Hearth and Home

Cob home with stone and natural timbers

The Pagan Experience Week 3- October 19: Deity and the Divine – This will be the third week’s topic every month and an opportunity for you to share with everyone those who guide, inspire and inform you. Tell us about your favorite Deity of Hearth and Home.

"Home is a place where your heart is free." - Enya

Let me tell you about my dream home. I long to live in a place of community, on a gigantic piece of land, ideally in the mountains, near a river. Together, we will create a self-sustaining haven of permaculture farming, art, music, craft, spirituality, retreat, education and celebration. I will do everything that I like to do and never have to leave the homestead except to see new places. All the homesteading skills that I learned growing up and have continued to build through the years will find their true purpose. This has been my dream for as long as I can remember.

Here are some features my home will have:

We'll have plenty of guest cabins

Design

• Log, Timber framed, Stone, Cob construction - depending on climate and site
• One story preferred 
• Partially built into hillside if site permits 
• Central heat and air
• Solar/hydroelectric/wind power/water heating as appropriate to site 
• House sited to take advantage of prevailing wind, natural light, etc

Interior Features

• Wood paneling
• Stone, tile, wood floors
• BIG stone fireplace – one chimney to feed two fireplaces – one in living room, one in kitchen; both have hearths big enough to sit on. Kitchen has operational spit for roasting and bread/pizza oven
• Smart closets, storage in every room
• Mud room/airlock to utility room with:
• Boot dryers
• Storage bench
• Rack of hooks for coats and such
• Built-in shelves
• Built-in benches and window seats
• Thick interior walls for soundproofing of bedrooms



Definitely a rocket stove and built in seating

• Guest bedroom or additional bedrooms at other end of house from master   

Kitchen Features

• Back side of fireplace in kitchen with:
• Big serpentine hearth
• Spit roasting apparatus
• Wood fired oven
• Swing-out hanger for pots, dutch oven, tea, etc
• Old fashioned stove – gas + wood range
• Air-cooled pantry
• Convenient access to root cellar
• Nifty compost container
• Ceiling hooks for cast iron cookware
• Concrete countertops? I want really tough, easy to clean natural or semi-natural materials

Bathroom Features

•      Plenty of storage for toiletries, TP, towels
•      Separate soaking tub

  

  No home is complete without flowers & kitties

•      Big walk-in shower (big enough for two, with bench)
•      Additional heater for wintertime (I hate being cold and wet)
•      Make enough bathrooms, seriously. None of this one bathroom nonsense.

Exterior Features

•      Deck/patio
•      Screened in porch
•      Portico
•      Solar lighting along pathways
•      Lots of garden space
•      COVERED PARKING

Facilities of the Community

• Meditation Room 
• Indoor Temple 
• Outdoor Temple (covered, no walls) 

  

  Plenty of gardens & herbs

• Sacred Grove 
• Large program room 
• AV-enabled program room 
• Commercial kitchen 
• Cabins 
• Art Gallery 
• Performance space/stage

Programs

• Educational Center 
• Healing Center 
• Retreat Center
• Organic Farm 
• Sustainable Community 
• Artists & Writers Residencies 
• Sacred Grove 
• Spiral Scouts
• Mystery School

Lots of big trees and barns

Surely we'll have at least one treehouse

And plenty of outdoor living spaces!