It’s official. Our first annual preparedness fair will be held at the Village on Sewanee Creek Commons, villager homes and gardens and our nature preserve on July 23-24, 2010. Call in advance to reserve a campsite or exhibitor space.
See the attached printable
flyer for details. Preparedness Fair Flyer
See you here!
The more I experiment with construction using steel shipping containers as the basic building block, the more excited I become.
We just took delivery on two more 40′ X 20′ high cube containers from Atlanta. That makes five now. The first one is now a community center outfitted with a kitchen, sound system, 22′ wide movie screen and back stage for our outdoor amphitheater. The next two are being converted to a big workshop with about 20′ of space between them and a standard sloped roof above. From day one it was functional as storage and it’s wired up for lighting and shop equipment now. We plan to insulate and install log siding, so when finished, it will look like a rustic log cabin.
Cost? Only $1,600 each ($2,000 delivered). That’s $5.62 per square foot of ready to use, super strong, water tight space. Think about it; You would pay more than that just for good quality flooring materials – uninstalled. Of course, it’s not a finished living space, but the day it’s delivered and set on four corner piers or even some railroad crossties, it’s functional. There are lots of things I have to do to make it a finished living space. But I’m finding that I can easily retrofit containers myself with some rudimentary welding skills and some inexpensive used windows and doors. With a little ingenuity, I can even find angle iron for framing super cheap or free by using discarded bed frames.
Benefits? Well, start with low cost space. But there are plenty more:
If you’re interested in seeing real examples of a great new way to build, call us for an appointment at the Village. While you’re at it, check out the other sustainable projects; things like
Then, take a hike through primeval forests to Sewanee Creek. Spend a day and you will want to spend a lifetime in harmony with nature and people.
The Village on Sewanee Creek is a self-sustaining community on the beautiful Cumberland Plateau. As we build the community, we could use some help getting our organic community garden off the ground.
We are blessed with some wonderful amenities that make it a pleasure to grow food here. Like…. a 2,000 square foot high profile, heated green house, a catfish pond, the beginnings of a forest mushroom garden, fruit tree orchard, a wonderful amphitheater complete with a 22 foot wide outdoor movie theater and live performance stage. We raise chickens and rabbits. Miles of trails through our 500+ acre nature preserve complete with caves, waterfalls and rushing creek. We have an active online farmer’s market nearby in Sewanee at the University of the South.
We are experimenting with steel shipping container construction, off grid power generation (wood gasification and bio-diesel generators). There are lots of opportunities to learn sustainable living skills and possibly earn some land in the Village.
We will provide primitive shelter. You are welcome to all the produce you can grow to consume or sell under the Sewanee Creek brand. Go to my main website at www.sewaneecreek.com for photos and contact information or just email me at info@sewaneecreek.com.
I just received the results from a survey I participated in last fall entitled “Personal Responses to Peak Oil and Climate Change.” I find it encouraging that people everywhere are responding to the same obvious signs. It is even more encouraging to read their overwhelmingly positive comments about their experiences in making lifestyle changes. You can read a summary at http://www.ecowatch.org/pubs/mar10/earthwise.htm.
Your comments and questions about our experience in making the same lifestyle changes mentioned in the report are welcome.
“Everything that is really great and INSPIRING is CREATED by the INDIVIDUAL who can LABOR in FREEDOM.”
Albert Einstein
In this quote, Einstein pulls together several of my most cherished themes (emphasis is mine). I feel most inspired when I can create something with my own mind and hands. It may not be ground breaking to someone else. But to me, it is beautiful. It makes my life happy. I feel inspired.
Yesterday was one such example. I worked all day beside my neighbor, Joe. We put up the frame for a dock on my brother’s pond. That simple installation was part of several other solutions. We now have an inexpensive valve system for a 4″ pipe that won’t freeze and break in the winter, a place to fish from in the summer and overflow control for the dam. I can look forward to extending that big pipe from the bottom of the dam to a micro-hydro generator. I think we finished it in time to let the pond re-fill before summer sets in and to stock it with lots of catfish. All together, it’s a very simple, yet elegant solution that took time and several iterations to figure out and implement, culminating in a sense of satisfaction.
