0 years, a total hermit and it's as good as living in West L.A. and having a career. I spent years with parents, husbands, children, now alone is a joy!
PROVISIONS: You will need a
cool root cellar locked so bears cannot get in it. A kitchen with
charm and style
In a wood house, be cautious where you use your camp stove. Be careful
with the propane hook up. An outdoor oven might be a good idea.
Far
enough from the shingle roof that sparks wouldn't be a problem.
FOUND THIS OVEN at a blog: http://hardwareaisle.thisoldhouse.com but
image not there as I edit this in 2015 Google around those words,
see what they have now.
I see a barbecue a week on the trash looks like that. The terracotta hood...well, you'd have to micky mouse the pottery part. Wire grid, lotta clay, then a lotta wood & heat to cook it hard. Maybe a pro potter could make it for you.
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