Written by We’ve decided to move. Not far, just to the countryside around Kingston. Somewhere. I’ve had enough of the ‘burbs.
We’ve been in our current abode for 9½ years and it’s served us very well. The problem is that it’s far too large. We chose it at the time because we needed a place that could house us and Bridget’s Mom. It was perfect for that, but we always knew that we’d be moving out after Joyce no longer needed it.
She died three years ago and we’ve been rattling around ever since.
My intent to keep bees for the rest of my life has more or less decided what sort of property we’re looking for: smaller house (current place is almost 3000 sq.ft.), bigger lot (5 acres minimum) and quiet. I need someplace where I can work with as many hives as I want in the yard and not make the neighbours nervous. Is that too much to ask?
Apparently, yes. We started looking really seriously in March and while we’ve only really toured a dozen homes, we’ve investigated many dozens more. Either the land is perfect and the house is wrong or vice-versa. We did see one house that we both liked the house and the property, but it already had an offer on it and it sold shortly thereafter.
We’re both tired of looking. The latest prospect was the final straw: 130-year-old farmhouse, 25 mostly treed acres with the possibility of another business. The maples have been tapped for syrup before and we could do it again. The house is the problem: while it would need to be completely gutted and re-modeled, the price is such that we could deal with that. It’s too small, though. 1300 sq.ft. is less than half the size of what we have. We’re looking for something in the 1800 sq.ft range. The listing didn’t have the floor space listed, and while we knew it was small when we looked at it, we didn’t find out just how small until we’d started mentally tearing out walls and making it our own.
No more house-hunting. We’re going to build. It’s the only way that we’ll get exactly what we want and it’s far easier to find a suitable piece of land.
We’re in the research phase, but it’s about 90% likely that it will be built with straw bales. Straw is effectively a waste material: it’s the stalks left over after cereal grains (wheat, flax, barley) are harvested. There’s no food value in it and the most that it gets used for is bedding in a barn.
When they’re properly prepared and installed, regular stick construction can’t come close to the energy efficiency of bales. Your standard 2×4-framed house has about 3½ inches of fibreglass insulation in the exterior walls. They have an insulation rating (R-value) of 11. A straw-bale wall is between R-30 and R-40 and therefore, is far cheaper heat and cool. There are also little touches like rounded corners everywhere and deep windowsills that add to the attraction.
Never mind the fact that they’re perfectly suited to goofballs like me building them. A house is really just a larger version of the cottage that Pete and I built on Simcoe a few years ago. We’re looking at a building cost under $100 sq.ft. if I, and my willing friends, do what work we can. You can’t beat that. 2012′s going to be busy. 
Stay tuned for more developments as we choose the land, figure out plans and get down to construction.
What the non-Scouters amongst you may not know is that I just finished the second level of Scouts leadership training: Wood Badge II. Yay for me. The first level, Wood Badge I is mandatory within the volunteer’s first year. It’s more or less an introduction to the hierarchy and traditions of the movement. It used to be taught over a weekend, but you can do it online now. Participants receive a leather two-strand turk’s head woggle.
The beads are now made of oak, but the significance is the same. The necker carries a patch of MacLaren tartan to honour “a British Scout commissioner who, as a descendant of the Scottish MacLaren clan, donated money for the Gilwell Park”.
After years of not really having the gumption to garden, I got interested enough last year to do it. Thank you 
h/t to Randall at 