We also restarted the wood furnace and routed hot water through an old car radiator with a fan behind it to heat a greenhouse cold frame tunnel within the bigger greenhouse. I was surprised by the amount of heat it puts out and how efficient the solution is. I went to bed last night feeling good. What a blessing it is to be able to work and create on my own land with my own hands. One of the reasons it is important for Villagers to own their land is that essential element of personal accountability. Without that, it becomes too easy in an intentional community to expect others to carry the load. One must give in order to receive. As the scripture says, “Thou shalt not be idle; for he that is idle shall not eat the bread … of the laborer.” Upon achieving a measure of self-sufficiency based on one’s own labors, it becomes even more fulfilling to help others.
Finally, Einstein speaks of freedom. How wonderful to be able to make my own choices and either enjoy or suffer the consequences of my own thoughts and actions. Out in the country, I feel so much more free than in a suburb where everyone is looking over my shoulder, judging every action or inaction, and the epitome of creative labor is how well and often my lawn is mowed.
Take a good look at this list. If this were a report card, what would your grade be on each of these important subjects? For the past 50 years, the developed world has lived in a pampered, complex, yet socially dysfunctional style that values:
Is it any surprise that most people lack the skills, preparation, and resources to confidently face a troubled future? Is it any wonder that people feel helpless and out of control? Is there any way you can become confidently competent and provisioned for these ten essential items all by yourself? It’s a daunting task. But, with help, you CAN do it.
That’s why relationships are at the top of the list. That’s why we are building a community of self-sufficient people at the beautiful Village on Sewanee Creek. If your values are the inverse of the above list, If you want to become more confident, more self-sufficient, and more at peace with your neighbors and in harmony with nature, If you desire close, trusting relationships in a like-minded community, but aren’t ready for a religious or hippie commune, give us a call.
I like Peter Schiff’s explanation of our current fear-based economy in his article, “Fear Takes the Wheel”. http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=607
A ground breaking work on depression and how to defeat it, is Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman. He points out that there are three thought habits that virtually guarantee a state of clinical depression. They are based on a fear that bad things are:
It’s interesting that Mr. Schiff names two of these three as he speaks of a global psyche. If there is such a thing as a global zeitgeist, then it becomes the equivalent of “personal” on a global scale, thereby completing the trilogy of depression. If Schiff is right, the whole world is sinking into clinical depression based on fear.
So, what is the antidote?
The bible tells us that “love casts out fear”. (1 John 4:18)
In the Village we seek to build a culture where “I do not fear tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and love today.” William Allen White
One could interpret “love today” to mean that “I love this day”. An even better interpretation is “I choose to love all day long”. Add to this the notion that love is a verb, or in Shakespeare’s words, “They do not love that do not show their love.” and you have a forumula of mutual service and unselfish caring that casts out fear and heals our society.
Digging a little deeper on this site I also found an article reporting that Monsanto has withdrawn its application for approval of GM corn in Europe. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2009/11/gm-corn-pulled-due-to-food-safety-concerns/
Right now I’m feeling good that we drink 100% chemical free water from the sky and have a freezer full of home grown GMO free corn.
Added By: Grant Miller On Mon, 01/25/2010 04:49:23 am
Grant Miller – 01/26/2010 11:03:22 am
Politics and Religion are the taboo subjects we are warned never to discuss openly. Ahhh, but then there’s food. Nothing strikes closer to the stomach or the taste buds. So, I thought I would have a little fun with this one. Here’s my best shot for now.
I think it would be fun to hear your ideas about food in the form of a fun limerick.
“We are what we eat” they all say
and make such political hay.
We debate about diet
till we wish they’d be quiet
and leave us quite out of the fray
Some choose to only have meat
While others claim life’s staff is wheat.
Empty carbs make me draggy
my spare tire gets saggy
but then, without bread where will I put my butter?!!!
Now meat, when taken to excess
puts my bowels in utter distress
A constipated grouch,
I lie on the couch
But good meat is simply the best!
No dairy? that’s out of my loop
Ice Cream’s my favorite food group
But milk makes me swollen
down deep in my colon
with gas, but I’ll have one more scoop!
