Homestead Project: Solar Electricity

Earlier this fall Cameron began working with Brent Summerville in the Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment department at App State to plan a solar electrical system for the Homestead Project. They decided it would be best if the system was portable and so Cameron purchased a 6’ x 12’ trailer and added a rack and storage boxes that would hold the panels, battery, and electronic controls. The students then went to work installing the system in an outdoor work area just outside of the classrooms. The project was recently completed and installed on the property where the system is currently providing power to run our lights, refrigerator, ventilation fan, power tools, and charge our phones. The system is comprised of six 300 watt solar panels and has 10 kwh of battery storage.

Homestead Project:  Blizzard in Boone

2 feet of snow fell in 30 hours at our homestead site. We had prepared for the blizzard and had plenty of wood and water inside.

Homestead Project:  Fall Colors

Enjoying the fall colors that surround us. Preparing wood stacks for the winter that is soon to come.

Homestead Project:  Setting up the Water System

The highest point of our property is 30’ above the mobile cabin which gives us enough vertical drop to create a gravity powered water system. In order to collect and store the water Cameron purchased a 20’ x 20’ tarp and two used IBC 275 gallon tanks. The tanks where pulled to the highest point and cables were installed between four trees. Next the tarp was hung on the cables so that it sagged in the middle and the tanks were positioned at the lowest point of the tarp with a small weight installed to keep it in that location. The tanks were then painted black in order to limit light (and therefore algae growth) from entering the tank. Screen filters at both the intake and exit of the tanks catch most of the small debris. Boone gets about 55 inches of rain a year so the 400 square foot tarp will collect approximately 13700 gallons of water a year.

​Homestead Project: Site Set-Up

Once the cabin was in place there was a process of adjusting the the trailer location, anchoring it to nearby trees, setting up tensioned cables for the tarps, and getting the tarps in place. We now have an outdoor space that is nearly five times as large as the cabin itself where we will set up an outdoor kitchen/living room and store tools, bicycles, and firewood.

​Homestead Project: Moving the Mobile Cabin to Boone

After 10 weeks of fabrication the mobile cabin was ready to go the 760 miles to our property in Boone, NC. On a Friday morning we hooked the trailer to Cameron’s Chevy Express van and left Grand Rapids. Despite a top speed of about 50 mph the trailer handled quite well and we made it about half way the first day – sleeping inside the mobile cabin at a rest area. The next day we arrived in Boone at about 5 pm and our neighbor hooked the trailer to his 4-wheel drive pickup to take it up the narrow and steep gravel driveway to the property. It was in place by dark and we enjoyed a good night's rest in the cabin.

Homestead Project: Open House

After finishing the interior siding up to the ceiling we decided that we wanted to have a public open house before leaving Grand Rapids to bring the cabin to Boone. We set up the cabin on a large grassy lawn on a major street in Grand Rapids and advertised the open house on Craigslist and Facebook – inviting the general public to come and experience tiny house living and ask questions. We styled the space with the furniture items that we would be using in Boone. Over 100 people came to experience the cabin and enjoy live music and s’mores over the fire.

Homestead Project: Interior Wall Surface

Once the insulation was done we could begin covering the interior wall surface with shiplap. The shiplap is ¾” thick tongue and grove Red Pine from Quebec. We hired long time friend and woodworker David Bult to install most of it as we were a bit pressed for time to finish. He used the standard nickel spacing and once the installation was complete a single coat of white wash paint was applied.

Homestead Project: Cabinets, Plumbing, Electrical, and Insulation

Once the exterior of the cabin was complete we turned our attention to the cabinets, plumbing, and electrical in preparation for the sprayed insulation. The cabinets are made of lightweight pine with a clear coat and the plumbing is a combination of galvanized pipe and Pex with a shower and indoor/outdoor kitchen faucets. Next we hired our long time friend Tommy Schichtel from Supro electric to install our electrical system which will eventually be powered by solar panels at the property

Once everything was ready for the foam we wrapped every finished surface in plastic or cardboard to protect it from over spray. We choose to go with a ½ pound density soft foam and a team of 2 men from Advanced Insulation Technology sprayed it in and then trimmed it down to the surface of the studs.

