Tiny House/Gallery on Wheels - More than a Dream?

One Sketch of ObscurAbode Dreams

Recently I was feeling really down due to health problems. I wondered, will I ever get to live out my dreams of a tiny home/gallery on wheels? And I was chatting with my bro, Milo about it. We had a moment of clarity when I asked if he'd like to help me build the Tiny Home/Gallery on wheels we've been talking about, live in it until we some day help him build the cob home of his dreams, and let me bunk with him when we run gallery showings.

I love this guy.  We aren't related by blood, but I love him like a brother and  we sort of adopted each other when he was 18. He is one of very few people in the world who I have told they could live or crash here in our home if they ever needed to. Strangely, Milo is the only one of the 3 non blood relations who hasn't taken us up on it. I say non blood relations because the same holds true for my sister, but we've never lived together as adults.  Milo is currently staying with some friends of ours in exchange for his help in turning their yard from dirt nap to sustainable desert oasis. He has a great site called Vegan Meal Adventures http://veganmealadventures.com/ which I have mentioned before, yet he doesn't hassle me for being a meat eater because he knows how much I love and miss my veggies and how I long to eat them once we get my allergic reactions sorted out. He is also one of the few people who really gets all my health problems yet doesn't treat me like broken glass. And last but not least he's an artist, and we have a common love for tiny homes, and sustainable living. Why we have never discussed the possibility of teaming up to make our dreams a reality before this? I have no idea, but I'm glad I gutted up and asked the question. And his response was an instant YES! No hesitation.

Dreams of Creating a Tiny Sustainable Lifestyle

We agreed that we will not build anything until he is out of school and my health is more under control. So that gives us till Fall 2014 or so to brain storm, plan, fund raise, save, scrimp and make it happen. In order to move from dream to reality, we decided the first step is to share all the sketches and inspirational photos we like with each other, so I set up a google docs folder, and we are using it to brain dump all our ideas, hopes, goals, dreams, and inspirations towards a tiny home/gallery on wheels. Originally I was thinking of calling it ObscurAbode, but we're going to toss other names around like Pinwheel. We figure the name will come together when the house/gallery does.

I suspect a few things will hold true: Our design will be creative/artistic as we are both artists, meticulous as we both tend to research, plan and prepare with attention to detail, as self sustainable as possible, innovative, and accessible to people with disabilities. The rest is going to come together after we both share what we need, want and hope to see in this project.

It presents a unique challenge to create something which is both a house that feels like home, and a gallery which is open to the public. For one thing, we have been discussing how to make the most use of vertical space and still have it accessible to people with mobility issues. This is important not only because I will be staying there on occasion, but more importantly because we want the gallery to be wheelchair accessible. Two of our most fun and innovative ideas have been inspired by thinking about people with disabilities as relates to our tiny home. One is a chair rail/lift system which can be used with or without power to move around the home both vertically and horizontally, and another is an accessible fold out restroom/changing room/shower. Both are very exciting and we are looking forward to making them a reality. In the mean time, I am sketching, playing with a floor plan app on my cell phone, and considering building tiny models so that we can visualize our ideas in 3d. Will my dreams of a tiny house/gallery on wheels come true? Stay tuned!

Baby Fishies!

Me in my Tie Dye T and Loom Knit Drop Stitch Slouchy Hat

I was going to talk about the joy of successfully completing new (to me) designs or projects like this drop stitch slouchy hat, but then this happened instead:

Sometimes it's the little things, the very little things that make us happy. This morning I went to check out my Aquaponics system, and while I was cleaning leaves from the top tank I realized, there was a tiny black molly fish swimming around. I guess the fish are doing OK, because they had babies! There was one tiny black fish swimming away, and when I lifted one of the rafts to try and see the rest I only found one large adult clinging to the roots from the plants, so I gently lowered it back into the water thinking maybe other fish were hiding in there before I lifted it up, and screamed in child like glee, "Carlie we have baby fishies!!!!!!!!"

Apparently she'd gone inside without me realizing it, so I was just there talking to myself. Sorry, no photos of the fish, they're too quick! I had worried the Ph of the water was too high and all the fish would die, but so far they're all alive, and apparently they're healthy because I don't think sick fish would breed. What a joy it is to see even one tiny black molly swimming around that tank.

