Can you believe it has been nearly 5 full months since we last wrote a proper update? And WOW! What a 5 months it has been. Some days I have to remind myself that we are supposed to be building a house. Period. I mean, that is what the r(E)volution is all about, right?
I am quickly reminded of a quote from Possum Living by Dolly Freed.
Why is it people assume one must be a hippie, or live in some dreary wilderness, or be a folksy, hard-working, back-to-nature, soybean and yogurt freak….”
And that is all I remember of that. The book, written as a guide to living without a job and on next to no income is a great one, no doubt. But it isn’t our story. That line just resonates with me though as the last five months I think we have officially heard it all. We have been asked if we are hippies, if we buy granola in bulk, if we want to drop out of society, how we feel about politics, how we are going to raise children, why a ‘tiny house’, and the list goes on. Truth is, we are all sorts of things. But alas, I will withhold the labels. What I want to talk about is all the adventures we have taken in the past five months. (pssst….I’ll do a bullet list so I don’t get obnoxious)
- Finished clearing, discing, removing debris, adding soil, discing again, and cultivating just at 1/3 an acre; our homestead.
- Burned nearly 3 cords of junk wood, scrap wood, and natural debris.
- Raised and harvested nearly 600 pounds of food including lettuce, spinach, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumber, squash, zuchini, watermelon, and more!
- Canned and otherwise preserved nearly 65 quarts of food (thus far).
- Returned our originally purchased windows in lieu of new selections.
- Purchased eco-friendly insulation.
- Expanded our laying hens to 16. Harvested two flocks of 12 each for meat chickens.
- Purchased a cube freezer for meat and vegetable preservation.
- Poured the slab of fibre-enriched concrete that will be the support pad for our tiny house.
- Built a 32 square foot storage “closet”.
- Became a “How-To” guest blogger on tinyhouseblog.com.
- Got removed from the roster of my local garden club for being too progressive in my mantra of “I don’t garden. I grow food!”
- Began writing a manuscript for an eventual book on tiny home building in the micro-farming, sustainable, lifestyle.
- And perhaps, most important, enjoyed each moment of watching my wife carry our soon-to-be-born daughter.
Fall is almost upon us. Summer is at its most unbearable, at least. Projects are becoming less motivated as the days are long and hot. Our gardens are slowly dying off and we are making plans for our fall/winter crops. We are anticipating the external build of our tiny house for January 2012. We are scheduled to appear on two different alternative living panels as well as begin working with a documentary crew regarding tiny houses. Our focus is greater than ever but with a baby on the way in just a few weeks we know that our r(E)volution will become even more robust with the Tiniest r(E)volution’s involvement.
My concern is how to manage time that seems to be pretty sparse as it is. Perhaps you have that problem as well. If so, here are some tips I came up with to help manage your time and make the most of each minute.
Learn to say no. I have had the hardest time with this my entire life. For whatever reason my sense of obligation is quite high. If someone asks, I will go out of my way (even at the expense of myself or my time with my family) to assist them. Learning to say no can be incredibly difficult. But it is sure to offer you both time and energy for doing things that really matter. Learn to scale back your unimportant, unnecessary, and unfulfilling activities. No one wants to wake up one day and ask themselves where their life has gone. We should live each day for what it is – just one day!
Ask for help. Most men are born with an overflowing pride gene. We find it hard to relinquish control. But we can’t do that any longer. We must learn to give up control and focus on our strengths while allowing others to focus on theirs. When trying to maximize time in a minimalist fashion it is essential to learn how to delegate. You don’t have to be the martyr that does all the grocery shopping, errand running, homework tutoring, home maintenance, etc, all on your own. Rally the troops! Invite your best friend, your spouse, or your family to lend a hand.
Don’t be so hard on yourself. We are all going to fail. We are all going to fall short. Many of us will end the day with unfinished projects. It is not the end of the world though. We each need to learn to not be so hard on ourselves. Perfection is ridiculous. If we were perfect there would be no lessons to learn in life. The more you expect from yourself and others, the more you are allowing frustration and disappointment to potentially enter your life.
Did I miss an essential tip? What do you do to maximize your time? As always, if you enjoy this post or want to share the r(E)volution with your friends and family, click on one of the social networking buttons at the bottom of this post!
You have got to be kidding about the garden club thing. Growing food is really all my gardening buddies and I talk about. If we mention roses and hydrangeas in our yards, it is more in a passing, yeah they look real pretty right now, but more importantly, how are your tomatoes doing, kind of way. Congrats on your food production, too. The drought and heat have not been easy to deal with this year. I want to know how you guys managed to coax that much food out of those plants!