Homestead Project: Exterior Cladding

The exterior of the cabin is clad with thin aluminum panels and Cameron and Alex spent a week measuring, cutting, fitting, and screwing the panels onto the trailer. Pole barn screws with rubber washers were used to create a water tight seal. Aluminum was chosen because it is very lightweight, weather resistant, and bug resistant. Originally the plan was to paint it, but the response so far is that many people seem to like the raw aluminum so we are living with it for a while to see how we feel about it over time.

Homestead Project: Windows and Exterior Insulation

Aluminum clad double glazed windows and doors from Jeld Wen arrived last week and were installed in the cabin. Then 1 ½” cleats were spaced horizontally around the entire exterior in preparation for screwing on the horizontal aluminum cladding. Next ¾” foil faced insulation board was installed between the cleats to increase the over all R value of the walls and help decrease thermal bridging with the studs. The insulation was held in place with foil tape in order to create an air tight envelop on the exterior.

Homestead Project: Mobile Cabin Framing

The framing schedule for the mobile cabin was created in CAD and every stud was cut to length and labeled before beginning the assembly. Cameron and Alex used the CAD file to layout the plates and then screwed the frame together over the course of a couple days. Wind bracing was added to keep the frames square. Several friends came to help bolt the frames together on the trailer.

Homestead Project: Modifying the Trailer and Installing the Floor

As a permanent platform for the mobile cabin, Cameron purchased a 20’ long 11,000 lbs GVWR utility trailer, used it to pick up the red pine for the floor and walls, and then parked it in the driveway of his dad’s house. The first thing that needed to be done was to extend the sides of the deck out to the full width of the wheel well. 4” steel channel was cut to length and an on site welder came to weld them on. After that the extensions were cleaned and painted and a 2x10 subplate was used to extend the deck to 100” wide. 2” insulation board was screwed underneath the deck and expanding foam filled the cracks in the sub floor. A plastic vapor barrier was applied, then 4” red pine was nailed down, sanded, and polyurethane was applied.

Homestead Project: Mobile Cabin Renderings

Cameron has completed the design of our mobile cabin on CAD. The 160 sq/ft home will be constructed on a 20’ x 8’ flatbed trailer and will have a small kitchen, a small eating area, a small living area with work surfaces, and a 60 sq/ft loft for the bed. It will have a bathroom with a shower and composting toilet. Rain water for the sink and shower will be collected in tanks at a site uphill from the cabin and will run down to the house through gravity pressure. Heat will be provided through firewood collected from the site and a small wood stove. Electricity will be created by a small solar array and used to power LED lights, a small fridge, and 7 gallon water heater.

Homestead Project: Clearing the Land

In 2017 we came to enjoy living in a more authentic relationship with the natural world at Turtle Island in North Carolina. We decided to look for wooded land close to Appalachian State to continue to expand our off the grid experiment. In early spring of 2018 we purchased 6 wooded acres of land on a south facing ridge that is just 15 minutes by bicycle away from the university. Since then we have been cutting downed logs into firewood, clearing a spot to place a mobile cabin, and harvesting and milling trees into lumber. We are preparing to start living on the property in August 2018 with a small energy footprint and creating as many of our own necessary solutions as possible. We will be sharing our progress and what we learn along the way.

Solo Exhibition at the Delaware Contemporary Museum of Art

THE FUTURE PEOPLE: creating public imagination is a solo exhibition at the Delaware Contemporary Art Museum in Wilmington, DE. The exhibition runs through October 10, 2018. The exhibition displays two major projects of The Future People's work -Future Cycles and The 1000 Acre Experiment. The projects demonstrate alternative ways of living and transporting ourselves in the 21st century.

Off the Grid: week 39 Our Final Week

Our nine month living "off the grid" experience has come to a close. Turtle Island Preserve has brought such beauty, joy, rhythm and purposeful
labor to our lives. We are grateful for the opportunity to challenge our conventional needs and comforts and through that experience find more authentic luxuries. We want to continue to live in this way and so we are beginning a large project that will synthesize what we have learned from all of these past experiences. More on that soon...

Off the Grid: week 35

Spring has brought Turtle Island to life with budding trees, six new baby goats, Work Away interns, and many volunteers. We continue to feed the the horses, pigs, and goats, but our daily life has shifted back to the outdoors as Rachael begins painting outside again and our weekends are filled with assisting with workshops, school groups, and Forestry programs. 