BABY FISHIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Making gifts rather than buying

I have been struggling with when to buy and when not to. For example, I have WAY too many pajama pants, but almost all of them are so big on me now that I can't even tie em tight enough to stay on. So I bought 2 new pajama pants size XL. Losing weight does mean I'll need to buy some clothes (Tho I do have some 42's  and XL's I stored so that I don't have to do TOO much unnecessary shopping) and I did get the pajamas on sale. Good stuff. It's the holidays and I did buy one gift, for a holiday gift exchange. Otherwise, most of my gifts planned for this season are home made.

Then I ran across this site: http://www.takepart.com/photos/better-store-bought-holiday-gifts/better-than-store-bought-homemade-dog-biscuits when looking for instructions to make our own dog biscuits, and thought I'd take this pledge. It may be a challenge, but I'm not going to buy any more holiday gifts. They'll all be home made.

My family called me a grinch when I tried to encourage no xmas gifts. We're not even Christian, why are we exchanging gifts due to someone else's traditions? But apparently they like the stockings, tree and xmas gifts of their youth and didn't want to give them up. I like to give people gifts any time of the year, not just when someone else tells me to. But this year I think at least I can hand make gifts :) 

How do you handle the holidays? 

My first Aquaponics System - part 2

Our first spinach came in on it's 4th day in the tank!!!

Seems like it's too soon to do an update on our AP system since it's still technically within a week of starting it, but since we had to spread out when we bought various parts and we only work on it when it's cool out, it's taken us about a week to build it. This is Phoenix, AZ it still reaches triple digits some days in October. It's also really exciting right now, because our plants are sprouting up as you can see to the left here with our first tiny spinach sprouting up.

So part 2 is mostly about us finishing the building process of a simple and somewhat theoretical AP System I had in mind, which is to use the floating raft technique but with an IBC container type system. I don't know how well this system will hold up and to how many fish, but we will see. I planned to cycle the system for about a week with just plants before putting fish in it, so we do not yet have our catfish, but that's OK because it is giving me time to call around town and see who has the best price on catfish, or decide if I should buy them online and pay for shipping.

6 inch air stone disk under the large raft

So what did we do to since my last post? Bought and added water conditioner, sea weed, a working thermometer, 1 six inch and 1 5 inch flat disk shaped air rock for under the rafts, 25 feet of black air hose and a 2 outlet air pump meant for a smaller tank which will eventually be moved indoors to our 60 gallon tank, 2 gadgets to prevent water flowing backward into the air pump since it's slightly lower than water height, some fish pond water conditioner, and some sea weed to start cycling the system. Carlie found another extension cord and a lamp/appliance timer we had laying around the house.

I also bought a book called The Wonder of Aquaponics on my Nook for just over $4 http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-wonder-of-aquaponics-rosemarie-r-mosquera/1106244133?ean=2940013330429 Whereas the book I mentioned in my previous post was more expensive than I could afford at this time, around $20, but after I get my next check I'll probably pick that up too later. Or maybe I'll stop in at the local library and check it out... I just feel that having it on my Nook is better because then I have it whenever I need to look something up. The $4 is a good introductory book and the other one is more in depth.

We moved a table over near the tank and plugged the air pump into the new extension cord which reached over there easily. Some day I still plan to make the whole system run off solar, but for now we're running it off the power in our house. The Air pumps we have running 24/7. You can see the larger air stone in this photo. I would have liked to buy 2 this size, but the store only had one so the other is a bit smaller. They are aerating the water right under the plants, and the bubbles are moving air right up to the plants which I was advised is important for raft systems like mine.

moved the hose up out of the water to prevent backflow

We'd like to put the water pump on a timer so that it's not running constantly all day long in order to use a bit less electricity. But the hose was previously down under the water because I wasn't sure how strong the pressure would be and I didn't want it just sparying everywhere. What I didn't realize, is that when the pump is off, the water follows gravity and flows back down the house. Yes, that makes sense of course, just hadn't thought about it.

So yesterday I unplugged the pump which is pumping water from the lower tank and moved the hose so that it is no longer under the water, but is pumping the water out into the air which then lands in the tank creating a small amount of aeration, and making it so that no water will flow backwards into the lower tank when the pump is off, allowing me to (theoretically) turn that pump off periodically and save some electricity. I waited to see how well this worked out, and even with the slight drip we have coming from the middle of the top tank, the water in the top tank was only an inch or two lower which means that it's just sitting there for a time, and not circulating, but the air bubbles up there are still moving the water around, so it's not likely to go stagnant just briefly.

Air Pump is working!

