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Lifestyle

Category: Lifestyle

Posts about community and values.

A green plan emerges from the black ashes of a wildfire
CategoriesLifestyle

Resilience: The Adaptive Cycle

by Big Calm

This infinity loop is called the Adaptive Cycle. It was first developed to explain the life cycle of forests, and is the most powerfully simple way to describe resilience.

More than just bouncing back from adversity, resilience is a loop – constant and in multitudes. Once you see it this way you’ll see it everywhere – in life, relationships, career, industry, projects, and nature.

There are four phases (sometimes referred to as: r, K, Ω, and α) to the Adaptive Cycle.

Let’s start with perhaps the most pleasant one. This is a young forest, a true love, a growing scale-up, a newly elected government, the beginning of a new job. It’s the phase where we’ve found something special and want to run with it.

We then progress up the front loop. It’s on the front loop that we’re strongest, happiest, and most constructive. Life is beautiful on the front loop.

The next phase is success, maximized and extended by standardization and optimization. There’s comfort with the status quo, but also some signs of complacency and decay. This is an industry’s best quarter, an athlete’s top performance, a lifetime achievement award, a mature forest.

We like this phase so much that we often do everything we can to avoid moving beyond it. We lose adaptive capacity and fall into the Rigidity Trap. It’s here that we see big corporate bail-outs, Blockbuster ignoring Netflix, in-it-for-the-kids marriages, climate change denial.

All good things eventually come to an end – one way or another. There comes a moment of disruption, often not of our choosing. Injury, death, break-up, divorce, disaster, downturn, revolution, even good things like invention, retirement, or winning the lotto. A before and after.

Next comes the release phase, when everything just falls apart (unless you’re the disruptor). There’s a period of denial and mourning, of coping and confusion. What was isn’t and what will hasn’t. Uncertainty abounds.

Then, following some acceptance of a new reality, we try to make sense of our place in it. This can move surprisingly fast or painfully slow, but regardless – beware – the beast is in the back loop. This climb can be very difficult, lonely, and hopeless.

The fourth phase is where we begin to regain hope. Exciting possibilities emerge – often many of them! Vegetation pushes through the burnt forest floor. Individuals date, create, and try new things. Startups start up. Let a thousand flowers bloom.

The most promising of those possibilities go on to where we started, where winners get the nourishment they need to thrive. But if they don’t, those ideas risk falling into the Poverty Trap. Startups need capital, relationships need time, books need editing, forests need water.

Adaptive Cycles can be micro and personal, like writing a new song or grieving the loss of a pet. Or they can be macro and global, like the birth of cryptocurrency or the extinction of species. They can move slowly like human rights movements, or quickly like an improv scene.

Humankind is here, at the convergence of multiple disruptive events caused by late-stage capitalism, major political/cultural shifts, and climate change. There was a before and there will be an after this macro moment in time.

We are immersed in uncertainty and we should know to expect some difficult times ahead before seeing the hopeful light of new order at the end of the tunnel. As they say, the only way out is through.

What makes the Adaptive Cycle such a powerful visual is that the front loop crosses the back loop. It’s the intersection of the strong and capable with the weak and vulnerable – positions everyone is in at various times – that makes community an x-factor for resilience.

Resilience isn’t just bouncing back to normal. It’s ensemble sense-making. It’s an assortment of emerging adaptive cycles – from hopeless to hopeful, creative to confused, weakness to strength, helper to helped. Resilience is a knowing embrace of the emerging uncertain.

Adapted from a Twitter thread originally published on April 19, 2020.

Pictured: New growth emerging from ground charred the previous summer by the 5992 hectare Trozzo Creek wildfire in 2021.

Black cat in the forest
CategoriesLifestyle

Life Lessons from a Forest Cat

by Big Calm

Sadly, Big Calm lost an important member of the community recently. Our beloved Norwegian Forest Cat, Buddy, passed away peacefully on the very last day of summer. Not only was Buddy a truly special and loving old soul, he was both inspiration and validation for our moving from the city to build a life in the Kootenays.