Off the Grid: week 30

While visiting our family in Michigan over the Christmas holidays we realized what an incredible opportunity for learning Turtle Island would be for our 11 year old nephew. The beauty of home schooling is that teaching can be done anywhere and so with his mother’s consent, our nephew has been living and learning with us by being fully immersed in the work, culture and countless teachable moments of a 1000 acre classroom.

Off the Grid: week 23

While doing evening chores Rachael discovered a newborn goat in a corner of the shed almost frozen in the frigid 6 degree weather. Wiping it down and wrapping it in a blue blanket, the baby goat was quickly taken to our cabin and warmed by the wood fire. With much effort the mother goat was coaxed to our cabin and tethered outside for nighttime feedings. Cameron constructed a pen from pallets for mom and baby. We are thankful that “Juniper” is healthy and feeding well! He is even walking and exploring on his second day of life!

Off the Grid: week 21

Now that winter is here the animals need extra food. Its Pizza Pizza for the pigs and hay for the goats and horses. The Subaru has become a critical part of this process used to shuttle hay down the steep road into main camp and deliver food to the animals.

Off the Grid: week 19

First snow of the season brought 6 inches. Beauty surrounds us. Steel studded snow tires mounted on the car will help us get in and out of Turtle Island Preserve in the snow and ice.

Off the Grid: week 18

Chilly mornings prompted Rachael to consider how to shorten her walk to do chores. By placing a wood board over the creek bed to feed Miss Piggy she was able to avoid circumnavigating the creek. Eustace noticed the wobbly make-shift "bridge" lying across the water as well as the embankment Rachael was climbing to get to Miss Piggy. He suggested that Cameron and a volunteer crew make an actual bridge to the pig. Eustace downed a dead black locust and Cameron and volunteers laid the logs and placed metal grates over the top. Rachael cooked a "thank you" lunch over  the fires for the work crew!

Off the Grid: week 17

We traded our snake boots for snow boots as winter has arrived in Boone, NC.  Our efforts to collect, chainsaw, chop and stack firewood has brought us comfort as the first snow begins to fall. The potbelly stove lets off a steady heat throughout the night and the cast iron steamer humidifies our cozy cabin.

Off the Grid: week 15

Turtle Island Preserve is 1000 acres of forest and so all of the buildings there are made from wood harvested from the property. Critical to that harvesting is the sawmill where the tree trunks are cut into lumber and stored to dry in the lumber shed. Cameron recently had a chance to work with Eustace learning how to run the saw mill. The mill consists of a 48" circular saw blade attached with belts and pulleys to an old diesel tractor motor. An adjustable carriage holds the log and runs on a track - taking the log back and forth through the blade to make each cut. 

Off the Grid: week 11

With winter wood chopped and stacked Rachael has found time for landscape painting again. Colors surround us here at Winter Cabin inspiring a new body of work for the fall. Canopies of ocher and crimson arc across the trail to a beautiful cabin that has become Rachael's studio for the season.

Off the Grid: week 8

Leaking holes in the tin roof and a missing elbow in the stove pipe needed to be fixed this week. Cameron lowered the heavy stove pipe with a block and tackle attached to the rafters. He placed a chimney cap on top and then raised the stove pipe and connected the elbow. With cooler weather coming we look forward to firing up the pot belly stove soon.

Off the Grid: week 6

Well-seasoned cast iron fry pans hang in a row above the outdoor kitchen counter. Breakfasts and dinners are cooked with our one burner Coleman camp stove, the propane lasting for at least a week of meals. Fruits, veggies and opened jars of food are stored in a latched metal cabinet and potatoes in a bread box. Outdoor wood shelves are lined with glass Mason jars of grains, wild rice, crunchy granola and nuts, all staying fresh with an oxygen pack. The jars can be opened and closed resealing themselves within four hours. This summer before moving to Turtle Island Rae dehydrated 12 onions, 32 ears of corn and 10 zucchini for warm winter soups which are also stored in canning jars with oxygen packs. The fall season camp fire has served well for a few dishes including delicious hot peach cobbler.