We waited to see how long it would stay that way and the answer apparently was indefinitely because the drip from the middle of the top tank slowed and eventually stopped when the water level in the top went down almost 2 inches. So I set the timer to run for 30 minutes every hour and a half, plugged the timer into the extension cord and it instantly turned off. It happened to be during a time that the timer was set to be off, so I thought nothing of it, but this morning when I went out to check on things the air pump was going strong but the water pump was still off. I checked and it was during a time that the timer said the pump should be working, but I had a sneaking suspicion it was human failure, not gadget failure. And yes indeed, I had forgotten to set the timer to timer, it was still on the off position. So to test it I turned it to the on position, the pump started, and turned it to off and the pump stopped. Reset it to timer now, so hopefully it will start being  a bit more automated, and over time we'll see if it's cycling the water well enough.

Rainbow Chardling (just one tiny leaf)

Finally, I tore up some seaweed and put it in the top tank to dissolve. Yes, we have no fish yet, it's not meant to be fish food, it is meant to start cycling the fish tank so beneficial bacteria will grow and allow the plants to clean the ammonia and such the fish put off out of the water so that when the water pump I spent time tinkering with will pump the ammonia tainted water from the fish tank up into the plant bed and then the water will get cleaned by the plants and gravity will eventually take the water back out the drain holes and over into the fish tank further aerating the water for the fish below. If I do end up keeping feeder fish up in the top tank, I can feed them sea weed up there and whatever bits they don't eat will dissolve and become extra nourishment for the plants. Speaking of plants, Carlie noticed that we had another new plant yesterday, Check it out, our first rainbow chard is sprouting! This morning I went back out there and the sea weed was starting to dissolve so I broke it up a bit more with my fingers, and I discovered that we already had a second Rainbow Chard Sprout just 1 day later.

Realized the water in the lower tank was about 76 degrees at 9:30 AM today. I'm going to keep an eye on the temperatures at different times of day and night compared to the outside temperature, and decide if I'm going to need to build a small green house and/or add a heating element this winter. Hopefully not since catfish are said to be hardy through a more varying temperature, but if all else fails I could always bring the bulk of the fish indoors for the winter since winter in Phoenix is so short. This reminds me, I think I'll get a book for logging temperature, and various things that change with the system so I can look back over time and see what happens. It's like a home science kit, and I'm having fun tinkering with it.

At this point I plan for some blue channel catfish to live in the lower tank because they tend to do fine with temperature changes to the water, and eventually we plan to add some Tilapia down there too once our brief winter is over and the temperatures are stable at a warm enough temp for Tilapia to be healthy. I'm also going to put some prawns in there to help keep the tank clean. I've considered raising feeder fish for the Catfish up in the top tank, but haven't put this into motion yet obviously. I am going to buy some goldfish today or tomorrow and get them set up there to try it out and continue cycling the system, then when the catfish are big enough some of the goldfish who live through the initial trials could be put in the lower tank as feeder fish.

Once it's all built and regulated I suspect I'll spend a lot less time on it. If the book I'm reading is right the only things I'll need to do at that point is spend a couple minutes a day feeding fish, possibly dealing with bugs now and then, and occasionally checking the water's PH. Some people I know who do Aquaponics farming on a small backyard scale, do not check PH, they go by the way the water looks and the fish act. I'm still debating between methods. If I find a cheap water testing kit maybe I'll go that route, but the ones I've seen are pretty expensive, and I'm trying to keep the cost down. Speaking of costs, I think that getting an above ground pool off craigslist is probably the best bet for an easy, off the shelf, low cost system and allows more space for raising fish AND growing plants. I just didn't have a space in my backyard that was big enough which we were willing to give up to a whole pool for Aquaponics. But I see them on craigslist periodically and all people want is someone willing to move the thing out of their yard. Free pool plus the cost of gas is a GOOD price to start an aquaponics system. Maybe some day I'll go that route if we decide we want to expand. For now, we're happy tinkering with our IBC unit.

Found out there will be a big Halloween shindig at the GardenPool.org and talked to Carlie about it. We'll be signing up for that. The cost is 5 cans of food each which will go to those who need it more than us, and in exchange we'll get to learn about Black Soldier Fly colonies (for fish that feed off the top) and raising duckweed plus have the opportunity to pick up a black soldier fly colony starter kit and some starter duckweed which I'm hoping will grow on the top of the lower tank providing some cover/shade/hiding spots for the catfish, as well as food for the tilapia. Also from what I've heard the Tilapia will teach the catfish to move up to the top and eat so they may end up eating the duckweed as well since they're a fish that eats both creatures and plants.

