adentro/Life Inside Alternative Homes

FALL 2018 / ISSUE 1

adentro LIFE INSIDE ALTERNATIVE HOMES

The Spirit of the Olympic Peninsula

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House Freedom Connection & Commitment

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Editor’s Note adentro: (Spanish) INSIDE

Through powerful storytelling, adentro invites our readers inside alternative homes and encourages them to invest in sustainable ways of living. We believe wholeheartedly that even the smallest, micro effort can lead to macro solutions surrounding environmental issues such as global warming, urban sprawl, water pollution and waste disposal.

Our first issue takes us to the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state, where we learn about the spirit of the region and why alternative homes are so prevalent here.

I hope these stories resonate with you and inspire you to become part of the growing movement.

EDITOR IN CHIEF Delia Palmisano

EDITORIAL BOARD Francesca Benedetto Lexi Browning Sarah Criminski Terry Eiler Haiyun Jiang Haldan Kirsch Marlena Sloss Tom Woodruff

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INSIDE

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The Spirit of the Olympic Peninsula Get to know what makes the geography and people unique.

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Connection & Commitment

Learn how co-housing communities strengthen relationships and green living.

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Redefining Home

How non-traditional dwellings allow their owners freedom and adventure.

cover A yurt in Pouslbo, Washington,

looks over Squamish Harbor at sunrise. this page A sailboat navigates through fog in Port Townsend Bay.

GET TO KNOW THE REGION

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The Spirit of the Olympic Peninsula

Story and Photos by Delia Palmisano

Described as a place for people to escape the rat race, to drop out and to get away from it all, the Olympic Peninsula is located directly across the Puget Sound from Seattle, yet feels a world away. adentro

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previous page The Gold Creek Trail crosses the Dungeness River through the Olympic National Forest. above A view from Hurricane Ridge is seen in Olympic National Park.

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he Olympic Peninsula is home to mountain ranges, temperate rainforests, waterfalls and extensive coastline.

laid-back, counter-culture lifestyle since the 1970s. This

Mapped in the beginning of the 20th century, it was one

sentiment permeates at all levels, including the most

of the last explored regions on the continental Unites

basic need: where and what we call home.

States. The area provides endless opportunities for residents and visitors to connect with nature.

Secluded from the mainland, the 3,600 square mile

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Because of this isolation, the frontier community has been self-reliant and geared toward local sustainability for centuries.

The area has seen an influx of people drawn to the

Over time, the idea of simplicity, honoring our natural resources and being cognizant of our commercial consumption has grown and strengthened

region was historically only reachable by boat. In 1940,

in the region, making the Olympic Peninsula a

the Tacoma Narrows Bridge was constructed to finally

destination uniquely poised to support alternative

connect the bottom of the peninsula with the mainland.

homes and lifestyles.

GET TO KNOW THE REGION

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above, left to right Local fauna is abundant at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend. A yeti mural is seen on a building in Port Angeles. Mushrooms, both poisonous and edible, grow in the rainforests of Washington state. adentro 7

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Connection Commitment

above Laundry is hung on the line at Sacred Groves Retreat to save energy. opposite page V Calvez (background) and Sandra O’Connor discuss their day in Sandra’s kitchen at Winslow Co-Housing.

Co-housing offers Relationships and Eco-Living Story and Photos by Delia Palmisano

Intentional communities, or co-housing, connects neighbors through common areas like gardens, open spaces, walkways, garages and community dinners.

There are currently over 165 projects nationwide, according to the Co-Housing Association of America.

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CO-HOUSING

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S

andra O’Connor owned a software company in Seattle and retired in 2000. She was 35 years old.

“I went through a massive paradigm shift,” she said. “This is so hollow and shallow and not how I want to live. I came into myself.”

She yearned to live in a community of like-minded people and settled at Winslow Co-Housing on Bainbridge Island. “This is my tribe,” Sandra said. “These are my people. We value more social connection and knowing our neighbors.”

One of the oldest co-housing projects in the United States, Winslow dates back to 1992. Sandra lives there with her partner, V Calvez, who splits his time between there and another community on the island

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called Sacred Groves Retreat, and her son, Micajah Flockoi.

