Newcomer from New England

Hello Permies,

New Englander here, been lurking for a bit. Pleased to meet all.

Was a web developer for 12 years before I hit a wall. Still dabble in that but am exploring a more sustainable path for myself in my late 30s.

My claim to fame is the DIY tiny house I built and a Prius camper conversion which I’ve documented on YouTube and the other socials (@teaspoondwellings). Working on a van conversion now.

Currently working on tiny home building standards and working with other advocates on adding chassis provisions to the IRC so more people can live tiny legally.

I’m into eco-sanitation and attended the Rich Earth Summit on Cape Cod this year.

I read Paul and Shawn’s “Building a Better World” a few weeks ago and feel like I’ve found my people. Love the idea of low tech innovation and “luxuriant living” on the cheap.

Excited to start a garden in the Spring and start becoming more self-sufficient.

Hi Mike,

Welcome to Permies.

Hi Mike - Welcome to permies!
I sort of like the idea of a tiny house, but have accumulated too many possessions for that now. I do like the multifunctional features and would like to build more clever ideas into our normal home - our bathroom isn't huge for example, and laundry always seems to take up three times as much space as it could.
Growing your own food is liberating! How much garden space will you have? Are you starting from scratch, or has there been a growing space there before?

I have the pipe dream of a tiny house. Sigh. I'm also a packrat. Ah well.

Thanks for the welcomes!

Nancy - I'm starting from scratch with the garden, though I have lots of compost from the past ~10 years of composting, so I'm hoping I won't need to buy any soil amendments. My neighbors have a garden with just a 4' fence around it and the deer haven't given them much issue (surprisingly). I read the Mini Farming book and plan on doing raised double dug beds. Focusing on crops that are easy to preserve that will cover most of my dietary needs & wants (mostly vegetarian mediterranean diet): potatoes, spaghetti squash, white beans, canning tomatoes, peas, onions, bell peppers (the one less-easy-to-preserve).

Plenty of compost is a good start! Double digging sounds like a lot of work, but presumably you've looked at some of the other options. However this thread for a newbie gardener maybe worth a look for you. With a good lot of compost you may well be very successful with a no dig garden over sheet mulch (like cardboard or thick layer of autumn leaves), if you don't need the raised beds for ergonomic reasons.

I suspect bell peppers could be dehydrated for storage fairly successfully.