The Bluebird Bus

So, we're doing it. Homesteading that is. My ultimate dream since at least 4th grade, though probably long before, was to build a cabin in the woods and have my animals and gardens and all of that. When Tim and I started dating, I told him that was non-negotiable and it turns out he was also excited by the idea of making life hard on himself by camping while trying to build a house in the woods and producing our own food rather than taking the more normal choice and living in an apartment in the city with all utilities included and every fast food chain within walking distance. Tim is on board, but much more keen on having things like electricity and plumbing than I would opt for on my own. Who can blame an electrician for wanting power? It does make projects much faster and easier and doable to use power tools and I do like my dishwasher and laundry machine. I suppose a little power is okay.

We've got a good start on the farm here on Honeymoon Bay Point, but we're still lacking that experience of turning woods and brush into home. Across the street is about 10 acres for sale which we've put an offer on. With any luck, it will close by mid December, just in time to put the bus up there before going on our Christmas vacation.

1992 BlueBird Handy-Bus

Oh yeah, the bus. So we've moved into a bus, or more of we are in the process of moving into a bus. We're sleeping in a bus and occasionally cooking a pizza in our wood stove and have 5 gallons of water on board and some of our clothes. We're working on getting it set up to be The Ultimate Homesteading Machine. Our good friend from Alaska, Fritz Funk, used it as his moving van when he moved to Whidbey. He also used it as his camper traveling back and forth to Wisconsin and hosting music festivals on Whidbey. He converted it into a pretty comfortable living space with a table, kitchen, bed, and wood stove. He also converted it to run on bio-diesel.

In the back of the bus is an 800-lb lift for wheelchairs, barrels of used fry oil, tools, and all those other homestead-like necessities. The wood stove has an oven space that we got up to 400f to bake our pizza in. The clearance under the bus is enough for me to sit fully upright on the ground beneath her. Everything runs and works great.

Running water! It runs out of the jug, through the tubes, and out to the ground.

We've been trying to do something every day to get ready for When We Move (there's been a lot of talk about "when we move", it seems like it should be a proper title); we installed a drain in the sink with a trap and everything leading to under the bus where we can put a 5-gallon bucket or eventually dig a french drain (gravel-filled hole). On the property across the street we've been going on long walks in the woods; by which I mean crawling for an hour through thick brush and blackberry brambles and nettles with GPS in hand.

Tim wired up a home-made deep-cycle house-battery for the bus for When We Move (currently the bus is parked right outside our front door).

Putting wood on end inside an old tire to hold the wood while chopping into small kindling.

Chopping wood is one of those continual tasks for the rest of our lives if we're running on wood heat.