This came to my attention by a long time member of the
CountryPlans Forum. I haven't been a permies.com member long
enough to know if Jan is a member here, so I may be reiterating something that many here already know about. Jan and his family has lived and worked in the cabin they built with their own hands since about 2003. Their homestead is in WA state. Their cabin site can be found
HERE.
To quote from a new post Jan made earlier today on CountryPlans;
"Well, we lived there for seven years until we recently became aware of our growing weariness with the rural lifestyle which, with a kid in school, translates into lots of driving and still not enough peer time for an activity hungry boy.
Last labor day as a temporary distraction we loaded some camping gear on our bicycles and rode 1800 miles to Moab, Utah to revisit the place where Bjorn was born 11 years ago. Charmed by old and new friends we decided to move back here.
Now I'm starting to build a new version of our Washington cabin, this time located right in the middle of town, with all the rules, regs and red tape associated with dense neighborhoods. New to me is the concept of building permit, sewer hook up and a lot size of a mere 70 x 80 feet.
What we had in the Northwest was ideal, comfortable and simple. Except for the loneliness and remote location we found out precisely what we wanted in a house. Can it be redone to our taste under the scrutiny a narrow minded authority? Maybe. Affordable too? Prolly not.
Our little place will be in this development: http://www.mulberrygroveonline.com/ All the info one would need to know is listed on the Mulberry Grove website. It seems to me to be a unique development. It's the only development I've ever seen that placed a maximum limit on the size of the homes. There does not seem to be any minimum square foot requirements. A home built there must attain a certain number of points in order to be okayed for construction. They promote the
reuse of building materials, the installation of clotheslines and the omission of gas/electric clothes driers, home
gardening, earth based plasters, alternative sources of
energy, for example.
Anyhow I thought it might be of interest to some folks.
