From Portland Tiny Homes to Swedish Forest Hotels

So next week I am off to Portland to check out some cute tiny homes. If you didn’t know Portland is the home of a growing community of tiny home owners who are seeking more affordable and sustainable living through downsizing.

Many of these tiny homes are set up to be mobile reducing their impact on the land

Lately I have been thinking a lot about how to set up a tiny home community back in Scotland, ideally in a rural setting. There are many options through the new hutting policies, crofting legislations, renovating old homesteads and through running a business based in a rural area that requires you to live on site for part of the year.

I remember stumbling across an interesting article about a forest hotel in Sweden, so I decided to do a bit of digging.

Kolarbyn is marketed as an eco lodge hotel providing people with wilderness getaway. A natural refuge for silence, wilderness and adventure in a beautiful forest setting just a couple of hours away from the capital Stockholm.

“There is no electricity, only candles and a crackling fireplace to fall asleep to in your cosy cabin. After a silent night you slowly wake up to the birds and a refreshing swim in the lake. It is really fascinating.”

http://www.welcomebeyond.com/property/kolarbyn/

Kolarbyn was the brain child of a forester and his biologist partner who purchased the land in 1993, they began their journey by running workshops and craft festivals from the site as they slowly built a few cabins and developed the site.

In the winter of 1996 the project caught the imagination of villagers from Skinnskatteberg who wanted to build a collection of traditional forest huts by the shore of lake Skärsjön. The idea was to create conditions for people interested in charcoal burning (which had taken place for over 400 years in that area) to practice their techniques in the way it had been practiced in the region for centuries. Kolarbyn enabled practical knowledge as well as it´s belonging cultural traditions and folklore to be passed on to future generations.

Traditonal winter lodge for charcoal workers

Through this time Marcus the owner continued to run lecture series, art galleries, and sustainability symposiums since its inception.

In 2007, they opened the site as an eco hotel to the public. With a collection of living roofed cabins, a lake sauna, and tree houses they have set up a wonderful wilderness heaven for families to visit. 

They provide edibles from their food store in a little shack stocked with an array of food from their garden and animals and the surrounding area.

The owners provide meals cooked over an open fire emphasising the community feel of this organisation along with providing visitors the space to experience the beauty of the forest alone.

Marcus soon established a cooperation with the Swedish Tourist Association (STF) as a way to reach nature lovers in Sweden and other countries which seemed to provide strong backing and advertising for the organisation.

http://www.wildsweden.com/kolarbyn-ecolodge/the-story-of-kolarbyn/

The key to this projects success seemed to be its community backing  to see these old skills brought back and working with the Swedish tourist board, I wonder what skills would be appropriate in Scotland?

Families in rural Scotland used to tan hides in peat moss till it was as tough as a wooden board. Later the shoe maker would come and heat the leather over a fire while rubbing grease into it till it was flexible and make brogues for the family

Sourced from Crieff Its Traditions And Character book

http://perthshirecrieffstrathearnlocalhistor.blogspot.com/2012/07/rise-and-demise-of-leather-tanning.html?m=1

Maybe bringing back heritage peat or bark tanning, traditonal bog shoe making, traditonal bothy construction or traditional wood work.

Maybe I could use a similar model to develop a space to enable people to outdoor skills and a bit of respite from busy city life.

Transforming Beach Sand Into Glass

Going back to glass containers seem like such a good alternative to all the plastic bottles we seem to have lying around these days but I have always wondered how communities used to produce glass on a cottage industry level.

Normally glass has to reach temperatures of 3,500 farenheit to become molten which is rather difficult but through the addition of sodium carbonate the temperature reaches a much more achievable 2,000 farenheit but where did people source this chemical?
I always remember hearing about stories of island folk around Scotland collecting seaweed which was burned then sold as ash to glass factories (this was the main income for many Scottish coastal communities) but I wasnt sure what function the kelp ash provided. It turns out that kelp ash contains both potassium carbonate (adding nitrate compound produces saltpetre for making gunpowder) and sodium carbonate which reduces the melting point of sand enough that it can be melted using a forge or bbq with a good supply of oxygen.
Therefore you can make beach glass using beach sand, seaweed and a primitive forge, could be a fun project to make traditional Scottish beach glass.

