Blog Archives

I had managed to side-step building codes by constructing not a building, but a "travel trailer.” With that stumbling block out of the way, I still faced a zoning problem. I want­ed to live in town, and, like most towns, Iowa City does not allow trailer camping just anywhere. You cannot just buy an old lot and park there indefinitely. The restric­tions do, however, allow for "camping out” in one’s own backyard.

Upon discovering this, I snatched up a small fixer-upper on a large wooded par­cel and proceeded to set up camp. The rent collected from the big house covered the ensuing mortgage and taxes. I would "camp out” in my own backyard for the next five years before selling the property and heading West.

Like the rest of the house, utilities and appliances were designed with sim­plicity and sustainability in mind. They met my modest needs but would be considered primitive by conventional American standards. These rudimen­tary utilities certainly would not appeal to everyone interested in living in a small home, and it should be made clear that living small does not require deprivation. Hot and cold running water, a microwave oven, and cable TV are all available options.

Water: Tumbleweed was supplied by a simple, gravity-fed plumbing system. A two-and-a-half-gallon pot sat on a metal shelf just above a horizontal sec­tion of stovepipe in the overhead kitchen cabinet and drained into either the kitchen sink or shower through a Y intersection in a short stretch of rubber hose...