Living in co-housing is all Micajah’s known. “I sometimes forget that some people just have dinner with their family at night,” he said. “I usually eat dinner with all my neighbors.”

Helen and Kees Kolff had careers and raised children in Seattle. After they retired, they volunteered in the mountains of Peru for a year. When they returned, they were determined to live more sustainably, and according to Helen, “escape the craziness of Seattle.”

They created Port Townsend Eco-Village in 2004.

For Helen, communication and investment in personal relationships is paramount.

“You have to be kind of alternative in order to live in an intentional community,” she said.

CO-HOUSING

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left V Calvez leaves his home at Sacred Groves Retreat.

The structure is composed of a school bus and camper.

top right This house at Port Townsend Eco-Village took over a year to research prior to building and has been under construction for over seven years. It has a living roof, cob floors and utilizes other sustainable building practices.

below Thérèse Yakshi Charvet makes drum sticks in preparation for a ladies’ workshop she will hold in her yurt.

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I’m one of those people that espoused counter-culture values in my twenties and stayed with it. A lot of people my age went through their hippie phase and then turned into consumer, materialistic Americans. – THÉRÈSE YAKSHI CHARVET

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this page Winslow Co-Housing, on Bainbridge Island, is seen at sunset. Each home has their own garden space where many residents grow their own food.

CO-HOUSING

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“Most people want to do what they want to do on their own piece of property. Often personal wishes become more important than the community.”

Unlike Winslow Co-Housing, which was a planned community built all at one time, the Eco-Village adopts a more DIY-approach. Each home is financed and built separately. This allows the owner to explore their own creativity and various natural building preferences.

The village is home to yurts, tiny homes, straw and cob-builds and net-energy producing homes.

Community rules require how large a home can be– maximum 1,200 square feet, and owners must adhere to city code.

“We’re organized as an HOA (homeowners association),” Helen said. “We were hoping for something a little more radical, but the banks really don’t understand radical.”

Sacred Groves Retreat has appealed to the radical, being structured as more of a traditional commune than co-housing.

Thérèse Yakshi Charvet, now in her 60s, has lived on the property for more than 40 years.

“Co-housing is community light,” she said. “Here we were sharing everything.”

That ideal brought with it some issues though.

She said people wanted more privacy and their own space, particularly when it came to their shared bathrooms amenities.

“You really need to be in love with and have a commitment with the people you are sharing a space with,” she said.

She also ran into problems with the city of Bainbridge, as she had no permits for any of the structures on the 10-acre property, including various repurposed vehicles.

In 2011 she and her partner, Tere Carranza decided to take a break from communal living and regroup.

The majority of the community members moved on.

Thérèse decided to obtain a city permit and build a large yurt on the property. It now serves as their home and also provides a space for her and Tere to offer workshops and retreats on various earth-based spiritual traditions.

Today they’re re-exploring community living.

A group of 20-somethings have rented out some of their structures and they all share garden space and chickens. Thérèse has reintroduced the idea of community potlucks. She believes that the multigenerational relationship is important. adentro

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CO-HOUSING

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top The fencepost at Sacred Groves Retreat, on Bainbridge Island, holds various objects symbolic to the residents.

below V Calvez (left), Micajah Flockoi (under the blanket) and Sandra O’Connor hang out in their living room at Winslow Co-Housing.

opposite page Helen Kolff sits in her kitchen at Port Townsend Eco-Village. Her property uses passive-solar principles, takes virtually no electricity to heat and was the first home built on the seven-acre property.

“So many young people on the West Coast are transplants from other areas,” she said. “This connects them with their elders who have a commitment to voluntary simplicity, living close to the earth and trying to monitor consumerism. I’m one of those people that espoused counter-culture values in my twenties and stayed with it. A lot of people my age went through their hippie-phase and then turned into typical, consumer, materialistic Americans,” she said.

The value of connection, shared space and resources, and

ecological accountability resonates with Helen Kolff at Port Townsend Eco-Village as well. “People here think this is how we are meant to live,” she said, “It’s our cultural norm.”