Buddy had the full cocktail of kitty ailments, and we almost lost him in Winter 2019. But upon moving to the Slocan Valley several months later, he burst to life. This Thanksgiving, we’re grateful for every one of the 2457 days we had with Buddy and for these nine simple profundities – life lessons – that he reminded us of during our time together…

Two humans and a tuxedo cat in the woods

Balance – One of our goals with moving closer to nature was to recalibrate our relationship with screens. As remote workers, we spend a lot of time on our computers and phones. Buddy found this boring and would remind us that, even on those dreary and chilly days, it’s good to get out, move around, and breathe some fresh air.

A black cat at a desk peeking over a laptop screen

Seize the day – Once Buddy discovered the great outdoors, he couldn’t get enough of it. The forest was in his nature and, like a dog, he’d beg us at every opportunity to go explore it. We’re convinced that Buddy lived months, if not years, longer than expected because of his pure enthusiasm for each new day.

Be curious – Big Calm is a large 30+ acre property and having an on-leash feline as a tour guide turned out to be an amazing way to explore it. Our off-path adventures helped us to learn the topography, encounter hidden mushrooms, and come across plants and berries that we wouldn’t otherwise have seen.

A black cat on leash explores the foggy forest

Observe / notice – Whether it was birds, squirrels, garter snakes, grasshoppers, or chipmunks (especially chipmunks!), Buddy would happily sit and observe their various activities for hours. Observation and active listening are superpower skills – both practically for permaculture and spiritually for presence and gratitude.

Black house cat on a window sill looking out at nature

Stop and smell the flowers – It’s cliche but it’s true.

A black house cat smelling a bright yellow flower

Make friends with trees – Often on our walkabouts Buddy would approach individual trees and stare up at them in acknowledgement. It wasn’t to climb or hunt. It was something else; a sort of kinship with these stoic elders. In a way, it felt like he was paying tribute to each of them.

A black and white cat outdoors looking up at a tree

Hug the ones you love – The stereotype of cats being aloof and uncaring most certainly did not apply to Buddy. From bonks and cuddles to squeaks and unbelievably genuine hugs, he loved to love. If he saw you approaching during a walk, he’d stride briskly toward you. When you’re happy to see someone special, make them feel special.

A cat lovingly hugs a man

Sleep like nobody’s watching – One of the first things we noticed upon moving to the Valley was how deeply we slept. Many Pocket Getaway guests have mentioned the same thing. Ask any cat: good sleep is very important.

Black house cat taking a nap on an outdoor screened deck

Find your sunbeam – Buddy would hide out in dark nooks to sleep but whenever the opportunity presented itself, he’d happily trade those spots for a ray of sunshine or the warmth of the wood stove. There is lots of wonder in this world and, even though it seldom lasts for as long as we’d like, it is ours to cherish for the moments when it finds us.

We buried Buddy in a beautiful spot in the forest where his chipmunk friends play and a warm afternoon sunbeam regularly peeks through the trees.

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow;
I am the diamond glints on the snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain;
I am the gentle autumn’s rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft star that shines at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there; I did not die.
––Clare Harner

Lush green garden and greenhouse
CategoriesLifestyle

Raised Garden

by Big Calm

The community garden at Big Calm was once a certified organic operation. Untended for a few years, grasses and weeds encroached on increasingly packed ground. 

Garden with creeping buttercup

Despite rich, black soil with mammoth earthworms, last year’s harvest was underwhelming, so this spring we set out to restore the garden to glory. Here’s a chronicle of the steps we took to what’s shaping up to be a great bounty of homegrown veggies.

As soon as the snow melted and the ground thawed in early April, we rented a rototiller and tilled the garden. Now, permaculture purists can be religiously no-till – and for good reason: it can damage precious, vibrant soil.

Tilled garden with dark, rich, wet soil

But our clay-heavy soil was becoming too packed to plant in, so we made a one-time exception and broke it up. It was a muddy job.

Man rototilling a muddy garden

We then immediately covered it up with black plastic sheets to choke out the grasses and weeds (like creeping buttercup) before they took hold. These sheets stayed on for seven weeks.

Garden space covered with black plastic

In the meantime, we bought cement planter blocks and 8′ 2″x6″ untreated cedar boards to construct as the frame for raised beds. (We considered buying planter kits and metal brackets but found the blocks+boards approach both more economical and more flexible to future adjustments.) We mapped out various layouts using Smart Gardener to visualize pathways and optimize planting space. Foregoing rows, we went with an attractive courtyard plan.

