Lifestyle: Calling Paradise Home

CALLING PARADISE HOME:

HOW TWO COUPLES MADE A TRAVEL DESTINATION INTO A HOME

Maggie and Gary’s straw-bale and stucco home is well-insulated with biodegradable walls and a metal roof to keep it cool in the southwest heat.

Living in the Sky: From Louisville to New Mexico

In 1931, Georgia O’Keeffe first laid eyes on the stark and enchanting terrain of Abiquiu, New Mexico. She was so taken with the rugged and tranquil vistas, with paths peppered in glistening rocks and bones, with the sandstone mesas and buttes, that she made it her home for more than three decades. This ancient land depicted in her paintings was once inhabited by the Tewa Pueblos and later became a settlement of the Genizaros, an amalgamation of Indigenous peoples enslaved by the Spanish who were granted land ownership there on the dangerous frontier. Today, the Native and Spanish influences remain, and the region draws many artists with its mystical aesthetic and outlaw ambiance.

Like O’Keeffe, ceramicist and retired Kentucky Country Day art teacher Maggie Towne was also drawn to the region at a young age. In the late ‘80s she attended graduate school in Taos, New Mexico and vowed that she would someday go back. As luck should have it, Maggie inherited a nest egg after her mother’s passing in 2011 and was able to build her dream retirement home in 2013: a straw-bale and stucco home atop the Sierra Negra on 11 acres of wild, rugged northern New Mexico terrain.

“I always dreamed of having an adobe-style home, but we built a straw-bale and stucco house because it was cheaper and faster,” Maggie explains. Straw-bale construction, invented in the 19th century by farmers as a way to use the harvest waste (barley, wheat, rye, or oats), takes tightly-packed straw-bales, wire, and stucco to erect flame retardant, well-insulated, and biodegradable walls. The benefits of this construction are that all of the materials are sustainable and that the organic material remains surprisingly cool in the summer and holds in heat in the winter. Maggie and her husband, Gary, dream of living off the grid someday, so their straw-bale house was a first step in this direction. Their home, which took seven months to build, also features solar panels, a wood stove for heating, and fans and a light-metal roof to keep it cool in the summer months—but Maggie’s electric kiln and need for a lithium battery, keep them tied tangentially to the grid for now.

When I caught up with Maggie, she was on her way back from an impromptu weekend camping trip with her husband, a photographer. The two were hauling their vintage travel trailer behind them, fighting the October highway winds and spotty cell service. Winter, since leaving Louisville for good in 2016, is now filled with adventure and tranquility.

“We live in the sky,” Maggie says of her new life 6,300 feet into the New Mexican skyline. “The skies are always blue and the air is so clean. I love living away from the city. Our road [1.5 miles up a steep hillside] sucks, but our views are worth it. Sometimes I’ll say ‘I’m not going down that hill today’ to get groceries in Santa Fe, which is an hour away. We are remote, and I’ve learned to love the isolation.”

The home, a 1,000-square-foot cottage perched under a peaked roof, houses their living quarters and artist studios (Maggie has a kiln shed and ceramics studio while her husband has a darkroom). Winters are quiet in this remote locale and filled with expansive blue skies and weather in the teens. Since their move, they have rented out their camper to friends who desire to winter in the southwest, but most days are filled with solace and retreat. “We’ve had to have a yard sale virtually every year just to pare down our stuff. Our house here has a lot less storage than our house in Louisville, which we thought we took into account but obviously not.” The couple had to build a shed since moving to stash camping gear, a kayak, and tools. But to Maggie, the simple and adventurous life is the life worth living, no matter what season.

“Many come here for the winter, especially artists—maybe too many artists—but people are drawn to being in this area. People come here for retreat, for holiday, and to live in an artistic community.

“Although I miss the foodie scene of Louisville [Maggie says there are virtually no nearby restaurants or convenient stores], the arts and culture here have a fascinating history. Gringos are the minority, and I like it that way. The mix of cultures is sometimes strained, but towns are trying to break down barriers through a mutual interest in art.”

Since the pandemic, Maggie has seen an influx of real estate sales in the area. When she and her husband first moved to New Mexico, properties would sit for a year or more on the market, now they are selling in weeks to residents living on the west coast. If the west has always appealed to your artistic heart, Maggie recommends waiting a few years until the market depresses.

Until then, Maggie will winter another year atop her mountain, living with her head amongst the New Mexican clouds and her feet spanning across its sands.

On Island Time: From Southern Indiana to St. John

If you’ve ever dreamed of retiring or spending your winter days on a luxurious island, Helen Faith has some advice for you.

Helen and her husband, John, now live full time on St. John, located in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The couple had purchased several investment vacation rentals over the years, so they always had a winter retreat at their fingertips and spent their summer days at their southern Indiana home, where they thought they’d spend the rest of their lives.

“Our home in Indiana was so special to us, so we tried living on St. John for three years before we committed to selling it and moving full time to the island,” Helen explains.

The move, Helen says, was a challenge. “Everything on an island is a logistical challenge. It was a twomonth process to ship our belongings to St. John.” Helen explains that since St. John does not have its own airport, all essential furniture had to be shipped first to Florida, then put on a barge to St. Thomas, and then put on another freight to St. John. In preparation for the move, the couple sold most of their belongings.

Like moving their items to the island, the experience of building a home on the island was equally as tricky. All materials must be brought to the island and labor is difficult to come by, since the population is only between 2,0003,000 people.

“You definitely have to learn sacrifice and patience to move to an island. The states have so many conveniences we take for granted, like supermarkets,” Helen says while on a quick two-day Louisville visit, she scheduled some dental work. “On an island, you need to depend on yourself for maintenance; labor is always very busy. You have to learn to work with what you have. There is no such thing as following a recipe, for instance— you learn to make a meal with what is offered at the store on that given day. You can’t have food delivered for dinner; there is no fast food. You have to be able to sacrifice conveniences, such as consistent electricity. We have frequent outages...at least one every week or so for up to four hours. You have to be flexible and patient—Island Time is REAL!” But that, Helen explains, is the trade-off. While the mainland economy offers many conveniences for the consumer, the fast-paced, high-pressure work environment is unsustainable—and exactly what made them want to head to the islands.

“In the states everyone is rushing around to get a job done. That’s why you move to an island, you remove the pressures of immediacy. You have to accept the lifestyle and learn to enjoy it. It is more relaxed, there is no traffic, you can swim at an amazing beach whenever you have free time, it is 80 degrees all winter long. The quality of life makes up for the inconveniences.”

John and Helen have since built a cottage they rent out to visitors that features a private pool and one of the best views on the island. While the rental and the weekly tasks of maintaining their home keep them busy, they still find time to take a beach swim a few evenings a week. After all, they now live on island time.

If moving to an island is not in the cards for you, consider taking a trip to one of these top warm weather destinations.

• Charleston, South Carolina • Hawaii • St. Augustine, Florida

By Megan Seckman