Dream House
Sep. 15th, 2009 03:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pasitheaA couple nights ago, Stacey asked me what I'd want in a dream home. *sigh* I confess that it's such a distant dream that I've never really put a lot of thought into it. I don't have enough money for a home of my own and I'm not the sort of person that gets any kind of government help which would make it attainable and my family is also sort of worthless, so 'dream home' is up there with "What sort of rocket ship would I like to fly." It feels unattainable and unrealistic. Save that for the rocket ship, I can dream and imagine and with the home thing, it's just depressing and makes me feel resentful of most of the humans around me.
But. Here you go:
About 10 acres of land. Trees would be very nice but my hard requirements are: Room for a few animals and to grow stuff and access to a stable supply of water. I'd prefer to live somewhere with mild winters. I'm not a big fan of cold but I'd adapt if needed.
A few wooly milk goats (for milk and wool) They're easier to care for than sheep and more familiar to me than llamas.
A couple of small pigs (see below)
a small flock of guinea fowl.
So. Mostly I'd be practicing fallow-field crop rotation technique. I would pasture the goats in the fields where last year's crops had been, keeping the weeds from encroaching and providing fertilizer. And the pigs in the fields where next years crops will be. Their routing would keep cutworms and other unfriendly grubs out of the field plus till the soil for me. Both types of animals also produce fertilizer of course.
Guinea fowl are _slightly_ smarter than chickens and they don't generally wreck your garden the way chickens will. They eat seeds and undesirable insects. lice, ticks, ants, fleas, grasshoppers, etc and they lay fairly frequently and lay large clutches of eggs.
For crops, I'd have all the usual stuff you'd expect. Probably a couple of fruit trees. Definitely at least one quince tree. They produce lots of pectin and are very useful for canning.
The only other 'unusual' plant I'd probably chose to grow is bamboo. It's a quick-growing building material. I suppose if hemp were legal, I'd probably consider growing it as well though I confess I'm not partial to hemp oil.
I'm highly proficient at canning, drying, and pickling. When I lived by myself in Oklahoma, I had a huge garden and put back a lot of my vegetables then ate them during the winter. My monthly groceries were basically salt, flour, sugar, spices, oil, rice, beans. Stuff that was cheaper to buy in bulk than to grow and produce myself.
I'd have to research it but I might also want to keep bees. (Depending on how much work they are. I love bees. :)
But the house itself.... I seem to be skipping that part. I've thought about the sustainable farming a lot but not as much the house.
I guess my 'dream' house would be set into the south side of a hill (assuming Northern hemisphere) Lower part of the wall would be double-paned glass with a large atrium/greenhouse/conservatory/whatever you want to call it. Lots of light and plants and some places to sit for breakfast or meditate. The upper 'windows' could be solar panels or solar water heating or both. If that's too much, I'd settle for my studio space having some big windows and cold-frames for the garden. Some kind of semi-portable cold frame might be a better idea anyhow.
I like my studio that I have now. I'd definitely want a place like that. Art, books, plants and privacy if I desire it. I think I'd prefer wood or tile floors so I wouldn't worry about spilling stuff. I'm not a huge fan of wall-to-wall carpet really. I wouldn't mind a bit if this were combined with the atrium.
I'd also like some kind of concrete-floored workspace. Less cozy for reading a book with cats or painting, but better suited to work on an engine, weld, use power tools, etc. A standard garage would fit the bill.
On a related note: I'd like to set up a forge and a steamer box. Both would be really really useful for a huge variety of odds and ends projects. If I could, a pottery kiln and a glass furnace would also be awesome though I suspect they wouldn't get as much use and I can't think of a clever way to combine all of these into a single item so... Probably not very realistic. A forge is fairly small and portable though.
I need a real kitchen. The worst thing about apartments is their gawdawful small kitchens. I need at least 30 square feet of counter space and some freakin' cabinets. I don't have a lot of kitchen widgets but I like to cook and a cramped kitchen just sucks.
A real dining space would be nice but isn't a strict requirement. Helping a friend design a fold-up table for a small space and I like that idea for myself as well.
A living room would be darned nice. I'd like to have space to chat with people. I'd be fine without a TV and would be actively happier without cable. (Though I do need internet access)
A decent-sized bedroom would be nice (and by that, I mean a room that's actually larger than my bed and some freakin' closet space!!!!!)
One bathroom is sufficient. I like a tub but could go without.
Finally, it'd be nice if Stacey had some private office space for herself to match my desired studio space. Our current apartment is cramped and the smaller-than-many-walk-in-closets living-room doubles as her space.
So I guess that's what... A studio for me, an office for Stacey, a workshop/garage, kitchen, living room, and bathroom we share, and atrium and dining area would be really really nice but I would let go of them if everything else was right.
3 bedrooms for 2 people. No. I'm not greedy. :/
I suppose if it were an attached garage and had decent windows, I could combine the workshop and studio. Heck. My dream space would be the workshop, studio, and atrium combined.
I suppose if we had high ceilings (12ft plus) The bedroom/office space could also be combined. Put the bed on a bunk over the desk area. I sleep so rarely that the space would be private for Stacey the vast majority of the time.
