Dear Friend of Small, Simple, and Sustainable Living,

Gregory Johnson - photo by Makur Jain

I know that time is precious for everyone, so I’ll try to keep this update short. The approximate reading time is about 3 minutes. Feel free to reduce your reading time even more by skipping over topics that don’t interest you.

Annual Membership Dues. We’re now two months into the new year, and many of you have already renewed your membership for 2010 at the $5 level. If you’ve not done so already, please consider visiting our Membership Page and contributing to our work for the coming year. Thanks!

Plans for 2010. In 2010 the Small House Society is slated to become leaner and more focused on accomplishing even more for smaller and simpler living. Our primary goal is to support the four categories of people who help define and expand the Small House Movement:

• Journalists and Media. Journalists and members of the media who help spread the word about smaller and simpler living. We provide prompt responses to requests for information and interviews.
• Designers and Builders. Visionary designers and builders of small homes create enjoyable small spaces as habitats for joyfully and abundantly living small. We plan to continue supporting them and promote their work. While some websites charge $400 or more for advertising space, we offer qualified designers and builders premium listings on our site for free. The $5 annual membership fee is optional.
• Bloggers and Writers. Bloggers and writers help create local and personalized stories of smaller and simpler living. Through promoting blogs and providing technical assistance, we hope to help people launch more websites this year sharing stories of successfully living small. We also help promote books about smaller and simpler living. Publishers regularly send us review copies of books and we write reviews and promote the books free of charge. While some websites charge $400 or more for advertising space, we offer bloggers and writers premium listings on our site for free. The $5 annual membership fee is optional.
• Small Housers. The people who are actually living in small homes are at the center of what the movement is about. Through one-on-one consultations and online resources, we’re continually looking for ways to help and support people who are making the change to small living. We hope the resources on our site will continue to inspire and equip people for smaller living.

If you belong in any of the above mentioned groups, we’re here to serve you.

Thanks. I want to thank the global team of volunteers and contributors “behind the scenes” who help make all this possible. I’m very grateful to the many people who continue to uphold and advance the mission of the Small House Society. Thanks again for your support. Please let me know if there is any way that the Small House Society can serve you better.

Regards,
Gregory Johnson, Facilitator
Small House Society

Internet: http://www.smallhousesociety.org
E-Mail: shs @ resourcesforlife.com (without spaces)
Postal: c/o Resources for Life, PO Box 2717, Iowa City, IA 52244-2717
Phone: (319) 621-4911

Dear Friend of Small, Simple, and Sustainable Living,

Gregory Johnson - photo by Makur Jain

I know that time is precious for everyone, so I’ll try to keep this update short. The approximate reading time is about 4 minutes. Feel free to reduce your reading time even more by skipping over topics that don’t interest you.

Year in Review. As we close out 2009, much progress has been made in the movement toward smaller, simpler, and more sustainable living. As an organization, the Small House Society helps facilitate the small house movement by providing support to small house designers, builders, and dwellers, as well as bringing media attention to the movement. This year, we had our one millionth visitor to the site. In 2010, we’re looking for more innovative ways to provide support and assistance to those involved in the movement. We continue to operate as a member supported organization.

Personal Housing Change. As some of you know, this past month I got married, and I’m currently living with my wife in a micro apartment located in downtown Iowa City. Continuing to live in a minimalist tiny space helps us as we  are planning to eventually build a negative carbon footprint home somewhere in Iowa City. The Mobile Hermitage continues on as a guest house and Iowa City’s Smallest Bed and Breakfast.

In the News. The Small House Movement has been getting some excellent exposure in the media.

• The December 2009 / January 2010 issue of Mother Earth News features a nice article about Making the Most of a Small Home.
• The November/December 2009 issue of Natural Home Magazine features an article about the book Put Your Life on a Diet: Lessons Learned From Living in 140 Square Feet.

Small Living Journal. The Small Living Journal is a project that was received with great enthusiasm by thousands of people. The journal writers took a break over the past few months, but the site should be receiving submissions again soon as we close the year and head into 2010.

Tumbleweed Blog. The blog at TumbleweedHouses.com offers excellent information on a wide variety of simpler smaller living issues.

From previous newsletters…

Highlights. Below are some highlights from recent newsletters for those of you who have recently subscribed.

The Clayton i-house. The most recent designer/builder to boldly enter the national stage has been Clayton with their i-house. [see video]

FLYP Media. There was a very nice multi-page article produced by Flyp Media. If you missed it, you’ll want to take a look.

Small House Movement Video Overview. In response to hundreds of email and phone inquires, I’ve created a simple 10 minute video that introduces the Small House Movement. A new and improved version of this video will be produced in the future in response to feedback and suggestions. Please watch the video and let me know if you have any comments.

