Building our Home

Looks like we are starting all over again.

We built a house in 2015 and sold it- for me it was meant to be the HOME that I had been WAITING FOR ALL MY LIFE, but, turns out, it wasn’t. There are many reasons for this. None of them are now applicable anymore. The sale was quick and profitable.

At the time of sale, we already were in possession of this parcel of land, which we acquired in April 2013. Situated at the edge of the edge of town, backing onto gold mined state forest, with a 3 bedroom cheapo but comfy residence, a massive horse stable/ shed and almost no vegetation.

Since then, we divided these 2.5 acres into 5 pieces:

the house on just under 800 sqm

the town house block on the road (530 sqm)

the stables block (3000 sqm)

and two blocks that were the horse paddock (3000 sqm each)

You can look at some pictures

here

The financial result was that we owned the stables block outright and had spare funds to build our STRAW BALE HOME. (After all, 3000 sqm is ‘SO ENOUGH’ as our good friend and weekend helper Teeka says.)

Four blocks were sold to lovely neighbours, who we have fairly regular get-togethers with, and who are also in the planning stages of building environmentally conscious homes.

Our intention was to have a cluster of eco homes all around us, and it looks like it’s happening! Our other aim was to grow food here, and with Ian’s creative and ‘musculous’ digging power, we have planted over 60 fruit and nut trees, extensive and wild vegetable gardens including chicken runs, watering and composting systems. We have converted parts of the stables into 2 separate but very basic living spaces comprising of one indoor (winter) and one outdoor (summer) kitchen. And the boys, Rowan [27] and Gabe [19] have experimented on building a tiny home.

Over the past two years, we have absolutely agonised about what and if we are building here, which meant that we had to completely review our relationship’s and business’ and individual life’s purpose(s)- lots of reading mind-expanding books to each other in bed, much time apart, counseling, growing up often physically and emotionally painfully, doing yoga together and apart, talking it through with friends and professionals like spiritual healers, orthobionomists, kinesiologists, TCM practitioners- for me a reconstructive peri menopausal transformation into a young crone and double OMA, thanks to my son Damian and his wife Renee. And so I’m feeling ready to co-create a house with my partner Ian that I can call my home.

On this blog site, I will attempt to recount some of the technical and personal details involving the build of a house that will last for a century (hopefully the house will last that long, not the building of it). A house that is built with a design and materials that we have thoughtfully selected within permaculture principles and our financial health in mind. This house will be warm in winter with minimal heating, cool in summer with minimal cooling, It will be a statement of quiet protest against the Australian building industry and its totally outdated regulations resulting in thousands of wasteful new houses each year. It will be a naturally breathing living house that will keep the many types of bugs and vermin outside. With its greenhouse, we plan to compensate for the short-comings of the local climate- too hot in mid summer for lettuce, too many frosts in winter for ….bananas. It will be my ZUHAUSE which I have lost too many years ago for too many reasons-this home will be SWEET.

Stay tuned. The foundations are under way.