Next steps for us:
Get some goldfish to test the system and eventually to be feeder fish for the catfish
Get red wiggler worms (to eat excess produce, use their poop in our traditional gardening, and feed some to the catfsih now and then)
Set up a worm tower to replace or supplement our current composter
Set up indoor Aquaponics system and start fishless cycling
Visit the local feed store and see if they have fish food that would be appropriate for the catfish
Get catfish fry
Get tilapia fry
Get Duckweed started

My First Aquaponics System - part 1

Our First AP Tank, minus the fish and air pump

We chose to start out with an outdoor system in our backyard using an IBC tank due to space constraints in our yard, where the water is located/easy to get to, where electricity in the yard is located until we get our solar system connected, where the plants would get the best sun without being in too much light at the wrong parts of the day, etc. We also will have one indoors to compare the two methods.

My goals in setting up both systems was to spend the least amount of money for the biggest bang for our buck. I chose to use an IBC tank with water in the top instead of grow medium, a floating raft made out of foam much like the one I'd seen on a tour with Dr Brooks, with grow medium just in small cups floating in the foam. We put a 130-170 gph pump in the lower tank where the fish will be, and pumped water from that up into the top portion under the rafts. Eventually this will be solar powered, but for now it's simply drawing electricity from the house. We drilled 5 holes in the top part so that it would trickle over into the fish tank below, returning the cleaner water (in theory) from the grow bed to the fish tank below. We realize we may need to add an extra filter to the system since we are using less grow medium, but we're learning as we go and going at this a bit piece meal. As the water falls it does aerate the fish tank water a bit, but we'll also be adding an air pump which will pump air under the rafts and also through a couple of air stones in the fish tank to oxygenate the water and aerate the plants which are currently just floating around in tiny cups full of grow medium soaking in water. 

We started our tank in fall which may be the worst time of year to do it, but by the 3rd day, I went out to add the 2nd half of the foam raft and move cups around, only to discover our lettuce had 3 of 4 cups already sprouting, and by the 4th day, all 4 cups had 2 to 4 sprouts each. Makes me a little anxious not having fish in the tank yet, because I worry that we do not yet have nutrients going to the plants, and the nutrients they provide themselves in their seeds is minimal, so eventually they'll need that bit of added nutrients, and I'd like to get the system cycling before adding fish in if possible. Going to add some sea weed as recommended by a few local AP enthusiasts tomorrow after a trip to a local aquarium store to look at and hopefully pick up at least one air pump and some air stones. Also looking online, so I think I might buy the air pump setup meant for our indoor tank and use it outdoors right now since I don't have any fish in it yet and can simply use all the air for the plants, and then I can move that one indoors once the larger pump arrives from online. 

Our First TINY Lettuce Sprout

So far so good. Even tho we're only in our first week, I'm hopeful! 

Things yet to do: 
Buy and set up thermometer (I killled the first one via drowning)
Buy and set up air pump
Buy and add small bit of sea weed
Locate, buy and add fish (Channel Catfish for now and possibly some Prawns, then later when it warms back up after winter, may add some Tilapia)
Locate, price, and buy fish food
Build worm compost and breeding set up
Visit gardenpool.org and possibly pick up some duckweed, black fly larva and red wigglers
Further investigation on temperature and heating elements in case we'll need to heat the water out back for the catfish and possibly prawns
Further investigation, planning and eventual set up of solar power and deep cycle marine battery to run the whole system

And of course set up the indoor system as well. I will keep you posted. 

Aquaponics

Growing our own food in Arizona is totally doable, but a challenge. The best way many people in Laveen have found is to flood irrigate. Which they say actually uses less water than the drip systems, but which still uses quite a bit of water. I looked around and discovered a lot of people having really great results with aquaponics. So far I've mostly been studying about aquaponics from a distance, but this weekend we made a concerted effort to get some things set up and growing. Of course this means everything I say here should be taken as me thinking my system through. Take it with a grain of salt please, and I will keep taking photos and posting them as we continue setting things up and see how they work out.

Aquaponics is when you utilize the water fish are living in to water plants, and the plants clean the water which you then put back into the fish pond, tank, etc. There are many variations on this theme, but that's the basics. There are some very good sites and articles online, and some decent books to read on the subject. Once I'd read all I felt I could take in, I needed to get more hands on and look at real life systems that were working to grow food people were actually eating. I've been fortunate enough to find some good meet-ups in the area which allowed me to see a variety of systems and decide which route we'd like to try here.