Then come the social elite
when choosing a diet to eat,
say, “let them eat cake”
Oh!, goodness sake
Few things are as good as a sweet.
Others say fruits, nuts and sprouts
will make you most healthy, no doubt
But, Some get quite edgy
while touting their veggies
and leaving the meats fully out
And when it comes down to fat,
I’ll testify, “that’s where it’s at.”
For if you want flavors
that everyone savors
Nothing even comes close to that.
But, as for me and my house,
we mostly just try not to grouse
at the food placed before us
cause Dad always warned us
to clean up our plates or get out.
So, after it’s all said and done
There are few foods I’m likely to shun.
Without rhyme or reason
In any old season,
Moderation is rule number one.
Except for Ice Cream, Butter, fat of all kinds, fresh home baked bread, fresh strawberries or raspberries or peaches right out of the garden, a thick, juicy grilled steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, buttered yams with brown sugar and pecans, corn pudding, fresh steamed, buttered broccoli or pretty much anything that makes my mouth feel exquisitely happy and reveals no immediately discernable cataclysmic side effects. 
Villager #2 – 01/26/2010 09:14:04 pm
..Love your poem, Grant. Right on!!
Friend #1 – 01/26/2010 10:13:03 pm
I am no expert, but I think we need to remember that almost all the food we eat today has been “genetically modified” in some way. Even non-hybrid seeds are the result of centuries of genetically crossing to emphasize desirable characteristics. One can argue that this is different than the modern GM process; but how much really?
And whether corn, wheat, rice, oats, rye, etc is best eaten fermented, I think there is much biased research out there to stake too much in it. You can find a study that supports just about any point of view.
Inuits can survive on mostly meat, fat, and fish. But, they have many many generations of adaptation. Not sure we could do the same. Does that really mean that grains are bad for us? Like so many foods today, perhaps grains are misunderstood. Perhaps it’s not the grain, but the refining that gives it less-desirable qualities. Breaking a grain apart, throwing away the germ, bran, or other components, destroys the complex interactive ‘wholeness.’
I’ve done research on raw milk. Milk has a bad reputation–many people are stricken with significant stomach ailments after consuming milk products. Raw milk is illegal to sell in most states. In some of those states, a person can arrange with a dairy farm to become a part owner of a cow (cow shares) and consume raw milk from ‘their’ cow. So what is wrong with raw milk? The US Government says it killed people and made many sick at the turn of the 20th Century. Further study, many years later, suggest that most if not all of these incidents were due to improperly stored raw milk. However, the ban on raw milk stands. So what is the big deal? Studies (yep, those darned studies) suggest that lactose intolerance and it’s accompaning stomach ailments in many people, comes from the pasteurization of milk; it kills the good bacteria that aid digestion;It breaks apart the whole, and destroys the interactive complexities. As with meat, if milk is not properly handled, it will make you sick, but most food is that way!
So perhaps the same type of issue exists with grains; breaking them down and refining them takes away the good compounds. Food is wonderfully complex. It’s probably why we can’t duplicate the health benefits of an apple, orange, or broccoli. There exist many supplements on the market, claiming to give the benefits, but they all seem to fall short; they can’t duplicate the complexity of the raw or whole food they derive from.
Grant Miller – 01/27/2010 06:47:15 am
I like your take on this, Clayton. One thing I know for sure is that I don’t know much. In my short life I couldn’t possibly count the number of fad diets, supposedly well-founded on studies, that were quickly superceded by an opposing view. That’s not to say that we should throw all the babies out with the bathwater. Rather, take a long-term, skeptical view. Live carefully, eating moderately, the foods you perceive to be natural, as the gifts from God that they are, and enjoying food to its fullest.
As we explore and test what works well for each of us, share it. I love xxxx‘s conviction about a diet that obviously works well for him and I am grateful to learn this perspective. I’m not quite ready to go there for my own reasons, some of which may be peculiar to my own body or belief systems. Yet, I am enriched to learn more of another perspective and encouraged to trust that more meat could be a healthy way to re-balance what I consume now. Thank you, xxxx, for having the courage to share your beliefs and experience with conviction, yet with the humility that accepts other’s experience and beliefs.
