Building a Better Nest: Living Lightly at Home and in the World
For fifteen years, Evelyn Hess and her husband David lived in a tent and trailer, without electricity or running water, on twenty acres of wild land in the foothills of the Oregon Coast Range. When they decided to build a house - a real house at last - they knew it would have to respect the lessons of simple living that they learned in their camping life. They knew they could not do it alone. Building a Better Nest chronicles their adventures as they begin to construct a house of their own, seeking a model for sustainable living not just in their home, but beyond its walls.

What does it mean to build a better nest? Better for whom? Is it better for the individual or family? The planet? Green building and sustainable design are popular buzzwords, but to Hess, sustainable building is not a simple matter of buying and installing the latest recycled flooring products. It is also about cooperative work: working together in employment, in research, in activism, and in life. Hess is concerned with her local watershed, but also with the widening income gap, disappearing species, and peak resources. She actively works to reduce overconsumption and waste. For Hess, these problems are both philosophical and practical.

As Hess and her husband age, the questions of how to live responsibly arise with greater frequency and urgency. With unfailing wit and humor, she looks for answers in such places as neuroscience, Buddhism, and her ancestral legacy. Building a Better Nest will appeal to anyone with an interest in sustainable building, off-grid living, or alternative communities. The questions it asks about the way we live are earnest and important, from an author whose voice is steeped in wisdom and gratitude.
1120834567
Building a Better Nest: Living Lightly at Home and in the World
For fifteen years, Evelyn Hess and her husband David lived in a tent and trailer, without electricity or running water, on twenty acres of wild land in the foothills of the Oregon Coast Range. When they decided to build a house - a real house at last - they knew it would have to respect the lessons of simple living that they learned in their camping life. They knew they could not do it alone. Building a Better Nest chronicles their adventures as they begin to construct a house of their own, seeking a model for sustainable living not just in their home, but beyond its walls.

What does it mean to build a better nest? Better for whom? Is it better for the individual or family? The planet? Green building and sustainable design are popular buzzwords, but to Hess, sustainable building is not a simple matter of buying and installing the latest recycled flooring products. It is also about cooperative work: working together in employment, in research, in activism, and in life. Hess is concerned with her local watershed, but also with the widening income gap, disappearing species, and peak resources. She actively works to reduce overconsumption and waste. For Hess, these problems are both philosophical and practical.

As Hess and her husband age, the questions of how to live responsibly arise with greater frequency and urgency. With unfailing wit and humor, she looks for answers in such places as neuroscience, Buddhism, and her ancestral legacy. Building a Better Nest will appeal to anyone with an interest in sustainable building, off-grid living, or alternative communities. The questions it asks about the way we live are earnest and important, from an author whose voice is steeped in wisdom and gratitude.
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Building a Better Nest: Living Lightly at Home and in the World

Building a Better Nest: Living Lightly at Home and in the World

by Evelyn Searle Hess
Building a Better Nest: Living Lightly at Home and in the World

Building a Better Nest: Living Lightly at Home and in the World

by Evelyn Searle Hess

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Overview

For fifteen years, Evelyn Hess and her husband David lived in a tent and trailer, without electricity or running water, on twenty acres of wild land in the foothills of the Oregon Coast Range. When they decided to build a house - a real house at last - they knew it would have to respect the lessons of simple living that they learned in their camping life. They knew they could not do it alone. Building a Better Nest chronicles their adventures as they begin to construct a house of their own, seeking a model for sustainable living not just in their home, but beyond its walls.

What does it mean to build a better nest? Better for whom? Is it better for the individual or family? The planet? Green building and sustainable design are popular buzzwords, but to Hess, sustainable building is not a simple matter of buying and installing the latest recycled flooring products. It is also about cooperative work: working together in employment, in research, in activism, and in life. Hess is concerned with her local watershed, but also with the widening income gap, disappearing species, and peak resources. She actively works to reduce overconsumption and waste. For Hess, these problems are both philosophical and practical.

As Hess and her husband age, the questions of how to live responsibly arise with greater frequency and urgency. With unfailing wit and humor, she looks for answers in such places as neuroscience, Buddhism, and her ancestral legacy. Building a Better Nest will appeal to anyone with an interest in sustainable building, off-grid living, or alternative communities. The questions it asks about the way we live are earnest and important, from an author whose voice is steeped in wisdom and gratitude.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780870718052
Publisher: Oregon State University Press
Publication date: 06/01/2015
Edition description: 1
Pages: 192
Product dimensions: 8.80(w) x 6.00(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range: 3 Months to 18 Years

About the Author

Evelyn Searle Hess  lives in the foothills of southern Oregon’s Coast Range. At various times a teacher, greenhouse manager, gardener, garden designer, and a native-plant nursery owner, along with being a mother, grandmother, and now great grandmother, she currently weeds, writes, and tries to put up her garden produce before the critters get it. In spare moments she helps husband David with their life project, building a house. Hess’s previous book To the Woods (OSU Press, 2010), won the 2011 WILLA Literary Award for Best Creative Nonfiction.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 9

Introduction 11

1 Preparation 15

2 Mud 22

3 The Foundation 27

4 Grandfather 34

5 Jessie Knox Bereman Searle 40

6 Considering Economics 46

7 A Mentor 51

8 Resourcefulness and Sagacity 56

9 Still Considering Economics 65

10 Stella Barnard Yeatts and Charles Thomas Yeatts 71

11 Framing and Closing 79

12 What Makes a Home? 85

13 On Giving and Receiving 91

14 Perfection 98

15 Mudroom 104

16 A Little (More) Help From Our Friends 113

17 Gardening 120

18 Greening a Roof 130

19 Inside the Root Cellar 136

20 Winter Food 139

21 Wildlife Habitat 147

22 Foundation of the Food Chain 155

23 Happiness 164

24 New Model 173

25 Life's Winter 180

26 The Upper Floors 185

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