Here is a useful reference to kelp being used in glass production:

Seaweeds: Edible, Available, and Sustainable
Ole G. Mouritsen

Guide to making home made glass:
http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2008-11/making-glass-grill-video

Spruce Root Bow Drill Cordage

Here is another great use for spruce root cordage to power a bow drill set to start a fire. Often finding natural cordage strong and flexible enough for a bow drill can be difficult so spruce roots are a great resource if your ever stuck without cord.

Cedar Weaving

So the past couple of weeks I have been researching traditional clothing methods that were used on Vancouver Island up in Canada. The prodominant material seems to be cedar which were collected in long strips off the trees around June time. These bark strips were dried, split then sometimes hammered to make clothing such as hats, ponchos,

Buckskin T Shirt

Here are some images of my finished buckskin t shirt made from 2 hides (Mule deer front and Roe deer back) I tanned by hand which I sewed together using leather cord made from the Mule deer.

I used both baseball stitch and french twist to sew my shirt together.

Buckskin toggles to close the front of my shirt based on a japanese style.

These skins came from wild animals that have had a free life and in order to respect them every part of them has been used to feed us, make clothing and tools. They have given me the ability to make a sustainable piece of clothing which will last for years, that can be repaired easily with natural materials, that will eventually bio degrade back into the soil and has given me a greater understanding of these beautiful animals.

Pine Needle Baskets

My friend Robin kindly showed me this new skill of making baskets from pine needles which she learned from her mother.

Ideally the pine needles need to be fresh and green or dried then rehydrated. Make sure you remove the hard covering on the tips of the needles as they will make it more difficult to weave.

Once you have collected the needles it is just a matter of wrapping and sewing through ponderosa pine needles using sinew or any other type of thread you have to hand to build up each coil.

Felting And Wind Turbines

This week we went over to our friends Alex and Epona’s for a spot of felting.

The start of a wool vest I am working on, the trick I found was plenty of doctor browners soap and lots of elbow grease.

Epona showed me the skill of needle felting, here she is creating beautiful spirals on a pair of hand felted boots she made.

Sea shells used as clasps and buttons

A fine example of Epona’s clothes making skills can be seen in her hand crafted buckskin and felted wool dress.

While we visited Alex and Epona they showed us around their beautiful plot of land with grazing land, orchards, ponds, root cellars and a lovely homestead.

Their lovely root cellar full of goodies

Grazing land for their animals

Even their neighbours have beautiful houses

Their yurt and lovely pond which Alex might fill with fish

To top that all off they have a beautiful view of the mountains, not a bad back yard

While I was there Alex and myself took a look at their wind turbine which he was hoping to irrigate their land with. Unfortunately we found a broken section on the 40 year old turbine so we set about trying to pull out the broken 40ft section and repair it.

The Little Donkey That Could

A couple of photos from our recent packing trip up in the mountains. We hoped to bringing back saddle bags full of delicious Morrell mushrooms but we didn’t have much luck in the areas we visited. Instead we brought back lots of fun filled stories of thunderous storms, the fish that got away, first class wild cooking and the little donkey that could.

Ike the brave and mighty minature pack donkey

Our mighty packing crew

Mini Buffalo

The start of my mini buffalo’s made from a partially tanned buffalo hide and buckskin cord.

Diagrams of how to lace up the little critters.

My mini buffalo before he got a hair cut.

Community

Through this project we have discovered the most important collection of primitive skills to both our ancestors and modern people. You may think its lighting a fire or being able to make clothing or building a shelter but these all fall short of the primary set of skills for long term survival…

We have found that social skills and the ability to create/support community are the most important set of skills to attain. Without them many individuals in the past would have succumbed to the life of an outcast….leading shortly to their demise. From studying many hunter gather societies it becomes apparent that life without the support of your community would have been very difficult whether it be as simple a task as lighting a fire or as large an undertaking as building a house.

If there is one piece of knowledge that are ancestors have to teach us in our modern lives it is that community matters.