=============================================================================================
If you like this kind of sharing with like-minded people, you can request an invitation to the Friends of Sewanee Creek at info@sewaneecreek.com. Please note the reasons for your interest.
My father was the kind of artist who regularly built amazing things out of discarded trash. If he didn’t have the right tool he didn’t go to harbor freight to buy it, he just built it. He grew up on a farm, dreaming of becoming an aviator, building working scale model airplanes, whittling balanced propellers from sticks. During World War II, he became a mechanical flight engineer on bombers in South Africa and Italy. After the war, he built helicopters for the military as a civilian in San Diego.
He built both houses that my brother, sister and I grew up in. One of my fondest memories was when he took Spring Break off of work to help me build a dune buggy from an old ’49 Chrysler sedan. It wasn’t the best choice to start from, but one we had sitting in the back yard. Another treasured memory was building a canoe from scratch that we took down the Colorado River together during another spring break. He was also a skilled oil painter, wood worker, mechanic, welder, electrician, stone mason, worm farmer, dabbler in solar energy, and the list goes on. You name it, he could do it. If he didn’t know how, he tinkered with it till he figured it out.
My parents never owed anyone a dime for either of the houses they built or the land they were built on. When my father passed away, my brother and I went to his workshop to divvy up the tools. We were shocked to find how little was there. His creative ingenuity was amazing. He was an artist in every sense of the word and my ideal model of a Mechanical Artist.
In my career I took a very different path from my father. I was white collar all the way, never developing the skills he spent a lifetime refining. Yet I continuously longed to express myself artistically as he did. I have a dream that some day the Village will be filled with people who have the same desires. These will be men and women with varied experience and talents. None of them will be afraid to get their hands dirty. All will be driven with a desire to create and share wonderful things that make our lives easier, more beautiful, more fun and more practically sustainable.
Please share your ideas on things we can build – together.
In 2009 I offered what we call the “green rebate”. It’s simple: You put in an off-grid power or water collection system within a year; I give you back 10% of your land purchase price. Most new Villagers have taken us up on it.
I want to make this offer even more tempting, more tangible and even easier for people who want to achieve off-grid self-sufficiency.
Buy a lot and I will build you a rainwater collection system like the one I built for our family. It made us water self-sufficient with clean, chemical free, soft water. It cuts your home construction cost and ongoing water bill.
Tired of being a slave to the utility companies? Let us show you how we freed ourselves. Taste our crystal clear, healthy water.
Then join us. It’s peaceful, secure living in God’s natural wonderland.
How One Top Executive Left the Rat Race for a Self-Sufficient Community in the Mountains
Posted using ShareThis
In our quest to build community at the Village, we don’t think just about the physical facilities that are needed, but how they must come into being. Often the best way to assure that common structures don’t become neglected mausoleums (like so many planned gated community clubhouses) is to involve the community in their conception and construction.
Today, I’ve been thinking about building facilities that bring people together, including a playground for kids, a man-cave common shop for building projects and tinkering and a place for female activities like scrap booking or quilting. But we must start from the point of creating activities rather than creating buildings.
A couple of weeks ago we enjoyed a day of play with two families who visited with their nine young children. As the adults were preparing hobo dinners in the fire pit, we noticed that the kids had gathered at a large mound of dirt near the stage. They were busily digging caves, leveling pads for imaginary structures, playing king of the hill and any number of other great, creative games.
So, this morning we were noodling about building a kid’s playground. We were reaching into our childhood memories for hints of what will make it the coolest, most fun, most awesome place for kids to hang out and play. I remarked that the first thing we need is a good sand box for the creativity it brings out. Then it struck me. The traditional sand box simply won’t do. It’s too two-dimensional. We need a sand mountain. And what better way to build it than to involve Village parents and their kids in its conception, placement, and construction?
We have all the materials we need right here at the Village. I’m thinking rather than use pressure treated lumber for the box, why not use some of the huge logs that have already been cut? Discarded tires make great barriers or climbing structures too. Build three sides tall and fill it with sand. When the sand goes flat from a lot of play, I can bring my tractor in to re-pile it into a mountain. Maybe put a climbing wall on the back side of the logs.
