winter break/setback

We have been less than productive the end of 2015.   The holidays kept us away from our little piece of heaven and then a speedbump in the road.  The person financing my build had a setback in their finances so the building purchase/delivery is on hold!  But that's not going to stop us.  I'm trading services with a friend who works in construction.  I'm saving my pennies to buy lumber as needed and we'll tackle my husbands building as soon as possible.
For those that may not know what we're doing, we're building 2-3 tiny houses linked together with greenhouse walkways.  I like the idea of tiny houses, but I'm not really ready to commit to downsizing THAT much when I've got 2 large dogs, a husband, a son AND myself.  I really like the idea of having more than one tiny house. That way if someone needs a break or their own space as they grow up, they've got their own tiny home.

My husband and I also couldn't decide on what type of building to build.  Cobb, Straw light clay, traditional?  This way we can have it all.  
My husbands cottage will be traditional framing with straw light clay as our walls.  Our good friend Melvin can frame that structure in very little time as soon as we have purchased the materials. 

Building on a shoestring budget is difficult but not impossible!  Reclaimed materials, leftovers from construction sites and piecing bits together doesn't scare me. 

Breaking ground

Today the Backhoe man came to town and cleared away all of the trees so that the electric company could come in and install the Electrical polls. 

He also cleared the building site for our first structure.

My husband was a little heartbroken to see all of the broken ground but I was thrilled to know that all of that broken ground would mean we are so much closer to having the structure delivered and setup for our first tiny home.

Here are some pictures of today's activities.

Like so many others before us, my family and I have dreams of living in tiny houses.  The difference between other tiny home dwellers and us is that we are creating a compound of tiny buildings instead of ONE house/structure. 
My motivations for this are many.
1. I dont' want to live on TOP of my family
2. we could not decide which type of building to do so we went with ALL of them. One will be Cob another Straw light clay.  One day I also want to purchase a used train car and convert it!
3. I want my son to grow up with a space of his own
4. I want my son to grow up with an outdoor living space that keeps him occupied and learning
5. We have quite a bit of "stuff" we do not want to get rid of like musical instruments, workshop tables and tools etc.

so....a couple of years ago, we acquired just under 9 acres of land in Madison County, Arkansas.  It's a lovely triangle of wooded land. It's got a little man-made pond which needs a leak repair. It also has nearly 1/2 acre of cleared land with a road cut directly to the clearing. 

There's our little pond.  On the far side, back right of the picture is where we're building. 

So far we've built a cob outhouse (i'll have to find the photo of it)

A cob/reclaimed materials tiny shack to sleep in when we build
it's an 8x8 tiny cabin. It has a drop down platform for my son.  Of course, I'll be sure to post photo's of the inside when I get them.

started work on a 16x20 cabin

planted an apple tree I won from our local Co-Op (Ozark Natural Foods in Fayetteville, AR)

and of course...relaxed.

Oh, I also won the rain barrel with the Apple tree!

Coming soon will be the backhoe company clearing the way for the electric lines as well as our compromise mini-home.  More to come! Thanks for checking in.