I am not kidding. I am cool with it though. In fact, the first thing I told Crystal about my experience in the club was, “It seems very exclusive and I don’t see how that can ever benefit the greater community. Just not for me.”
Well, when you are dealing with foods such as tomatoes and potatoes the pounds add up. But we also did quite well on cukes and squash and zuchini. In fact, all that truly suffered was our beans. Beans didn’t even produce 2 quarts this year. Sad.
Andrew, I too have had a busy
summer. I kind of fell off the blogging circuit for a time. It was a long hot
July but accomplishments were also great. If sweat could have been harvested in
July it would have ranged in the gallons. One major backyard project was
accomplished and another is about half completed. Cooler weather has finally
decided to bless us and rain has come along with the nicer weather. It makes
working outside a little easier. The garden suffered greatly through the hot
dry July and has not been the best but is producing quite enough for me and the
neighbors.
Learning to say no plagued me
through out my life and setting boundaries has always been a problem. Even now
in my widower single years it can be an issue. Projects at home will drag out
over many months because of quickly being willing to help others. It’s one of
God’s giftings but, as with all the gifts, there’s a weakness that can become a
problem.
Even when folks volunteer to help
with my projects, I have to wonder why it’s so hard to allow them to help. My
generational farming background was definitely not that way. Pioneers and
farmers always worked together to make it through the spring planting and fall
harvest time. We are quick to socialize together. Why is it so hard to work
together. The independent spirit is a good thing but can become good to a
fault.
Being hard on myself has some
what subsided in this season of life. Personal standards never allowed for
failures or mistakes in the past. Everything that failed in the family felt
like the reason for the failure was my personal fault. I have since learned
from my grown kids (40 & 41) that the issues of teenagers would not have
changed much no matter what would have been changed. So all those years of
carrying the burden of “if only I had” was all for nought. It’s still a bit
difficult for this old grandpa to NOT assume the responsibilities of others,
especially family members, in an attempt to make their life better. It never
works.
It won’t be long now before you
will actually get to hold that little Odom.
May you and your family have the
best day.
So great to hear from you Dave. You are so right in that if we could have harvested sweat. In fact, if we could have harvested it we would have been able to water our garden for the rest of the summer. It was incredible! We, too, have gotten a small amount of rain this past week and that helped cool things off temporarily.
I appreciate your comments as always and am glad to hear a voice of experience and reason. Thank you for always sharing. Oh, and welcome back to the Interwebs! Looking forward to some new posts from you.
So excited to read this update! You’ve definitely had a busy summer, but all the hard work and dedication is helping you reach larger goals. Incredibly thrilled for all [three] of you!
And the garden club? Maybe you can start your own garden club! I’m supportive of your mantra.
This town isn’t big enough for two garden clubs but my dream is to have half day workshops on our land when it is done. I think I could market it fine on FB without the title of “garden club.”
And thank you so much for your continued love and support Laura. We appreciate it!
I am fascinated by this project. In my 56 years I have never lived in a
house that was less than 2000 sq ft. Now, I live on 6 acres in central
Ohio in an old 1200 sq ft farm house that I am refurbishing along with a
barn (and 50 spayed/neutered rescued barn cats). I have never lived in
a rural setting before but I had to move out of the suburbs to give the
cats a sanctuary.
I will be closely following your progress especially your advice on gardening and live stock.
What part of the country is your tiny house project located?
Hello there Gsproc. Thank you so much for checking us out. I am glad to hear you are fascinated. That is the least we can hope. If you haven’t already, please do read our Manifesto and our ‘About.’ While Crystal and I both grew up in rather small, sundry, houses, we most recently lived in Paris, Brooklyn, and my hometown of Georgia. The last house was 3800 sq. ft. and we thought we were living “The American Dream.” What you have now in Ohio sounds wonderful. Refurbishing is a love of ours too but alas, decent farmhouses in the Southeast are hard to come by (or at least those worth actually fixing up.) Please do give us a follow. You can also find us on Facebook at facebook.com/tinyrev or on Twitter @andrewodom:disqus. We live in eastern North Carolina.
Drew…so good to read your update! I love to follow your progress. Things are good here in B’ville. I continue to work on the marriage site….your guidance and consulting was invaluable! Thanks again for to your help. Best wishes to you and your growing family!
– Jay