But then, what do I know? My most important work is to get the Villagers involved in a way cooler solution. Who knows? It might be so cool that the adults will rediscover how much fun it is to play in the sand and we will have to expand it.
Anyone up for a sand sculpture contest?
“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe”
– – – Henry David Thoreau
Thoreau’s wisdom begs four great questions:
Do I have a dream?
Do I have a plan?
Am I acting on the plan?
Do I believe I can get there?
To the first three, I can shout an unequivocal, “YES”!
I have a big, vivid, dream.
I have worked out detailed plans that are continuously revised against life’s realities.
And I have worked to realize the dream.
These are the easy and obvious steps, commonly practiced by much of humanity.
The greatest obstacle to grand dreams is in the daily grind of caring for faith despite the setbacks, the delays, the distractions, the unbelievers, the trivializers and the scoffers.
Faith is a delicate flower that must be nurtured and protected against all enemies.
I am thankful for friends and family who lend me their hope and encouragement, especially my neighbor, Joe Nunley.
Without friends, my faith and my dreams may have suffered a premature death.
Today, build something useful & beautiful that will outlast you.
Make a habit of building and sharing every day.
You will be a self-reliant asset to your community.
And….. you will love yourself more!
We keep pushing the envelope, learning how to live independently. I love the sense of freedom and peace of mind that gives me. Water and food were our first focus. That foundation is feeling pretty solid now.
Our next focus has been energy. We have been seriously researching lots of alternatives for reliable, low cost electricity generation. Most people think of solar PV, wind and, to a lesser extent, micro-hydro for green power. But there are problems with each.
Solar Photo Voltaics are expensive. The costs are beginning to come down, but aren’t there yet. Probably won’t be for some time. I want to power my house without bankrupting the occupants. And I don’t want to have to sacrifice so much on consumption that I give up all the conveniences. Then there are the cloudy days, requiring big battery backup. PV cost per KWh is just way too high.
Wind is nice. Lots of new innovations, especially with vertical axis turbines. They are primarily designed to make wind power acceptable in an urban environment by putting the turbine close to the ground. But that’s where there isn’t much wind. Oh, well. We’re rural, so that’s no advantage. Wind’s disadvantage for me? You need really strong, consistent wind to produce a lot of electricity – like on the plains of Nebraska. We are on a plateau at 2,000 feet with nice breezes, but not gale force winds. We could still do it, but would need multiple windmills to make enough electricity for our needs. Again, the costs become too high relative to the output. Plus, you only get electricity when the wind blows.
Then there’s hydro power. It’s the lowest cost per KWh alternative, but you need either a big river or a perennial creek with lots of head (drop in elevation). We have the latter, but flow varies a lot depending on recent rainfall. Summer flow isn’t enough.
It all comes down to cost and continuous reliability.
We discovered a little-known, low-cost, low-tech and proven alternative. It’s called wood gasification. Surprisingly, over a million cars in Europe were powered with wood during World War II when gas was short. Unlike the other green power sources, we have an abundance of fast growing, renewable, free wood here. So, we are installing a system that converts wood into a gas that can run an internal combustion engine with plenty of horse power to drive a generator. We can run it any time, in any season, independent of the weather. And, best news of all, the cost is competitive with the big utilities on a cost per KWh basis.
The founder of the company that has brought this technology into the 21st century will be here a week from next Saturday installing our new system. Give me a call if you would like to see it or any of our other self-sufficiency systems in action.
A chicken may just be one of the dumbest animals on the planet. Yet, today I found that there is much to learn from them.
I spent a good part of my Sunday afternoon relaxing in a lounge chair just observing our new chicken yard. Here’s some background to my story.
About 6 weeks ago, we took delivery of 30 Guinea Hen Chicks. We nurtured them in a cardboard box on our back porch till they outgrew it. A couple weeks ago Joe and I built a chicken coop. As soon as it was ready we moved the Guineas to the new coop while we finished off the fence around the chicken yard.
Guineas are originally from Africa. They are self-sufficient, extremely hardy, voraciously eat bugs (particularly ticks) and are great watch “dogs”. Pretty good neighbors by all my criteria.