Off the Grid: week 5

Naughty goats and pudgy pigs are now part of the rhythm of morning and evening. Rachael is doing the chores four days a week helping to feed six goats and three pigs. One of the young goats we enjoyed caring for up at our cabin while it started the weaning process. Rae named her, "Sis" and sung to her opera arias while stroking her ears and long straight nose to calm her fears.

Off the Grid: week 4

Cameron engineered a rainwater collection system by strengthening the wood eaves and adding a hand built metal gutter. The gutter leads to a 40 gallon holding tank that is nestled in-between the two roofs. A hose has been attached to an on/off spigot that pours into the outdoor kitchen wash basin. 

Off the Grid: week 3

Winter preparation has begun. Collecting and chainsawing dead and fallen trees throughout the woods - local firewood right around our cabin. Dead Black Locust, a rot resistant tree, was used to create firewood racks and sturdy up the structure of the cabin. Rae has been gathering late summer greens from the garden and experimenting with cooking over coals.

Off the Grid: week 1

Wearing our snake boots, we cleared a path to Winter Cabin where we cleaned out cobwebs, dusted floorboards, and removed a mildewed mattress and swivel office chair. We furnished the upstairs bedroom with Shaker replica milk painted beds made by Cameron and we also built an outdoor kitchen. The overgrown .25 mile trail was raked and widened and the drainage ditch around the perimeter of the cabin rerouted.

THE FUTURE PEOPLE move off the grid

THE FUTURE PEOPLE have begun a new living experiment at the Winter Cabin at Turtle Island Preserve. The 200 square foot cabin is off the grid, with no running water and no electricity. The wooden structure is propped up on large stones, where underneath Simma, the shepherd dog that came with the territory, resides at night. The cabin was created years ago by volunteers of Turtle Island, and we are now participating in the community of this beautiful and remote preserve. We begin our nine-month stay at Turtle Island Preserve which is a 1000 acre wilderness preserve in the mountains outside of Boone, NC . The purpose of the project is to experience life in a closer connection with the natural world and to work to discover the overlooked luxuries of life without the distractions of modern conveniences. Our hope is to share these experiences with others that are seeking to find a more authentic and meaningful relationship with the natural systems that support life.

THE FUTURE PEOPLE lead bicycle tour for Chicago teens

In June of 2017 the Future People along with US History teacher Christian Altena led six Chicago high school students on a 333 mile bicycle journey from Pittsburgh to Washington, DC. Their history lessons were brought to life by traveling the Great Allegheny Passage and the C & O Canal tow path. This route, filled with sites related to the history of steel, transportation, immigration, the American Revolution, and the Civil War--has educational opportunities around every bend of the trail. On this 10 day trip the riders began at the site of the 1892 Homestead Steel Strike, rolled along the route of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, through the Antietam battlefield and ended their journey at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

THE FUTURE PEOPLE volunteering with Turtle Island Preserve, Boone, NC

The enthusiastic vision of Eustace Conway in Elizabeth Gilbert's biography, Last American Man, inspired The Future People to become involved as volunteers at Turtle Island Preserve. During our first experience at the 1000 acre off-the-grid nature preserve Cameron assisted with fixing the micro hydro-electric generator and Rachael stacked firewood for the upcoming winter season. Volunteering during weekend workshops such as Blacksmithing and Deer Hide Tanning, Rachael and Cameron have enjoyed working in community with other volunteers as outdoor cooks using wood burning ovens, a cob oven, and two hearth fires. Evenings are spent gathered around the stone fireplace sharing stories and lessons learned from the day before retreating to the hand built rustic cabins.

THE FUTURE PEOPLE exhibit at the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum, NYC

 THE FUTURE PEOPLE exhibited The Orbit, at the Cooper Hewitt 2016 exhibition, By the People; REDESIGNING AMERICA. An exhibition of 60 collaborative designs from throughout the United States and across borders, By the People challenges the country’s persistent social and economic inequality. Curator of Socially Responsible Design Cynthia E. Smith conducted over two years of field research—traveling to shrinking post-industrial cities, sprawling metro regions, struggling rural towns, areas impacted by natural and man-made disasters, and places of persistent poverty—in search of design for more inclusive and sustainable communities. Presented in the Barbara and Morton Mandel Design Gallery and Process Lab, the exhibition delivers a powerful message of optimism for achieving a more just and equitable society for all Americans through design.