Cedar boards outline future raised garden beds

We marked off where the beds would go and then scraped the topsoil into the future aisles, being mindful to maintain a slight slope towards the gully running along the west side of the garden. We met countless beautiful earthworms during this labour.

Scraped topsoil next to future raised garden beds

The raised beds themselves were built in layers. The base was tape- and ink-free cardboard we had collected over the winter. On top of that was some compost (well-aged horse manure from the property’s previous owner), soil, more compost, more soil, and finally a straw mulch. We worked quickly to ensure that the soil didn’t dry out in the sun.

Raised garden beds with newly added soil

One of the biggest efforts was removing or burying a couple boulders found along the way. Now you see it…

Large boulder partially protruding into a garden path

Now you don’t…

Smooth path next to raised garden beds

We completed the build in one long weekend in early June (a bit later than we’d normally plant the garden). Next, it was time to plant. Abby had collected seeds, identified companion plants, and planted a mix of lettuce, kale, radishes, carrots, peas, potatoes, beans, squash, zucchini, corn, tomatoes, green onions, beets and a variety of pollinator-friendly flowers. We laid down some wood chips (made on site from the branch piles left from last year’s fire mitigation work) in the walkways and added some trellises for the beans and peas.

A woman plants in raised garden beds covered in straw

Two gardeners smile in a garden they built

Across the property, we planted a couple dozen trees and bushes gifted by the West Kootenay Permaculture Coop: white mulberry, hazelnut, chestnut, black walnut, honey locust, bur oak, weeping willow, aronia berry, blueberry, raspberry and honeysuckle.

Woman plants a Bur Oak tree in a meadow

We also, finally, found a greenhouse cover to put on an old car shelter frame that came with the property. This will help us extend the growing season.

Greenhouse frame with geotextile floor

Greenhouse with white cover

With Abby’s diligent weeding, watering, and TLC, the garden is thriving and the community is enjoying daily salads and smoothies made of fresh-picked greens, delicious tomatoes, and earthy potatoes. There are few things more satisfying in life than growing your own food!

bright red tomatoes on the vine peas on the pod

Lavender, echinacea and daylily

green rural garden

Our next project, which we’re starting on now, is to build out and integrate rainwater harvesting, storage, and drip irrigation systems to passively feed the garden next year. (The IBC totes pictured below are wrapped in the black plastic that covered the garden in the spring.) More on that later.

Two wrapped IBC totes under an awning

wildfire on a mountainside at night
CategoriesLifestyle

Fire Break

by Big Calm

Old-timers in the Kootenays sometimes refer to June as “Juneuary,” a month with cooler, wetter weather. But June 2021 definitely didn’t resemble anything they would have seen before. It was record-shatteringly hot.

list of temperatures in BC cities

Just as, earlier this year, the jetstream had parked a cold weather system over Texas, it contorted to form a stagnant heat dome that baked much of western North America. 

weather map with jetstream heat dome

For several days, temperatures across BC reached into the 40s (Celsius) before settling into weeks of 30-degree temperatures, with no rain. Perhaps nice for the beach, but not so good for temperate rainforests.

On July 9th, lightning struck a peak east of Winlaw and started a fire. It quickly grew out of control into a “Fire of Note” and began spreading to the backcountry behind us. 

An evacuation alert was issued on July 21st. We raced to remove fuels (both gasoline and dry foliage), set up sprinklers, and collect essentials. Groundworks crews, which had finally mobilized just a week earlier, packed up and rolled out. Safety crews visited every property in the alert area to ensure that everyone was accounted for and was aware of the possibility of an evacuation order. Meanwhile, overhead, we could actually feel the drops falling from the water buckets under a constant cavalcade of helicopters. It was surreal.

water bucket helicopter overhead

The winds picked up that night and the alert was upgraded to an order, blocking us from our new property and kicking off a few smoky weeks of intense worry. The fire was once again upgraded, but this time to an “Interface Fire”, indicating structures (homes) were threatened. At one point, Big Calm was just a few hundred metres from going up in flames.