Joe has been raising some laying hens and a rooster that he offered to give us. A couple days after completing the fenced yard, we moved the chickens in after dark while they slept. That was Friday night. We put them on their roosts so that when they awoke the next morning they would find themselves in their new home. Joe even brought a box for a nest and a golf ball as a placebo egg. The ball is a cue to where they are supposed to lay. Sure enough, the next day we had 4 beautiful eggs next to the golf ball. That was Saturday and we had a repeat performance today. Nothing like truly fresh eggs.
The first day the chickens and guineas mostly ignored each other. Their second night together I found them snuggled up tightly on the roost. One chicken even had a guinea under her wing.
Today, I noticed that they had become much more segregated. One of the red hens has taken to intimidation, chasing the guineas all over the yard and out of the chicken house. But when it gets dark, they all end up in the house on the roost again, although this evening, at a greater distance. They seem to have noticed a difference. The guineas are about half the size of the chickens, but growing rapidly. When mature, they should be roughly the same size. It will be interesting to see who intimidates whom when size is no longer a differentiator, the chickens are outnumbered about six to one and the guineas have a tactical flight advantage.
The behavior I found most interesting today was guinean. Guinea hens are extremely social animals, running in a tightly packed flock. In this case, I thought they were acting quite human. I had laid out some straw in one corner of the yard. There was plenty there for all the guineas, but it was mostly ignored. One guinea chick randomly took an interest, plucked a single piece of straw from the pile and sprinted for the opposite end of the yard, shaking the straw violently in its beak. Suddenly, that piece of straw became highly desirable to the whole flock, improved as it was in form and function by the shaking. As many chicks as could get near the first guinea began trying to take it away, while continuing to ignore the straw pile. There ensued a mighty chase until the first guinea finally dropped the straw. On the ground, it immediately lost its appeal and the flock’s attention returned to scratching randomly in the dirt.
How similar are people who must have the latest chic’ (pun intended) gadget just because someone else has it. How they scurry frantically about until it it is either acquired or becomes unfashionably passe’. How quickly the cycle spends itself and we rush off in hot pursuit of some new object in a different direction!
Aah, the vanity, avarice and covetousness of men, guineas and chickens. Also, like the red hen, how quickly we seek to intimidate or exercise authority over others just because we can.
Observing chickens may be at the peril of your pride in the human species. You might conclude that we aren’t much smarter than they. On the other hand, maybe we could all learn from watching chickens and stop running around like, uhhhh……
a chicken with its head cut off?
I get calls all the time from people saying they are looking for a community of “like-minded people”. It seems that has become a cliche’. Like most buzz words, it’s worth digging a little deeper to find out what it means to the person using it. A wise man said, “the map is not the territory”.
The Village is all about making a place to live where people share similar, bedrock values especially caring about and being able to depend on their neighbors. That takes a lot of work. It means I have to explore their map of reality below the surface cliche’s. Fortunately, by the time most people call me they are pre-screened. They have found us by searching on some important key words. They know they want a self-sufficient lifestyle and they want community. They aren’t very interested in a superficial country club lifestyle where everybody wants to flaunt their wealth. Most of the time, they are busy professionals, intelligent, successful folks with solid values who want to simplify. They have usually read my blog, so the field has already been narrowed to a select few with a pretty good fit – compatible values. But even then, I’m not shy about telling people who wouldn’t fit that they might be happier with a different kind of community. Why? Because I live here and I’m building the kind of place where I want to live for the rest of my life. Great relationships with people are more important than money. People are more important than things.
In hard times especially, people need to draw together. Trusting relationships are everything. This message seems to be resonating with people more and more as the economy looks ever more shaky and the government looks ever more out of control. At a time when most luxury resort type communities haven’t sold anything for a year and are going bust, we are growing rapidly.
If you call or visit, there is no high pressure sales pitch. Even before we show you around, we like to sit and chat for a while – explore your “map”, your values, your goals and aspirations. Before you fall in love with the land we want to know that you will love the kind of people who are here.