I guess that's everything. *sigh* So... Any philanthropist millionaires reading my LJ who'd care to help me out?
...
Yeah. Thought not.
But. Here you go:
About 10 acres of land. Trees would be very nice but my hard requirements are: Room for a few animals and to grow stuff and access to a stable supply of water. I'd prefer to live somewhere with mild winters. I'm not a big fan of cold but I'd adapt if needed.
A few wooly milk goats (for milk and wool) They're easier to care for than sheep and more familiar to me than llamas.
A couple of small pigs (see below)
a small flock of guinea fowl.
So. Mostly I'd be practicing fallow-field crop rotation technique. I would pasture the goats in the fields where last year's crops had been, keeping the weeds from encroaching and providing fertilizer. And the pigs in the fields where next years crops will be. Their routing would keep cutworms and other unfriendly grubs out of the field plus till the soil for me. Both types of animals also produce fertilizer of course.
Guinea fowl are _slightly_ smarter than chickens and they don't generally wreck your garden the way chickens will. They eat seeds and undesirable insects. lice, ticks, ants, fleas, grasshoppers, etc and they lay fairly frequently and lay large clutches of eggs.
For crops, I'd have all the usual stuff you'd expect. Probably a couple of fruit trees. Definitely at least one quince tree. They produce lots of pectin and are very useful for canning.
The only other 'unusual' plant I'd probably chose to grow is bamboo. It's a quick-growing building material. I suppose if hemp were legal, I'd probably consider growing it as well though I confess I'm not partial to hemp oil.
I'm highly proficient at canning, drying, and pickling. When I lived by myself in Oklahoma, I had a huge garden and put back a lot of my vegetables then ate them during the winter. My monthly groceries were basically salt, flour, sugar, spices, oil, rice, beans. Stuff that was cheaper to buy in bulk than to grow and produce myself.
I'd have to research it but I might also want to keep bees. (Depending on how much work they are. I love bees. :)
But the house itself.... I seem to be skipping that part. I've thought about the sustainable farming a lot but not as much the house.
I guess my 'dream' house would be set into the south side of a hill (assuming Northern hemisphere) Lower part of the wall would be double-paned glass with a large atrium/greenhouse/conservatory/whatever you want to call it. Lots of light and plants and some places to sit for breakfast or meditate. The upper 'windows' could be solar panels or solar water heating or both. If that's too much, I'd settle for my studio space having some big windows and cold-frames for the garden. Some kind of semi-portable cold frame might be a better idea anyhow.
I like my studio that I have now. I'd definitely want a place like that. Art, books, plants and privacy if I desire it. I think I'd prefer wood or tile floors so I wouldn't worry about spilling stuff. I'm not a huge fan of wall-to-wall carpet really. I wouldn't mind a bit if this were combined with the atrium.
I'd also like some kind of concrete-floored workspace. Less cozy for reading a book with cats or painting, but better suited to work on an engine, weld, use power tools, etc. A standard garage would fit the bill.
On a related note: I'd like to set up a forge and a steamer box. Both would be really really useful for a huge variety of odds and ends projects. If I could, a pottery kiln and a glass furnace would also be awesome though I suspect they wouldn't get as much use and I can't think of a clever way to combine all of these into a single item so... Probably not very realistic. A forge is fairly small and portable though.
I need a real kitchen. The worst thing about apartments is their gawdawful small kitchens. I need at least 30 square feet of counter space and some freakin' cabinets. I don't have a lot of kitchen widgets but I like to cook and a cramped kitchen just sucks.
A real dining space would be nice but isn't a strict requirement. Helping a friend design a fold-up table for a small space and I like that idea for myself as well.
A living room would be darned nice. I'd like to have space to chat with people. I'd be fine without a TV and would be actively happier without cable. (Though I do need internet access)
A decent-sized bedroom would be nice (and by that, I mean a room that's actually larger than my bed and some freakin' closet space!!!!!)
One bathroom is sufficient. I like a tub but could go without.
Finally, it'd be nice if Stacey had some private office space for herself to match my desired studio space. Our current apartment is cramped and the smaller-than-many-walk-in-closets living-room doubles as her space.
So I guess that's what... A studio for me, an office for Stacey, a workshop/garage, kitchen, living room, and bathroom we share, and atrium and dining area would be really really nice but I would let go of them if everything else was right.
3 bedrooms for 2 people. No. I'm not greedy. :/
I suppose if it were an attached garage and had decent windows, I could combine the workshop and studio. Heck. My dream space would be the workshop, studio, and atrium combined.
I suppose if we had high ceilings (12ft plus) The bedroom/office space could also be combined. Put the bed on a bunk over the desk area. I sleep so rarely that the space would be private for Stacey the vast majority of the time.
I guess that's everything. *sigh* So... Any philanthropist millionaires reading my LJ who'd care to help me out?
...
Yeah. Thought not.
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Re: Philanthropist millionaires
Date: 2009-09-17 12:03 am (UTC)Re: Philanthropist millionaires
Date: 2009-09-17 12:32 pm (UTC)Kristy