There's another aspect to Aquaponics that I'd like to include, which is fish food. You can grow duckweed and you can even raise red wigglers both of which can be fed to nile tilapia, one of the popular fish to raise in Phoenix since it is normally so hot around here. If done right, it can be a pretty complete system, so that theoretically you wouldn't really need to even buy fish food.

Of course I'm starting my tanks in the cooler time of year simply because that's when Carlie and Patch had vacation time together, so we decided to have a stay-cation and work on our sustainability efforts at home. Today we bought a 55 gallon food grade plastic barrel cut in 1/2 for grow beds, and a large IBC water tote with the top cut off so the bottom becomes a large fish tank and the top becomes the grow bed area.

Now I am left with a bit of a conundrum, and trying to decide will I heat the water, or start off with one type of fish that is good in the cold and larger, then move on to tilapia after it warms up again. Now, it's still in the 100's during most days here, don't get me wrong. Fall in Laveen, Arizona is not that chilly. But the water needs to be around 70 degrees for the tilapia to be happy, and in a couple months it will be hard to keep it that temperature without heating the water.

I've thought of a few ways to deal with this. I have thought of pumping the water from the tank up to the plants, then collecting the water the flows out of the tank in a black pipe which curves around in the sun warming the water and eventually puts it back into the tank. Basically a solar water heater specially built for the tank. That would allow me to keep tilapia in warmer water, but I might still need to heat the water for part of the year. It seems to me, it would be easier to just start with a fish that does better in cooler water, and then when it starts getting too hot for that fish, eat the cold water fish, and switch off to tilapia. After all, we're talking about raising food here. Not just the plants, but some of the meat, in this case fish. I'm thinking perhaps trout, or something which we might be able to also keep inside year round. More investigation is necessary.

In the beginning we don't have to start with fish in the tank, so we can actually put the plants in first, and get the water flowing properly and work on sorting out that part of the system first, then add the fish later. We'd like to have our system up and running before Patch and Carlie go back to work.

We've decided to have 2 Aquaponics tanks. One in the living room since we already had a fish tank in there, and one in the backyard in a semi shady area. When the hot part of the year hits, we may need to bring some shade cover in for the back yard tank like these guys did, but we may not. We'll see how it goes.

Inside we're using a 60 gallon fish tank to hold the fish and water, and a 55 gallon food grade plastic barrel which has been cut in half to hold hydroponic medium, plants, and possibly some red wigglers. Outside we're using an IBC tote with the top sliced off. The bottom is the fish tank, and the top is where the plants go. We could put hydroponic medium (rocks or clay balls) up there, but that's pretty expensive so we decided to fill the top with water and float a piece of foam with holes in it on top, and then put the plants in small cups poking through the foam. We'll see how that goes! More pics coming soon.

Making your own flours

For some reason it always sounded so challenging to make your own flour, and simpler just to buy it in stores. But I have noticed that low glycemic flours are pretty expensive, and after sprouting turned out to be just as easy as my neighbor promised, I thought OK, time to try flours.

Specifically Almond Flour and Quinoa Flour. It's so easy. Place the almonds or quinoa, or grain into a coffee grinder, grind, and poof, flour. I'm making pie crust for some mini pumpkin pie cheesecakes, and some overnight Quinoa with mine: http://desertfoodlover.blogspot.com/2012/09/quick-breakfast.html

Photos to come. Simplifying to me, also means minimizing the wasteful spending, and I think making my own flours will do that. Plus I won't have to store as many flours that I don't need, and that's a good thing for some day when I live in a tiny house.

Almond extract part 2

http://instagr.am/p/PkOQQLqw46/
After it sat in a cold dark place for 3 months, i strained it into a smaller jar. Now i have enough almond extract to last me forever. Need to get some dark brown bottles or paint some baby food jars and if it tastes good enough, give some to a couple friends and family.

Now what to do with the vodka soaked almond bits? Adult dessert perhaps? Nah, too bitter! BLEH! I hate to waste anything, but these are going in the trash. Thinking of doing a more complex extract and giving some to family for the holidays.  Maybe Orange Almond extract. 

Tiny Home Thought Process

Kit for Shed I think would make a great tiny home

For a few years now I've been watching people build Tiny Homes and wishing we could have one of our own. We are not quite ready to do that yet ourselves, but I am still moving forward with my investigation and planning. We ended up spending the money I was saving for tiny home living on a car. Not sure it was the best choice in my life, and maybe I'll discuss how I feel about our choices and which car we ended up with in a later post.  I am living as best I can in what we currently have, which is a large house we rent, and as if we will some day have a tiny mobile home. 