Fortunately, the persistent efforts of BC Wildfire Service crews, with ground support from the region’s forestry service, Sifco, and others, held the fire from jumping the ridge and into the Valley. The order was downgraded 12 days later and the alert rescinded on August 18th, following some much needed rain. 

We moved to BC knowing that wildfire is an annual risk. Though Big Calm already has extensive fire breaks, we had consulted experts early on about further firesmarting the property. We knew that, at some point in the future, our region could be affected by fire–we just didn’t expect it to be so soon. We mourn for the loss of forest and the wildlife it sustained. 

But, a silver lining can be found: the fire has effectively added an impressive 6000 hectare fire break around us, which will provide a buffer for many years ahead (and perhaps some morel mushrooms next year).

We moved here to be closer to nature. It’s been a true joy to experience more fully the comings and goings of the seasons…

The squirrels, the bears, the flowers, the trees, the birds, the bees, the worms, the weeds… everything in its time.

But it’s also been disconcerting to experience a heatwave that breaks records by double digits; to see robins standing over, rather than sitting their eggs; and to see an inland temperate rainforest thirsting for water. Even coastal Vancouver went 46 days without rain. 

The effects of the global climate emergency are becoming more evident, everywhere. Every part of the world, both urban and rural areas, will experience the impact, whether it’s ice storms, floods, hurricanes, droughts, or wildfires. There is no safe haven.

So what are we to do? We choose to focus on what we can do at Big Calm – and that’s empowering. Ongoing fireproofing, installing an emergency water tank, and planting fire-resistant plants and trees. But we have a vision that goes far beyond that: a community whose strength is greater than that of each individual combined, so it’s better able to withstand whatever shocks the future holds.

And we saw that kind of cooperation last month: the community opened a resiliency centre for those affected by the fire, so all their needs were provided for. In addition to the designated intake centres set up throughout the region, people offered their spare bedrooms and RVs as a place for evacuees to stay. The community hosted a large BBQ for the firefighters as a gesture of gratitude.

We learned a lot from this experience: being prepared is not only wise, it’s empowering, and the cooperation of a community is integral to its resilience. And, while we cannot control the climate, we can find comfort and meaning in collectively caring for our own little piece of this fragile planet.

Photo: Jon Miller

Wooded field with double rainbow
CategoriesLifestyle,  Tiny Homes

Home Isn’t Just a Place

by Big Calm

Most of our conversations these days are with people getting into tiny homes. Recently, however, we were contacted by Mike and Maia, a couple moving on from their lovingly self-built Tiny House on Wheels after living in it for four years. They wanted to let us know that they were looking for a passionate couple or individual to take on this beautiful house that they created and lived in.

Tiny House on Wheels

Not only were we impressed with the house itself, but Maia’s poetic description of it as a home really captured a wonderful essence that so many of us are seeking. With their permission, we’re glad to share it here…

Home isn’t just a place. It is an overwhelming feeling. It embraces you at the end of every day. Holds you. Comforts you. Protects you. Loves you. Warms you. Heals you.

 

Tiny home interior 1

This tiny house is all that and more. It was built with incredible intention. The joy and love that went into dreaming, planning, building, and creating this home makes it a very special place. If home is a feeling, when you walk through the doors and breathe it in you instantly feel peace. Whatever the day brought or whatever the world threw, you can leave it outside the door because home is there to take care of you.

 

We built this tiny home so we could have a place that we could call our own. We desire a simple life, because the world can be so complicated. We desire less, because the universe tries to drown you in more. We desire peace, because there is often so much chaos. We desire quiet, because we need to rest. We desire home, because there is no greater place on earth.

 

Tiny home interior 2

This home saved us. We found all these things and more in this beautiful house in the forest.

 

Life always brings change, and even though it is so hard to leave this home we know it will bless someone else and give them safety and comfort. Hold them in peace and protect them.

 

It is a home unlike any other and it is blessed.

Wonderful reflections. If you might be interested in buying this house, email us and we’ll gladly connect you with Mike for info, specs, and pricing.

A blue tiny house sits in a peaceful verdant meadow
CategoriesDevelopment,  Lifestyle,  Tiny Homes

The Bigger Picture on Tiny Homesteads

by Big Calm

When we first contemplated building a tiny home community in the Slocan Valley, we thought a lot about how it would impact, and ideally, benefit both the land and the larger community.