According to Sandra O’Connor at Winslow Co-Housing, living in a community like hers creates a higher standard to the overall social-fabric. “People are typically self-selecting here, and they hold each other accountable,” she said. “It’s really nice to be seen. My neighbors actually care, and they have my back.” adentro 15

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HOME

Redefining Home Adventure & freedom in non-traditional dwellings

Story and Photos by Delia Palmisano

The Yurt 16 adentro

The Airstream

Housing accounts for one of the largest expenses for the majority of Americans- over 40% of their monthly income. According to the National Association of Home Builders, the average American home measures at just under 2,500 square feet. A growing number of Americans, however, feel that bigger isn’t always better.

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HOME

The Airstream

Roxanne (left) and Zadie Carben watch cartoons on the i-Pad and eat a snack while their mom, Rachel Carben does dishes in their Airstream trailer. Rachel and her husband, Joel Carben’s bedroom also serve as the living, dining room and kitchen.

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The Boat Lyndsay Fluharty, center, enjoys a drink with friends in the cockpit, or captain’s station, on the 34-foot trawler she shares with her partner, Tache Bentley.

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he term sustainability can be described in two ways: the ability to be maintained at a certain level and the avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance.

The duality of the term is not lost on Rachel and Joel Carben who live in Port Townsend. The couple owns a 30 foot Sovereign D Airstream trailer where they live with their two daughters, Zadie, 7 and Roxanne, 5.

They met during graduate school at Columbia University in New York and settled into high-profile careers in Seattle after graduation. Joel worked as a Sustainability Strategist for Seattle Public Utilities and Rachel as a consultant on water, sanitation and hygiene for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Though they loved West Coast life, what they describe as the over-development of Seattle and the traffic that went along with it, started to wear on them.

“Joel and I both traveled extensively overseas to third-world countries and our priorities are different than many Americans,” explained Rachel.

In 2014, when Joel decided to leave his job to launch a start-up that would necessitate traveling to all the Major League Baseball stadiums, they jumped at the opportunity for an adventure. The couple traveled for four months around the United States, living out of their VanGo van and spending time with their girls.

When the trip ended, they didn’t want to return to their old existence.

“We realized we wanted more of a work-life balance and totally bailed on city life,” said Joel.

Rachel agreed, “We defected and moved to the woods.” adentro

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The Yurt

The bedroom is equipped with comfortable finishes and a wood-burning fireplace.

The Yurt The outdoor bathroom utilizes a composting, or humanure, toilet which will separate users’ urine and feces.

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Tache Bentley, lives on his boat, a 34 foot trawler, with his partner Lyndsay Fluharty and dog Moxie, adopts a similar mentality to that of the Carbens.

“I went jogging one night and I looked down from the cliff I was on to the boats below and I thought, man, there are people living down there,” Tache said.

“I’d rather be down there than up here. It looks like more fun, and way better than living in my cracker box duplex. And I looked into buying a boat after that.”

He says boat living is simpler and cheaper. “If you can sustain a life you enjoy, you don’t need to make much to live,” he said.

Lyndsay agrees, “I moved from Denver to get out of the city,” she said. “I just wanted to live more simply. I realized I just don’t need so much stuff.”

The desire to have a work - life balance resonates with retired Air Force paramedic Corey Largo.

“Living smaller and simpler opens up a whole lot of time and money,” he said.

His house is small, under 700 square feet, so his original goal in building a yurt on his property was to open it up as extra space for visiting guests.

Inherited second hand from Homer, Alaska, the rebuild and and everything that went along with it: hooking up water, the electricity and putting the finishes on the inside took over a year to complete.

The round shape of the yurt necessitated creative problemsolving on his part.

“Working in a round space is challenging, but I wanted to provide a comfortable space with

HOME

The Airstream

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Zadie and Roxanne Carben’s bedroom leads to a small bathroom with an on-demand hot water heater.

nice touches and all the amenities– heat, a working kitchen – while still being in a really small space,” Corey said.

He realized it could serve as a viable source of income to help sustain the lifestyle he wanted, and decided to open up the yurt as a rental on Airbnb.

“I don’t want to work for another soul in my life,” Corey said. “Really what it comes down to, and I see this a whole generational movement- I just want to have my time,” he said.

Corey thinks that as a society we put too much emphasis on all the stuff we collect and not enough on our experiences.