For now, I have decided to continue my pursuit of building a tiny home, and to continue my goal of building it for as low a cost as possible by doing the ground work necessary before we could build one.

At the same time, I am investigating the possible ways to help a local non profit build a tiny home for minimal cost. For now I will focus on a non-mobile tiny home, because it turns out the non profit's area does not allow for RV storage, and even tho it would look like a tiny home, or in some people's mind it would look like a shed even if it were mobile, they are not wanting to push those boundaries. They are however able to build on a concrete slab, and have the skills to build one.

The tiny house would allow them to have a separate space for the house manager to have her (or his) office and living space. I have decided a multi-phase building plan may be best for this particular situation. Step One: Build the foundation and shell. For the purpose of this blog entry, I'm only going to focus on building the structure, not it's foundation. This would actually mean we would need to build an air conditioned structure with finished windows, window screens, a door, and a finished look over all. The finished look is important in this case for the purpose of keeping neighbor appreciation & cooperation by adding to the property value rather than taking away from it.

It would have the added benefit of being a beautiful separate space for the house manager. A place to call their own, have private one on one meetings with clients or volunteers as needed, and possibly encourage clients to work towards having a tiny place of their own, while having the smallest impact on the world we live in as possible. It could also be used by the non profit to educate neighbors, friends and others about the wide variety of possibilities with tiny house living. This structure could be easily turned into an office and/or living space without cooking space or restroom either by building furniture out of free sources (such as pallets) for the cost of the hardware, or with a few trips to stores like goodwill if we chose no to finish the interior any further.

Since I've been doing the research anyway, I will post soon with a list and cost comparison between the various options I've found for tiny homes.

Energy Conservation and Tiny Homes

Funds are tight around our house right now. Tighter than usual because not only did Carlie's hours recently get cut, but most of our normal funds were spent on Pixie, our sick dog, who almost died of toxicity from dark chocolate when someone who shall remain nameless left the cupboard open. We put a safety hinge on that pantry now so no one can leave it open by accident, and I moved our dark chocolate to an air tight container in a cupboard the pets can't reach.

Last night Carlie was driving me home from a meeting, and she brought up tiny home living and power conservation. This is something we have been thinking about a lot since this month's electric bill hit us in the gut. She had a great idea for how to charge batteries other than solar or wind if you have a tiny home on wheels and drive it from place to place. She said, "When you're driving your tiny home why not charge the batteries from the wheels like our prius does?" Now granted, this would only work if and when you're driving it around, and it couldn't be exactly like a hybrid car which uses the brakes to charge the batteries. But still, it sounded like genius to me.

 Of course I ran with the idea. The batteries could be stored under the floor of the house in the space between the wheels and above the ground, right? Why not put an alternator on one of the wheels, so that as the wheels turn, they charge the battery bank? That way, when you arrive at your destination and park, your house is ready to go. No plug in required, giving you time to set up your solar bank and/or windmill if allowed wherever you are. I wonder if anyone else has done this yet and if not why not? I'm sure there is something we're missing. My uncle says battery placement would be important for safety reasons.

Tiny homes on wheels + alternator = battery charger? Maybe watching planet green pays off huh? Anyone do this? What are your thoughts on our idea? Here's an instructables.com workshop on alternators: http://www.instructables.com/answers/How-can-I-wire-an-alternator-to-a-battery/

Here are some helpful links about the use of alternators to charge batteries:
How it works in a car: http://www.bcae1.com/charging.htm
This discussion about a similar idea does lead me to think this set up could require more gas to run the vehicle towing the tiny home on wheels: http://www.instructables.com/answers/Can-you-use-an-alternator-on-an-axle-to-recharge-b/ but since we haven't run a test, I do not know.

Another thought to reducing costs which would be great for tiny home living is of course to plan your tiny home to reflect heat, keep heat out, etc. I warn you now, there are quite a few links to come. A great discussion on building green houses that really are sustainable in hot climates can be found here: http://www.off-grid.net/forum/topic.php?id=2461#post-5948 and a nice article is found here: http://www.off-grid.net/2012/02/20/houses-that-put-money-in-your-pocket/ If you are new to considering energy conservation, this article may be a good place to start: http://www.off-grid.net/2012/02/21/a-beginner%E2%80%99s-guide-to-the-big-three-waste-water-and-electricity/ or check this one out: http://www.solarwindworks.com/pdf/RemotePowerIntro.pdf