Environmental Impact

Earlier this year, I was working on a project to support the region’s licensed cannabis producers, and had the honour and privilege to participate in cultural sensitivity training by members of the Sinixt First Nation, on whose land we work and reside. I learned of Whuplak’n, a Sinixt law that guides us to take care of the land, water, air and all living things. If we take care of the land, it takes care of us: all decisions should be informed through this process of what is in the best interest of all living things. 

Big Calm is aligned with this law. We want to take care of the land so it takes care of us.

Minimal Development, Modest Community

We purchased the property we call Big Calm because it was already ideal for a pocket neighbourhood, with no clearing or major earthworks required. The only development work needed involves smoothing the driveway, drilling a groundwater well, servicing each (gravel) tiny home pad, and installing a septic system. Despite the significant cost, we opted for a Type 2 septic system, which has half the footprint of a Type 1 system and generates much cleaner effluent. In this case, as in many others, eco-minded choices come at a higher cost, but to us, it’s worth it. 

The community will be situated on roughly three of our 30+ acres. Guidelines for RV park developments recommend 10 units per acre, which translates to 30 units for our community space. We decided on only 10. Water is our most precious resource, and after consulting with a civil engineer, we determined that 10 tiny homes is both conservative as well as sustainable. Of course, the other benefit of having only 10 pads is that we can truly offer tiny homesteads, with plenty of space and privacy, with the comfort of a community not too far away.

Tiny Home Living

It’s intuitive that tiny homes take up a smaller footprint than conventional homes and generally use less electricity and water, of which the average Canadian uses 330 litres per day. Tiny house dweller and blogger Joshua Engberg determined that his daily water use was just over 66 litres, about 20% of the average Canadian’s use. In terms of electricity, the average Canadian uses 13,891 kWh per year, while a tiny home uses only 1,515 kWh per year, or about 11% the national per capita average. Based on these statistics, 10 tiny homes would use roughly the same amount of water as two conventional homes and about the same amount of electricity as one conventional home.

And, that doesn’t take into account the electricity- and water-saving measures we, and future tiny homesteaders, plan to employ. Not surprisingly, the majority of individuals interested in living at Big Calm also plan to install solar panels on their tiny homes, which will complement the large solar array we plan to install in the mid-term. Even though tiny homes have a small water catchment area, prospective tiny homesteaders still want to harvest as much water as they can. We’ve also heard from folks planning to have compost toilets in their tiny home, which can save more than 25,000 litres of water per person per year!

Maria Saxton, a doctor of environmental design and planning, conducted a study to measure how downsizing to a tiny home influences downstream environmental impacts. She found that the average ecological footprint required to support a tiny home dweller for one year was about 9.5 acres, compared with 17.3 acres for an individual living in a conventional home, a decrease of 45%. She adds that the impacts are even further-reaching:

“On average, every major component of downsizers’ lifestyles, including food, transportation, and consumption of goods and services, was positively influenced.

 

As a whole, I found that after downsizing, people were more likely to eat less energy-intensive food products and adopt more environmentally conscious eating habits, such as eating more locally and growing more of their own food. Participants traveled less by car, motorcycle, bus, train, and airplane, and drove more fuel-efficient cars than they did before downsizing.

 

They also purchased substantially fewer items, recycled more plastic and paper, and generated less trash. In sum, I found that downsizing was an important step toward reducing ecological footprints and encouraging pro-environmental behaviors.”

Permaculture-Guided

Climate change is an overwhelming issue for everybody. What I love about permaculture is that it is a way for individuals to do their part to care for the earth. Permaculture doesn’t aim to be merely sustainable, it aims to be regenerative. It builds soil, captures carbon, promotes biodiversity and produces food in a way that isn’t destructive. 

We have grand permaculture-related plans for Big Calm. We envision pollinator gardens, a food forest and a greenhouse to extend the growing season. Permaculture is a means by which we can give back to the land, become more self reliant and create community bonds. We are thrilled that everyone we’ve spoken to can’t wait to get their hands dirty!

Community Impact

When we first conceived the concept of Big Calm, we wanted to ensure that it would have a positive impact on the larger community. Affordable housing in this part of BC is a complex issue that will require institutional support and substantial funding to address, and is not an affordable undertaking by us regular folks, unfortunately. 

