Tiny House Workshop, Part 1

As we were driving down to Massachusetts yesterday to the hotel where we are attending Jay Shafer’s Tiny House workshop, I realized that the last time I was actually in Boston was when our oldest, recently-engaged son Chris (now 24), was still in a backpack! We had walked the Freedom Trail and gone aboard the USS Constitution with him. This weekend I am enjoying ‘freedom’ of another sort, but it is just as liberating as when the colonists rejected the oppression of ‘mother England’. My obsession with Jay Shafer’s Tumbleweed tiny houses is part of a Revolution no less significant… the revolt against unnecessary consumerism, McMansions, and other forms of environmentally insensitive living. It is scaling back from living on as BIG and wasteful a scale as possible … to distilling life to its essence and living lightly on the earth. This workshop, which I signed up for half a year ago, was a present to myself … the most wonderful thing I could think of to celebrate my birthday on Monday. I have been wanting to meet Jay for many years, and to hear him speak about the tiny house movement he started (and has been living first-hand) for more than a decade. Today’s program, Part 1 in a two day series, was a fantastic introduction, and exactly what I was hoping it to be. I was surprised at how many others were there, feeling just as I do about living intentionally in a minimalist sort of way. There were many interesting attendees at the conference, some of whom are in the process of building their own; many others who plan to do so in the near future. Check out Jay’s website at http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/. Later next month one of his Tiny Houses will be taking up residence at The Lodge, where you will be able to see one up close, and even have the opportunity to rent it for a night or two!! Stay tuned for more details!