Random note: although it would certainly not save any electricity it would put less carbon in the air, a fun instructable for when you have time on your hands....build your own electric car: http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-your-own-Electric-Car/

Obviously if you find a permanent location for your tiny home on wheels you'd want solar and wind and if you have access, water power. A combination of power sources is useful when trying to stay off grid. As this article discusses: http://www.small-cabin.com/small-cabin-off-grid-power-source.html So here are some links about each of those:

Solar:
DIY Solar Panels: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Your-Own-Electricity
DIY Solar System: http://www.instructables.com/id/Home-built-solar-power-system/
National Geographic on Solar Power: http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/solar-power-profile/
Off Grid Package: http://www.affordable-solar.com/store/solar-off-grid-remote
Off Grid Load Estimator: http://www.affordable-solar.com/residential-solar-home/Off-Grid-Load-Estimator
Sun Map: http://www.affordable-solar.com/store/solar-off-grid-remote

Wind:
DIY Wind Power: http://www.treehugger.com/renewable-energy/diy-wind-power.html
H.S. DIY Wind Power Project with good links: http://greenterrafirma.com/DIY_Wind_Turbine.html
Comparisons of wind power generators: http://www.wholesalesolar.com/wind.html
DIY: http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-1000-watt-wind-turbine/
National Geographic on Wind Power: http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/wind-power-profile/
How Stuff Works on Wind Power: http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/10-wind-power-facts.htm

Water:
Small scale hydro: http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Hydro/hydro.htm
Instructable on hydro power: http://www.instructables.com/id/Home-made-Hydro-Power-System/

And the list goes on. But I know that was a day of reading for me, so I should probably end it here. I look forward to hearing how other people are reducing their energy bill, using less electricity, or powering their tiny homes.

Tiny House Build on Tiny Podcast

I have been a tiny house enthusiast for some time. We considered building one in our backyard as a mother in law's cottage, but decided it was not the best plan for our particular situation. Plus it would basically add space to our already larger than necessary house which would add to the electricity and water bill. Really, what we would love to do is build one that is mobile, and be able to take vacations in it for now, and possibly retire off grid in it some day. Or as we like to playfully say, if the zombies ever strike, we'll have a mobile tiny home to live in.

Due to my interest in tiny homes, I have found some great websites but for today I'm going to focus in on one specifically, and that is Tiny r(E)volution. The man behind Tiny r(E)volution, Andrew Odom, has been pretty good about setting up an easy to use internet presence. He runs a blog/website, a community to chat about tiny houses on Facebook under the same name, and a 30 minute podcast which is like a perfect snack of goodness. I also really love their website which shows the process and budget the Odoms are using to build their own tiny home. You can find them at:
http://www.tinyrevolution.us
http://www.twitter.com/andrewodom
http://www.facebook.com/tinyrev

Today's Tiny r(E)v podcast can be found at  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/the-tiny-revolution/2012/06/28/tiny-revolution-and-the-tiny-house-world-episode-4  where he talked with the Schwarz brothers about their tiny house building project. They will be building a tiny off grid house and then taking it to Burning Man for the thousands of people there to look at and fall in love with. Their goal it seems, is not only to live off grid, but also to show other people how easy it is to build your own tiny home. You can check out their Kickstarter for the project at  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1291194015/schwarz-tiny-house-and-our-journey-to-burning-man and remember you can contribute anything from $1 on up. I went for the $7 pledge for now and in thanks they will send me a bumper sticker which I will put on my recumbent trike since I don't drive. I promise to post a photo of that when the sticker arrives.

One of the reasons I was excited to hear about this, is that I have been considering starting a kickstarter project for a tiny home and garden. Actually, I have been bouncing this idea around with a local non profit for some time as an idea for their backyard. That may still happen at some point in the future, but then yesterday I ran across an ad on Craigslist of all places for a tiny plot of land right up the street from me in Laveen, AZ. It is 25 x 60 feet, and would be perfect to build a vertical aquaponics system for growing food to help cut down on the cosst of living, or perhaps set up as a community garden with a caretaker's cottage/tiny home on it. I will be taking a look at the property tomorrow to see if it would work for such a project. It sounds to me like it would be perfect for a Bare Simplicity test site on which I could work with neighbors and a local school to learn about aquaponics and vertical gardening, and living off grid. I will let you know if one of these tiny house projects gets off the ground and keep you updated here.

