Straw bale house.
BY KEVIN HART
At a school where the Environmental Liberal Arts core focuses heavily on environmental issues and sustainability, many GMC students find it difficult to adjust their lifestyles to the college’s environmental mission.
For example, some core classes may discuss the danger of carbon emission, but the students must rely on crude oil for their heat. Other classes may discuss issues with overconsumption, yet the students live in housing that required extensive resource extraction before construction.
Though these difficulties are very hard to avoid, one GMC student, a 28-year-old junior Ruth Larkin, went the extra step and committed to a sustainable lifestyle with her partner, Tim Johnson, and a young baby, Zeb Johnson.
Larkin grew up in a family that believed in the power of the outdoors. She went on her first camping trip when she was only five weeks old, and by the age of five, she had already paddled the Allagash River, Maine’s wildest river, three times. Even at home, Larkin’s family pushed the importance of the outdoors. “I was about two years old, and it was one of those spring days where there was still snow outside but it was kind of warm,” Larkin recalled as one of her most distinct early memories. “My mom dressed us in our bathing suits and brought us outside. ‘Okay everyone, sunbathe, you need vitamin D!’”
Johnson also grew up learning to love the outdoors. He was raised in the suburbs of New Jersey, but found plenty of woods to play in and would regularly fish along the Delaware River. Once he left home, though, he frequently found himself living an off-the-grid lifestyle. He used to live in a one-room hut, on an ocean-going raft, and in a 12–by-12 house in the middle of the Arizona desert, which collected water off the roof. He built all of his living quarters out of salvaged materials.
Now, Larkin and Johnson live together in Deane’s Preserve, in their one-room house that they have affectionately named “The Fuzzy House at the Big Rock.” Following the standard set by Johnson’s previous living quarters, the Fuzzy House was built almost entirely from local and recycled materials.
For the foundation and the frame, they felled six Hemlock trees, and obtained some wood from Charlie Brown of Brown’s Orchard and from a building undergoing renovation. The hay they are using as insulation is 150 years old and was supplied to them by a local farmer named Monty McGain. Their walls are made of mud collected from around their house, although momentarily they only have one of three layers up. “We’re a bit drafty,” Johnson notes. “But by this time next year we’ll be done with the walls.”
Their kitchen appliances also come from recycled sources. For example, their propane stove is a gift from a neighbor, their counter is an old workbench top, and the sink is a gift from The Nature Conservancy. However, the sink does not function like a normal sink because the Fuzzy House is not hooked up to running water. As a result, Johnson regularly collects water from Endless Brook, and the family finds themselves going through only 20 ounces of water per day.
Currently, Larkin and Johnson have no source of electricity. They heat themselves with a fireplace that Johnson keeps stocked with nearby wood, and they use flashlights for light during the nighttime. Before long, though, they plan to improve their house by adding a small generator.
Before Larkin and Johnson lived in Deane’s Preserve together, they lived on a small sailboat, sailing from Florida up to New England. During this adventure, Larkin gave birth to her son, Zeb. Now, he lives in the Fuzzy House with his parents, where they hope he will grow up appreciating nature and minimalist lifestyles. “Maybe he’ll appreciate playing with sticks instead of needing plastic toys to play with,” Johnson notes.
Zeb loves to be outside. While he may squirm quite a bit when sitting in a lap, he is very content when placed in the dirt. “He’ll pick it up, look at it, and eat it,” Larkin says with a laugh. “He’s so much happier for so much longer in the dirt than he is with any toy we give him.”
The cold of winter, though, is hard on Zeb. He does not enjoy going out in the cold, and his favorite place to play, the floor of the house, is also the coldest place. Larkin and Johnson admit that theirs is not the easiest lifestyle, but Larkin adds optimistically that “spring is coming soon, and Zeb is looking forward to that.”
Their lifestyle, though, is also full of great moments. Larkin and Johnson recall the night that they moved into the Fuzzy House as one of their best moments during the past year. “Oh my goodness,” Larkin thought that night. “It’s snowing outside and we’re living inside and not outside?”
Larkin admits that her classes at GMC have opened her mind about environmental issues and consumption levels and that her lifestyle now is, in part, a reaction to those lessons. If anybody else wishes to try it, Bill Osborne, the owner of the land at Deane’s Preserve, has one more lot available for rent.
