The Silver Bullet w/ Vera
On Sunday 3/29 I took a workshop with Vera Struck. I took 2 pages of notes, which for me is a LOT and got a lot of information. I met a group of really cool people and we talked a lot. We hung out in Vera’s Silver Bullet http://silverbullettinyhouse.com/ and discussed the planning and building in all stages. We played a game and I won. It was figuring out HER top 5 most important things to think about before you start your THOW (Tiny House On Wheels) journey. I got 3.5 out of 5 and was the top scorer. The things were:
1. How/What/Why you will live in it sustainably
2. What stuff you will take with you
3. What “systems” will work for you
4. Blank or Filled Canvas Design-(this one confused me but she means buying plans vs designing yourself)
5. Where you will build and park
Since I won, I got a shirt, which I thought was funny. I am trying to downsize my wardrobe, and she is teaching me how to downsize, and yet she is upsizing my wardrobe by giving me a new shirt. I will be giving the shirt out to a friend who likes tiny houses but will not be living in one.
I think Vera is very knowledgeable and on the environmental and sustainable spectrum she is on the very very end of the extreme. This is not a bad thing by any means, and she made me think of my impact even more than this whole movement already does. Vera was very vocal in pointing out tiny housers that weren’t the most sustainable houses. She commented that Jenna and Guillaume from http://tinyhousegiantjourney.com/ used roofing that produced lots and lots of toxic chemicals. Actually, Vera feels that most building materials are toxic to you and the environment and are not sustainable. This made me think a lot about my materials I will be using. In retrospect, I am cutting down my impact almost regardless of the materials I use because I am downsizing, but at the same time, clean and sustainable is always better than toxic and limited. Everyone goes tiny for different reasons and until my workshop with Vera, I never truly appreciated the environmental reasons. Long story short, I learned a lot about the best materials, and what materials to put extra thought into before deciding.
Vera also send us home with sample materials (about a 6″x 6″square). I thought these were not needed. I got home and took notes on them but then tossed them away because, well, I'm trying to downsize.
Overall I did learn a lot and everyone was very interesting to talk to, both Vera and the other workshop members. I had a lot of fun and spending time in a tiny house is always good before living in one.
~Hannah