In the mean time, I wish the Schwarz brothers all the best on their project and thank you Andrew for introducing me to it! What I really love is their reasoning behind the project, which is the love of getting back to simplicity. I am looking forward to seeing how their Kickstarter project comes out! Because as they say at Tiny r(E)v, one can not only survive, but truly thrive in a tiny house.  And if you haven't checked them out yet, enjoy the podcast archives!  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/the-tiny-revolution

Home Made Shampoo/Body Wash Review

The shampoo and body wash I made lasted about 2 weeks. The one made of aloe, tea tree oil, xantham gum and olive oil did not make my hair oily as some expected. It acted much like a volumizer shampoo and I will be making some again. In the two weeks of use, I found the dry flaky patches of skin disappearing, and surprisingly, the red splotchy areas of my face seemed to be disappearing as well!

To test if the results were as wonderful as they seemed, I used up the rest of my store bought shampoo afterwards and compared results. It was a 90% natural store bought shampoo, but apparently the 10% non natural bit is really not something my body likes, because the dry flaky patches are returning, and so are the red splotches on my face.  I have to admit, I am very surprised. I remember saying to Patch. I may as well use this other stuff up before recycling the bottle. I didn't want to waste something we had already paid for in an effort to reduce, reuse, recycle. Because when you think about it, waste is not green. Besides, I told myself it was a pretty well made shampoo, it probably wouldn't be any different. But it was.

The xantham gum was completely unnecessary if you are OK with washing with a liquid and not a gel. However I set out to make a combination shampoo and body washing gel, because I wanted something which was similar to what I have been using for years, just healthier, less taxing on the environment, and lower cost. If you do not happen to have any on hand, make the aloe shampoo without it and I am sure you will find it just as wonderful since the only thing the xantham gum was used for was a natural thickening agent.

The body wash I made with the flax seeds in it was a bit of a disappointment. I didn't like the smell or the texture. A friend liked the smell, so perhaps I should have offered it to her. On an up note, it did seem to be helping my skin problems. I just didn't like the smell of rosemary when mixed with tea tree oil.

I will however be making the original recipe again and using it as a shampoo/body wash instead, which was really my goal anyway. I still have aloe left, and the other ingredients are all in the pantry, so I am looking forward to using it again. I will wash the old shampoo bottle and reuse it to hold my home made shampoo/body wash, as it came in a nice dark green bottle which will help protect the aloe shampoo/body wash from light.

DIY Almond Extract

Apparently it is really easy to make your own Almond Extract. Or vanilla, orange, lemon, etc. For today I started with Almond because I had everything to make it. I may try orange as well, and promise to share the process if I do. This can be a money saver over time, because it's much cheaper to make your own than buy the good stuff, and actually also comes out cheaper than the dollar store variety. (not to mention it is supposed to be much more delicious) If this turns out the way I hope, I might put some in recycled extract bottles to trade with neighbors for fresh fruits and veggies from their gardens.

Here are some helpful links I found:
http://diybylorie.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/homemade-vanilla-extracts-orange-extract-and-almond-extract/
http://almondextract.net/how-to-make-almond-extract/

I happened to have vodka left over from a party we made jello shots for, so I used that, but apparently you can use rum or brandy for Almond or Vanilla extracts. I guess you could use them for orange and lemon as well, but they are not recommended for orange. Probably because it is a light flavor and might be overwhelmed by the rum or brandy. Vodka is a cleaner flavor, and by far the cheapest, so that's what I went with for now. I will probably try a bit of brandy and rum based extracts in the future. This is my first time doing this, I will post in a couple months or so with information about how it went.

Supplies/Ingredients:
1 cup Vodka
8 raw, peeled, chopped or roughly ground almonds
1 bottle (preferably with dark brown glass, but any bottle will do)
1 paper bag (if you can't find a dark brown glass bottle, this keeps the light out)

Directions:
Roughly chop or grind 8 raw almonds
Place in bottle or jar (I used an old peanut butter jar we had cleaned)
Poor 1 cup (8 oz) Vodka into jar over almonds
Tightly seal jar
Shake and place in a cool dark place (paper bag in the pantry)

Tips:
Mark the date and type of extract on the paper bag or jar, this will help you remember when it will be ready
Almonds can apparently be whole if they are peeled
Make sure whatever alcohol you use covers whatever ingredient you are extracting flavor from to prevent mold
You can filter the extract through a coffee filter when it is done to remove the bits of almond, vanilla, orange peel, etc. But some directions did not include this step
I am told this stuff will last forever. If you're a Prepper, this might be a good skill to have for later trade