We offer a private website where villagers, prospective villagers, contractors, and even neighbors from outside our “non-exclusive” development can get to know one another and share their views, ask each other candid questions and make sure this is where they want to be. I have even offered to set up conference calls between prospective and current villagers to explore the fit. It’s a slow process and it risks killing sales, but I think it’s worth it. After all, making a move like this is a big change for most people. There’s more to a happy life than a nice secluded house nestled in nature’s beauty. You’re not buying dirt and trees, you’re hoping to buy a happy life. We do everything we can to assure that will happen for our Villagers … and for ourselves.
An independent, self-sufficient lifestyle is one element that defines the Village. So, Independence Day is OUR day, our 3rd annual.
We will start celebrating on Friday the 3rd with a double feature on the big screen under the stars in our amphitheater. Call for an invitation to join us. You might even consider bringing a tent or RV to camp out near by.
The 4th will start out with an early flag ceremony. Bring a flag to plant in a field of flags. Celebrate the freedom and independence promised by our constitution. At the amphitheater stage, we plan to have bluegrass and country music with some free form jamming. I’ll bring my sax. You’re welcome to join in. You can hike and explore our 500 acre nature preserve. In the evening, villagers will share a potluck dinner and fireworks.
If you would like to join us, please RSVP us at (931) 442-1444.
Some time ago a Realtor suggested to me that the formula for calculating the cost of building a home should be a large multiple of the cost of the lot. At the time it struck me as a bit odd. The more I have considered it, the more out of step that thinking seems. It reminded me of advice I received as a young man. I was contemplating marriage and buying an engagement ring. The jeweler informed me that I should budget a certain percent of my annual salary for that ring. There was no consideration for any of my personal values, economic circumstances, nor of my future bride, only custom and fashion. A thinking person holds neither fashion nor custom in very high regard. It seemed that someone concocted these formulas more for the benefit of the salesman than for the happiness and well-being of the buyer.
For a person who values nature, if there is to be such a formula, shouldn’t the numerator and denominator be flipped? Shouldn’t the land value be a multiple of the house? Which is the more durable, the more valuable over time? What does REAL in Real Estate refer to? Great architects will invariably assert that good architecture is molded to the character of the land, not the other way round. The most famous example of the principle is “Falling Water” designed by our most lauded architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. But I hold that the true spirit of the principle was best illustrated by my favorite philosopher, Henry David Thoreau. He found his greatest joy living in about a 150 square foot house of his own construction beside a lovely pond in the woods.
Today, it has become quite fashionable to downsize to small, even tiny houses. How good it would be if behavior were driven by wisdom not fashion, but what a happy coincidence we find ourselves in! The unforeseen benefits of a small home are substantial. When the land one lives on is of greater value than the house, the true proportional value emerges between things made by man and those made by God.
This conflict of interest has reached absurd proportions as American suburbs filled with McMansions that people can neither afford nor use. Huge spaces that only require the owner to fill them with furniture that they can also not afford. Possessions own us. Thankfully, current economic hardships have brought a degree of common sense back to at least some.
In the Village, it’s really ok to own a small house rather than be owned by a huge, wasteful one. There is no minimum house size here. We are blessed with a mild climate and stunningly beautiful land filled with plants and animals in their natural state. A small home invites one to be outside and enjoy all that nature has to offer. The Village lifestyle is the antidote for the cocooning generation, holed up with TV’s, video games in cavernous mansions, full of things and yet empty of life.
How full one’s life becomes when the great out-of-doors becomes the boundaries of our habitation, not the walls of our house.
For some ideas on living small, check this out: http://www.tinyhousedesign.com/
It’s that beautiful time of year when the new green is fresh and delicate. Recent rains have filled the creeks to overflowing and the waterfalls roar. At our elevation, the dogwoods, wild azaleas, wildflowers and mountain laurel are about a month behind Atlanta – now in full bloom.
Spring brings out the best in us. While the dark clouds of the economy and world events are still with us, people are breaking free of fear and indecision. In the past couple of weeks we have sold seven lots and our new Villagers are a cut above. Intelligent, hard working, concerned about having and being good neighbors, there is a sense of excitement, energy and cooperation awakening in the Village community underlying a sense of well-being and deep calm.
New owners are voluntarily working together to share information, green construction ideas and purchasing power as they build their homes. It’s a good place to be. This year promises to be the best ever.
the Village on Sewanee Creek 