Space, and where to put your stuff, is a common issue in the yurt, Airstream, and boat. The Carbens donated and got rid of many things before moving out of their 1200

square foot house is Seattle.

“Downsizing has really been amazing,” Rachel said.

“You only use up the space you have so it’s this never-ending cycle of how to do more with less.”

The couple bought their land and Airstream in 2016 with the goal to do everything with cash.

Eventually they want to build a modest structure that will implement more green practices and allow for an indoor entertainment space for their family. The Carbens are mindful that it’s a journey to step-down their belongings and step-up their self-reliance and sustainability.

For Tache and Lyndsay, who have been living on their boat since February 2018, adopting the idea that all the objects in their home serve multiple purposes is key to living in a small space.

The Airstream Joel Carben shows the peat moss that the family puts on top of their toilet waste to enable it to compost. adentro 21

“Everything needs to have its place,” Lyndsay said. “It can get cluttered and feel small really easily.”

She’s mindful that their minimalist lifestyle demand she not take things for granted.

“Everything takes longer- taking out the trash, recycling,” she said. “We buy blocks of ice for our refrigeration so we’re really aware of what we’re throwing away,” she added.

It also strengthens her connection with nature.

“I almost feel like I’m camping, living on the boat,” Lyndsay said.

“The elements are so present. When it’s raining here, you know it. There are leaks; they run down the inside. And your space is so small, so rain comes in when you need to go outside to take the dog out. But that’s also what I love about it.”

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All three homes required the owners to make decisions about what was a necessity.

“We gave up a house and toilet,” said Joel, of the Airstream.

The bathroom is a common obstacle owners face when eschewing traditional homes for alternative dwellings.

“The biggest challenge is, where are you going to shit?” Tache said.

For Tache and Lyndsay, who mostly dock their boat at a marina, they’ve made the decision to not have a hot water heater or tank for their toilet. They shower and mostly use the toilet at the public restroom attached to the marina or at the gym.

The Carbens and Corey Largo both use composting toilets, known as humanure.

HOME

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We gave up a house and toilet.

– JOEL CARBEN

The Airstream above Rachel Carben washes dishes while her daughter, Zadie, plays on Rachel’s bed. top right The Airstream sits on 20 acres.

The family plans to keep much of the area wooded, but are clearing some of the land to farm. bottom The Carben family, (left to right), Roxanne, Joel, Rachel and Zadie have lived in their Airstream for just over two years.

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The Yurt

Living smaller and simpler opens up a whole lot of time and money. Really what it comes down to, and I see this a whole generational movement – I just want to have my time. – COREY LARGO

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The Boat top Condensation gathers inside overnight. One of the issues with living on a wood boat in the region is mold and rot. bottom Tache Bentley and Lyndsay Fluharty embrace while cooking dinner aboard their boat.

They buy groceries daily because they don’t have a traditional refrigerator. opposite page Lyndsay Fluharty rows a standup paddleboard with her dog, Moxie. She has to take Moxie off the boat to use the bathroom and likes to take the board instead of always walking from the dock.

“We turn all our guests’ poop into compost,” Corey said. “It saves a bunch of water.”

Rachel acknowledged that alternative living can seem a little extreme, especially in regards to raising a family.

“I sometimes wonder if we’re ruining their childhood,” Rachel said. “At least they’ll have a great story for their college essays,” she joked.

Both she and Joel said being on the land was an investment that provided the stability they wanted for Zadie and Roxanne, but still allowed them to live in a more alternative way.

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Though their lifestyle may seem unorthodox, for the Carbens, it’s all about balance and realizing their limitations.

“There are certain creature comforts we’re not going to give up,” Rachel said.

For example, they have an on-demand hot water heater and have spent time and money upgrading their kitchen space with high-end amenities like an oversized sink.

Ultimately, the Carbens said they feel really fortunate to live this way. “It’s this beautiful thing that we’ve made work,” Rachel said.

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The elements are so present if this is your choice of lifestyle. When it’s raining here, you know it. There are leaks. It’s running down the side. And your space is small, so rain comes in when you need to go take the dog out. – LYNDSAY FLUHARTY

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