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Firsthand Reports Firsthand Reports

You’ve been living in a 77-square-foot

camper and you still get along?

We’ve lived in this space for two years,

we built our house together, and we run

a business together, and our marriage is

stronger than ever! When we moved onto

our current property in March 2014, the

only structure was a 100-year-old tobacco

barn. We remodeled a 1969 Frolic camper

to fit inside the barn and offer us privacy

and protection from the elements. For the

first six months, we didn’t have electricity

or running water, but we now have a well.

For bathing in summer, we heat water in

a hose and then wash in a tub. (One of us

stands guard to make sure no neighbors

surprise us.) In winter, we shower at work.

Megan works 30 hours a week teaching

preschool, and Jonathan is a firefighter for

the City of Durham.

Sounds as though DIY is how you roll.

We’ve done most of the work on our

three-bedroom, 1,400-square-foot house

ourselves and are thrilled that we’ll com-

plete it without a mortgage. We’ve learned

valuable skills, such as plumbing and elec-

trical, and are learning new skills as we go.

We’ve salvaged 1-by-5-inch tongue-and-

groove pine boards that used to be roof

decking on our church’s 1891 chapel, and

used this beautiful heart pine as flooring,

counters, and trim. By the time we fin-

ish, we’ll have learned some woodwork-

ing by making built-in bookshelves and

tables, and some stonework by building

our hearth.

The DIY skill that we apply most on

our homestead is food production, which

is at the heart of what we do. Our goal is

to provide all of our own produce, meat,

and eggs, but we aren’t there yet. Last year,

we grew 11 beds of vegetables, which

provided nearly all of our produce and al-

lowed us to share with family, friends, and

neighbors. We also donated approximately

50 crates of produce to a food pantry.

What renewable energy features does

your homestead employ?

We designed and built our home with

energy efficiency in mind. The house is

oriented south for maximum solar gain

in winter and has wide eaves for shade in

summer. Last winter, with no heat run-

ning in the house, we were amazed at how

much warmer it was inside. The large,

south-facing roof has room for 24 solar

panels, which we plan on having installed

this year after we move in.

The house is well-sealed and well-insu-

lated for energy efficiency, and our radiant

floor heat, woodstove, on-demand water

heater, and mini-split air conditioner are

all very efficient.

What resources have you found most

helpful?

Our best resources have been people.

When we moved onto this land and start-

ed building, our neighbors would stop

by to introduce themselves and to meet

this new couple who had just moved next

door — into a tobacco barn. Moving to a

rural area, we worried that we’d be socially

isolated, but that couldn’t have been fur-

ther from the truth.

Formerly an editor for MOTHER EARTH

NEWS, K.C. Compton is now living near

Seattle, where she enjoys daily access

to fresh seafood and abundant farmers

markets.

If you or someone you know is living an impressive homesteading life, send the story and a few related photos to

SHARE YOUR STORY! [email protected] with the subject line “Firsthand Reports.”

So many neighbors helped the couple raise their home’s walls that there was sometimes one

helper per stud.

The tobacco barn (far left) and hoop house have been essential elements of the debt-free farm.

MEGAN AND JONATHAN LEISS (2); PAGE 16:

BETHANY CUBINO, CHASING SKIES PHOTOGRAPHY

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