THE FUTURE PEOPLE at the North American International Auto Show

In our first major deployment THE FUTURE PEOPLE exhibited both the Cyclone and the Zeppelin at the 2015 International Auto Show in Detroit, MI.  The deployment of the Future Cycles Project at the auto show was an opportunity to directly engage car culture in a conversation about energy efficiency, health, and the future of mobility. The Detroit auto show is 14 days long and over 800,000 people attend.

Wide Bike Feasibility Test in Ann Arbor, MI

The Wide Bike Feasibility test was conducted over a three-day period in October 2013 with three goals in mind. The first was to understand how people in cars react to large and slow bicycles on the roads; the second was to understand what elements in the built environment help or hinder the use of such a vehicle; and the third was to create a map that shows which roads in Ann Arbor work best for “wide bike” travel. Using an old “granny trike” Cameron constructed a tiny mobile home out of recycled materials and rode the wide bike through the city and made observations concerning these questions. Cameron's Wide Bike Feasibility Document can be downloaded below:

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Human Powered Vehicles and their Definitions

This paper explores potential legal definitions for the Cyclone.

auto_report_compressed.pdf
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Bikes in The Netherlands

THE FUTURE PEOPLE went to the Netherlands in the summer of 2013 to research the bicycle culture of the Dutch and see if there are any lessons to be learned that could be applied to our future designs and any lessons that could be brought back to the US. We landed in Amsterdam, bought used bikes, and set out on a 3-week trip covering almost 500 miles.

In Amsterdam everyone rides a bike. The bike is faster, cheaper, and more convenient than any other mode of transport there. The reason - narrow streets and traffic congestion, the erratic design of the streets because of canals, slow public transportation, difficulty finding parking for cars, the high cost of car ownership and gas, the fact that everything is so close together, and the fact that it is fairly flat.

But perhaps one of the biggest reasons people bike in the Netherlands is that the government protects bike riders both physically and legally. Bikes have their own separate traffic lanes, traffic lights, and often have the right of way at intersections. Most of the time the bicycle lane is painted red  - signaling to a car that he is crossing a bike lane.  There are also many “Fietsstraat” or “Bike Streets” where bikes have primary right of way and cars are allowed only as guests. The bicycle is also protected legally by having the strictest penalties for injuring a bicyclist with a car.

This emphasis on bikes as the primary mode of transportation has made it logical to create many different kinds of bikes to suit many functions and multiple riders. On a Saturday morning you might see a whole family and groceries on two wheels. The classic “Bakfiet” or “Box Bike” has 2 or 3 wheels and a large wooden box on it for cargo and can be modified to do many things – including acting as a small bus to bring kids to school. The Dutch have even modified the “car” to shrink it down to bike size for use by the elderly on the bike paths. THE FUTURE PEOPLE test drove many of these bikes and met with several small manufactures discussing the possibility for new combinations of the bike/car. 

IDIS 

Instantly Deployable Insulated Shelter

THE FUTURE PEOPLE began hanging out with homeless people downtown in order to learn more about what it is like to be homeless and what some of the possible solutions might be. It began to get down into the 20’s at night and we became concerned for the warmth of those sleeping outside. As an experiment Cameron designed and built a small, insulated, collapsible shelter out of ridged foam board on a Saturday afternoon and then went downtown to see if any of the homeless people we had met would be interested in giving it a try. No one was interested in trying the shelter – they each had a system to keep themselves warm enough. We were disappointed at first until one of them suggested that Cameron join them under a nearby bridge to test it out. Sunday afternoon Cameron set up the IDIS shelter under the bridge next to the train tracks. He stayed for three nights – it got down to 18 degrees on his last night. On those three nights he had a chance to visit with Rick, Jack, and Mark  - his new friends under the bridge and learned a lot about how they ended up there. The reasons are not what you may think; these guys are smart, hardworking people who had careers, homes, and families. Their welcoming and honesty encouraged him and we think they were encouraged by our interest in them and our concern for better times ahead. What we learned mostly is that these guys are not “homeless” they are “houseless”. They have created a home of sorts – pieced together between the bridge, the tents, the places they get meals, and the places they spend their day. What they lack is the physical permission and financing to be somewhere they can legally call their own.