In an article on the investment needed for dedicated affordable housing Marc Lee, Senior Economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, says:

“A housing commitment to build 11,400 units a year for a decade translates into an annual public investment of about $3 billion ($250,000 per unit construction and related cost), assuming public land owned by local governments or the provincial government is contributed.”

Despite not having the substantial capital required to take on the issue of affordable housing, Big Calm can still have a positive impact. In an article in The Tyee, Guy Dauncey, author of Journey to the Future: A Better World is Possible, posed eight solutions to Canada’s housing crisis. One of them was the development of new villages. He says:

“Many younger people want more than an affordable home. They also want to live sustainably with a strong sense of community. They want to build a sharing economy, with a lighter footprint on the Earth. They want to build their own eco-villages and tiny home villages.

 

An eco-village places more emphasis on sociable, pedestrian-friendly designs, habitat protection and solar energy and passive homes than a conventional development. We should train people how to become their own developers, forming eco-village development co-operatives, raising the money needed and navigating the complex world of zoning and development approval.”

My only gripe with this is that it’s not just younger people, it’s people of all ages, including families, independents, and a large proportion of individuals who are retired or planning to retire soon and want to live a more sustainable lifestyle.

Because Big Calm is attracting remote workers–who will bring their jobs with them–to new residential units, we will not exacerbate the issue of lack of affordable housing. We believe we can have a positive economic impact on the community: we hope our modest project–which is being developed by local contractors; tradespeople; and civil, structural and geotechnical engineers–will potentially relieve some pressure on the middle-market. Not to mention that the Big Calm community will volunteer at local events and support businesses by shopping locally.

“More people are now wanting to relocate to the valley, recognizing it for the gem that it is.” 
– Slocan Valley Economic Development coordinator (Valley Voice, October 8, 2020)

We are thrilled with the calibre and diversity of individuals interested in Big Calm, as well as their desire to contribute not just to the Big Calm community, but to the larger community as well. We’ve heard from individuals who want to share their knowledge of / expertise in laughter yoga, leadership, mindfulness, movement, art, group building, positive therapy, meditation/guided visualization, permaculture, gardening, photography/videography, presentation development, detoxing, raw vegan cuisine, mental wellness, and close community living. We’ve had the pleasure to meet a semi-retired midwife, financial analyst, insurance underwriter, soil scientist, leadership coach and yoga instructor, among others. A desire to live sustainably, care for the land and be part of a supportive community is the common thread that unites them.  

Do you have any other ideas that would help us positively impact the environment, the community and the larger Slocan Valley Community? Please share them with us at hello@bigcalm.ca.

Photo by Arwin Basdew on Unsplash

table with Canada flag, passport, and visa application
CategoriesLifestyle

How to Work Remotely in Canada for a Foreign Employer

by Big Calm

Numerous polls indicate that remote work is here to stay, with 68 percent of respondents from a recent survey indicating they want to work from home either most of the time, or every day.

The remote work “trend” is turning into the “new normal”: many employees are demanding more flexibility when it comes to where they work and some are even choosing to leave their current job to find one that is fully remote. While remote work itself knows no borders, being hired to work remotely by a foreign company does involve some complexities.

Recently, we spoke with Marc Pavlopoulos, Founder of Syndesus, who says that using a professional employer organization (PEO) like then removes the complexities of cross-border employee-employer relationships. This company is making it even easier to work remotely!

Serving as the employer of record, PEOs help companies in foreign countries recruit, hire and legally employ remote workers. PEOs manage payroll, currency conversion, employee benefits, human resources and essential taxes on behalf of the foreign employer. They also ensure that cross-border employer-employee arrangements are in compliance with employment and tax laws (bet you didn’t expect to read that in a Big Calm post!). By enabling seamless, legal cross-border employment arrangements, PEOs open up a world of work opportunities for remote workers in Canada, including Big Calm tiny homesteaders!

And that’s where Syndesus’ recruitment services come in. Marc says that, due to growing demand, they will be enhancing their recruitment services to match Canadian workers with foreign employers. So, if you’ve decided to take advantage of the ability to work from anywhere, or #workfromhomestead, the world is your oyster!

