Making Home & Tiny House Fair

The first thing Kate Stephenson said to me prior to my arrival at Yestermorrow was, "prepare for the experience of a lifetime."

I left my home in Ohio at 9 a.m. on Saturday, June 8th only somewhat prepared to have my life changed. At that point, the only thing I was concerned about was making it to Buffalo, NY in one piece and whether or not I could get along without my cat for eight weeks.

We're managing the separation the best we can.  We Skype and talk on the phone.

The trip was long and tiresome. I managed to make it to Buffalo by Saturday afternoon and even made some time to go sightseeing. I ended up traveling up to Niagara Falls, which was not nearly as exciting as I had imagined it might be. I think I would have enjoyed it more had it not been so commercialized and crowded. But it was neat to see the ferocious waterfall firsthand.

After about five attempts, I managed to get a picture that did not have a Canadian casino or hotel in the background.

I spent the entire following day traveling through the Adirondacks to the home of SENS alumna, Celeste Beyer. While I did not get to see her due to her busy work schedule, I was warmly welcomed by her family for the night. The following morning I packed my things and drove down to Waitsfield, Vermont, where I would be spending the next eight weeks of my life.

Vermont is a place unlike any other. My first indication of its uniqueness were the half dozen moose crossing signs I saw within half an hour of entering the state. My second indication were the towns I passed through on my way to my destination. Just about every town I passed through was full of local businesses and free of franchises. It was so surreal to see a place free of Walmart, McDonalds, Shell, etc. But it was surreal in the very best way; I knew from this alone that I was going to fall in love with this place and its towns.

Now back to Yestermorrow. My car pulled into the Yestermorrow campus at around 10 a.m. on Monday, June 10. Whereupon I was greeted by the enrollment director, Mark. He told me the team had been expecting me all morning and that they were all very excited to see what Berea had to offer them this time around. Those that remembered Celeste, Eva, and Erin had wonderful things to say about them and the work ethic of Berea students. There's also a portrait of Jessa Turner in the kitchen. It is no surprise that I felt pressured to live up to their greatness right from the start. You could say I am fully determined not to let the Yestermorrow team down and shame the good name of my college.

The Wall of Great Past Interns has a familiar face on it.

So when they asked if I wanted to start work on Tuesday, I insisted I could start working immediately, which they were pleased to hear. So they put me to work.

For the sake of length and time, I will just list what I did in my five days.

• Updated the Yestermorrow address database
• Helped mail nearly 150 letters
• Made apple-cinnamon peanut butter bars
• Cleaned out all the storm gutters
• Cleaned and organized the storage area
• Weeded three garden beds
• Became acquainted with the compost pile woodchuck
• Learned the ins and outs of the kitchen
• Organized and assembled about 120 folders, registration paperwork, and Yestermorrow pamphlets for the tiny house fair
• Delineated camping area for tiny house fair
• Laminated signs for tiny house fair
• And assisted in just about every other task for the tiny house fair

 As indicated by the last few tasks on my list, Yestermorrow was scheduled to hold their first ever Tiny House Fair from the 14th to the 16th. Not only was this their first ever Tiny House Fair, but it was the biggest event they had ever planned in the history of the school. And I had arrived just in time to help them in setting up for about 100 participants and 20 presenters, including Dee Williams, the face of tiny houses.

http://youtu.be/A47JaOMDH4c  <- Here's a link to Dee's TED Talk.

I had the pleasure of not only meeting Dee, but talking to her about my own life. She was ever so kind and we laughed a lot about our Yestermorrow experience thus far. She was ever enthusiastic about my goals and encouraged me to pursue them to no end. It was encouraging to say the least. Her passion for tiny houses made me want to build one of my own someday. In fact, all of the enthusiasm of the participants and the presenters made it hard not to want my very own tiny house.

Want to build a tiny house? Here's a tiny book instructing you on how to do so!

Of course, not being an actual participant, I was not able to attend the full Tiny House Fair. But I was able to see the main presentations and participate in some of the workshops. In fact, most of my time was spent working in the Yestermorrow kitchen and helping prepare food for 120+ people. I had the opportunity to work with the head chefs, Taylor and Heidi. Taylor is a laid back kind of guy with a love for local food and adequate nutrition. Heidi is a firecracker that works to no end to satisfy all of her hungry students. Their passion for local, healthy, organic food is unmatched. And it was delightful being able to work for them this weekend by serving food, washing dishes, and keeping everything running smoothly as possible.

Heidi was beyond pleased with my work. She told me she would be upset with me if I did not give myself credit for doing an awesome job this weekend. I put a lot of effort into this weekend, and it paid off, literally. I got 24 dollars in tips, which I ended up donating to the Yestermorrow kitchen anyway. Since Heidi would not openly accept it, we just put it towards a weeks worth of meals during the week of my first class. To say the least, all the staff is very impressed with my work so far; as am I. Over the past month, I have been reflecting over my sense of self and what kind of person I want to be when I come out of college. With only a year left, I feel as though I am running out of time to really make something of myself and my capabilities. I realized that I have spent the last year in neutral and have only been doing what is needed of me to get by and not living up to my fullest potential. I am smarter than I give myself credit for and capable of doing great things if I really set my mind to it. And it took a break from school and a week at Yestermorrow to make me really see that. I am beyond honored to have this opportunity and everything that comes with it, and I can already feel myself changing as a person after this week. I feel less frantic, stressed, and at ease with myself.

This week showed me that hard work pays off in not only a monetary way, but more importantly, a self-fulfilling kind of way. I am happier than I have been in quite some time after being here. I feel like my work is beneficial to a great cause, and that pushes me to continue working hard and pursuing my overall goals.

Yestermorrow has been a great experience thus far. Tomorrow I will continue helping my fellow intern, Leah, build the banisters to one of the outdoor cabins. Later this week, I will be leaving for Boston, where I will be staying with fellow Berea College student and friend, Janice D'souza. There I will attending the Global Biomimicry Conference. After reading Janine Benyus' work and the work of others in the field, I am thrilled to be able to network with professionals in the field and listen to the latest updates on how nature is inspiring our future. Rest assured, you can expect a full brief on the conference and an update on another week at Yestermorrow soon.

Here's a link to the conference page which includes a full layout of the schedule and presenters: http://biomimicry.net/educating/summits-workshops/education-summit/

So for awhile I have been researching the concept of objects that degrade after they live out their use and purpose. One of the things Janine Benyus stressed in her original book was that we create materials that live out their creators when they do not need. For instance, why on do we continue to manufacture so much styrofoam when the stuff is going to outlive all of us? One of the neat workshops I got to participate in at the Tiny House Fair was one held be the company Ecovative. This company manufactures a styrofoam-like product that is actually made up of mushrooms and hemp. Their current tests are showing that this material can insulate a home and even replace particle board. When composted, the material breaks down in about 30 days time.

It starts off kind of pulpy and becomes hard as a rock after about 3 days of sitting in a mold.

To sum it all up: Yestermorrow is great. I am super honored to have this opportunity. Tiny Houses are really fantastic. And the future looks bright on this side of Vermont.