You know I’m interested in housing, and I’ve got a soft spot for small houses, houses made of recycled materials, portable houses, and related odditites. When I heard that somebody (in the US) is having a house made out of a Boeing 747, I imagined an ugly little shack. But this thing… well, it’s serious. [...]
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I suspect that Gabriola’s Harvest Thyme (oh, and spud.ca, too) will be selling a lot more unscented shampoo once people read this: David Suzuki targets ‘dirty dozen’ toxic ingredients. Alarming.
Filed in Gabriola Island,lifestyles 12 Comments so far
Do you have property on Gabriola, but no house upon it? Here’s an interesting possibility, then: Ecopods. Operating with an 80 watt solar panel and minimal electrical needs there is no need to run power lines or trench power cables to the unit, it’s ready to use minutes after setup. [continue]
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Lots of cyclists come to Gabriola to pedal around the island. (Because, ha! They’ve never ridden up Brickyard Hill before.) Many plan to camp on the island, and I bet you’ve seen lots of those touring cyclists on Gabriola. They’re usually easy to spot because of their loaded panniers and sleeping bag rolls. I’ll bet [...]
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You live on Gabriola, and don’t need a car all the time. Would sharing a car work for you? Imagine this scenario: You need a car for 2 hours on Wednesday morning, just so that you can take a load of stuff to GIRO and then go do your laundry at Silva Bay. You visit [...]
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As Gabriola moves towards water shortage season (summer), we start to think more about how to save water and how to use less of it. The Tiny House blog notes that: If you’re looking for a greener alternative to washing your clothes, it doesn’t get much greener than our hand powered laundry machine (well, laundry [...]
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Do you know about WWOOF? It stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. It’s a volunteer program. The idea is that you go off to some area you’d like to visit, and spend your time volunteering on an organic farm there. You work 4-6 hours a day on the farm; your meals and accommodations [...]
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These days I spend a lot of time thinking about low-impact housing, small houses, and also inexpensive houses. Sometimes those topics intersect, as they might with some kinds of yurts, for example. Sure, it’s expensive to buy a yurt from one of those specialist yurt companies, but there are cheaper alternatives. One is the Gertee, [...]
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Do you know about yurts? They’re round dwellings, made of fabric over a light wood frame. (See a variety of Yurts here on Google images.) Traditionally used by nomads in places like Mongolia, yurts can be set up or collapsed within a couple of hours — just the thing if you want to move around [...]
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A fun and interesting friend visited last week (I am trying to convince her to start a Gabriola blog, though I don’t know if she’s realized that yet) and we wound up talking about small houses. Here’s one she showed me: the Glidehouse. The company behind it uses phrases like sustainable, modern, modular homes. Looks [...]
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If my property on Gabriola didn’t have a house on it, I’d be thinking seriously about small house designs. (Had you guessed?) Here’s an interesting one: …the Osprey is approximately 523 square feet of efficiently designed living space with one bedroom, one bath, a large great room and integrated decks that provide a generous living [...]
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In the galaxy of off-the-grid living, their pad is cooler than yours. Now, just from that sentence, what kind of accommodation are you imagining? Think of a place that: …sleeps six; contains a hot-water shower, kitchen, fridge and freezer; sports floor-to-ceiling wood paneling; and features a music studio with a stand-up piano. Have you imagined [...]
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Do you know anybody on Gabriola who lives on very little money? I’ve met a few such people, but none of them have stories quite like this one. Here, this is from the Telegraph: Former businessman lives on no money for a year. Mark Boyle said giving up his job, possessions and money to live [...]
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Now here’s a fascinating article from the Times Online: Living without money. Twenty-two years ago Heidemarie Schwermer, a middle-aged secondary school teacher just emerging from a difficult marriage, moved with her two children from the village of Lueneburg to the city of Dortmund, in the Ruhr area of Germany, whose homeless population, she immediately noticed, [...]
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