Here is our conversation with Marc. Check out the Syndesus website for more information.

tiny house bedroom with farm outside window
CategoriesLifestyle,  Tiny Homes

Tiny Houses for Mature Audiences

by Big Calm

When we first conceptualized Big Calm, we figured it would appeal to individuals and couples purchasing their first home. We were thrilled to learn that middle-to-retirement age folks are actually the demographic group that find tiny homestead living particularly appealing. Whether downsizing after children have grown up and moved out, or looking for a nice place to retire, tiny homestead living is capturing the interest of Baby Boomers and GenXers!

We’re no spring chickens ourselves, so we can relate to tiny home living hesitancy as it seems the majority of tiny home sleeping arrangements involve lofts. But, many builders are catching on that main floor bedrooms are the way to go for many clients. We’ve compiled a list of builders that offer this feature, or are willing to work on custom builds to ensure their clients’ comfort:

Builders with main floor bedroom models:

Tiny house bedroom interior
Teacup Tiny Homes

The Phoenix – storage staircase to master bedroom with standing room
Summer’s Night Dream – main floor bedroom
The Margo – main floor bedroom

Tiny house interior
ZeroSquared

Van Gogh – main floor queen bedroom
Aurora – main floor queen bedroom
Maverick – two main floor queen bedrooms

Tiny house bedroom interior
Summit Tiny Homes

Hummingbird – main floor bedroom
Modern Bohemian – main floor bedroom

Tiny house bedroom interior
Tree Hugger Tiny Homes

Cascade – main floor bedroom

Tiny house bedroom interior
Mint Tiny Homes

Canada Goose – storage staircase to master bedroom with standing room

Custom Builds

Canadian Tiny Homes
Fritz Tiny Homes
Nelson Tiny Houses
Rewild Homes
Sunshine Tiny Homes
True North Tiny Homes

hummingbird flying towards water drops
CategoriesLifestyle,  Tiny Homes

Do What You Can

by Big Calm

Earlier today we presented to hundreds at the Global Tiny House Conference. Our talk, “Macro Forces, Market Trends, and #WorkFromHomestead”, offered an overview of the factors motivating us to start and build Big Calm Tiny Homesteads and the importance of attracting likeminded people to its vision.

We looked at how negative macro forces like climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and widespread mental health woes are changing people’s behaviours. And we also looked at how positive market trends like the tiny house movement, the shift to remote work, a rural renaissance, and the rise of regenerative are emerging opportunities. These are all summarized in more detail here.

circular chart of macro forces and market trends for Big Calm investors

As the grandfather of permaculture, Bill Mollison, once said, “Though the problems of the world are increasingly complex, the solutions remain embarrassingly simple.”

One of permaculture’s other wise mantras: “Start where you are, do what you can, use what you have.” Which recalls the Story of the Hummingbird…

One day a devastating fire broke out in a forest – a huge woodlands area was suddenly engulfed by a raging wildfire. Frightened, all the animals fled their homes and ran out of the forest. As they came to the edge of a stream, they turned to watch the fire. They felt discouraged and powerless.

 

They bemoaned the destruction of their homes. Every one of them thought there was nothing they could do about the fire–except for one little hummingbird.

 

The littlest of creatures decided it would do something. It swooped into the stream and picked up a few drops of water and went directly into the forest and sprinkled them on the fire. Then it went back to the stream and did it again, and it kept going back, again and again and again.

 

All the other animals watched in disbelief. Some even tried to discourage the hummingbird with comments like, “Don’t bother,it is too much, you are too little, your wings will burn, your beak is too tiny, it’s only a drop, you can’t put out this fire.”

 

And as the animals stood around disparaging the little bird’s efforts, the bird noticed how hopeless and forlorn they looked. Then one of the animals shouted out and challenged the hummingbird in a mocking voice, “What do you think you are doing?”

 

And the hummingbird, without wasting time or losing a beat, looked back and said, “I am doing what I can.”

And that’s what we’re doing; we’re doing what we can. To acknowledge the forces we can’t control and recognize the trends we can harness – to create something special by supporting people who are eco-minded, improving self-reliance and food security, building a collaborative/supportive local community, and have fun doing it!

Photo by Levi Jones on Unsplash