Rocio Romero. From their latest newsletter, it’s clear that Rocio Romero is continuing to design and build art that you can live in. Take a look.

Tata Housing. The India-based company, Tata made news recently for creating the world’s first $2,500 car, the Tata Nano. It’s not a concept car. It’s an award winning vehicle that people are purchasing and driving. Now Tata has launched Tata Housing. What Tata has achieved with small cars they are now creating in the small house industry. I’ll be going to India on June 26 through July 12 and hope to learn more while I’m there.

The Small House Book. Jay’s newest book, The Small House Book, is now available on the TumbleweedHouses.com website and has received positive reviews among those who have read it. If you use our link to the TumbleweedHouses.com website, some proceeds from book and home sales will help support the Small House Society.

Energy Efficient Construction Video. A video is now available for those interested in extreme energy savings. Take a look.

Small Living Presentation in Wisconsin. On 2 April 2009, at a conference on Temperance at Viterbo University, in La Crosse, Wisconsin, I delivered the keynote presentation on the topic of simple and small living. A complete video of the presentation (1 hour of presentation and 20 minutes of questions and answers) is available for viewing on Blip.tv and Vimeo.com.

Small Living Journal. The recent launch of the Small Living Journal at www.SmallLivingJournal.com was a huge success. The journal was launched on 23 March 2009 with it’s first issue, and since then thousands of people have visited the site and hundreds signed up for the RSS Feed. The Small Living Journal began as a simple idea put forth by Stephanie Reiley (of ComingUnmoored.com). Stephanie contacted many of the writers (and leading voices) within the small house movement; people who are regularly sharing their own small living experiences on blogs and websites. She brought these writers together, one by one, to join in a kind of collaborative writing project that would be the Small House Journal. Already admired and respected in the movement, it didn’t take Stephanie long to gather a significant base of support, and the dream became a reality. Please take a moment now to visit the Small Living Journal and subscribe to the RSS Feed.

New Online Community. In recent months, there has been incredible growth among the small living online comunities and discussion forums. In addition to the Small House Society Online at Yahoo Groups, there is now a new Small House Society Online Community at ResourcesForLife.com with small living topics organized into sub-forums rather than a single discussion list. It’s advertising free and doesn’t require a Yahoo account. Visit the Community Information page for more information including a video tour. Other communities and discussion lists, independent of the Small House Society, include the Tiny House Yahoo Group, The Tiny House Forum by Michael Janzen, and the Tiny House Village Network. The combined membership of these groups represents thousands of people. The messages posted to the forums and lists exceed 10,000 messages. I believe this is a sign that the small house movement has reached critical mass and is about to experience rapid growth in the coming months. The Small House Society Online Community maintains an active listing of current discussion lists and online forums.

New Live Events and Workshops. As of this month, ResourcesForLife.com now offers online events, seminars, classes, workshops, presentations, and teleconferencing. Using this new technology, the Small House Society hopes to offer special live events as well as hosting collaborative meetings for the movement. More news will be in next month’s newsletter.

Media Coverage. There continues to be excellent media exposure for the movement toward smaller and simpler living. Just about every week we receive media inquires from print and television journalists around the world. Most recently the Small House Society was featured in the Financial Times of London and Shedworking (both with photos courtesy of my Fiancée, Makur). There was also a very nice article about the movement in the Economist.

Interviews. Please let me know if you would like to have your website and business featured in a video. The plan is to explore small living websites while interviewing the owner(s) about their work. The narrative can accompany a video tour of the website.

How a House is Built. The latest book from Dennis Fukai and Barbara Fukai offers a detailed and three-dimensional presentation of home construction. Learn more about How a House is Built on their website.

India Tour. In January I completed a second visit to India (from December 25 to January 15). This second trip offered an opportunity to learn more about housing and urban planning issues. I encourage you to read my full report if you didn’t yet get a chance to do so before. During this trip, I learned about a planned community called Lavasa.

Radio Interviews. Audio is now available for recent interviews with Gregory Johnson on ABC News Australia (includes Jay Shafer), National Radio in Ireland, Iowa Public Radio Book Reading/Interview, and Public Radio Interview with Ben Kieffer from February 2007. I hope to have more audio available in December.

Website Redesign. The Small House Society web pages have been significantly upgraded with new navigation links at the top of each page and the addition of a Facebook group.

Kiva Lending Team. Resources For Life now has a Kiva Funding Team. If you’ve not yet heard about Kiva, I encourage you to check it out.

Border to Border Tour. If you’ve not had an opportunity to visit the Border to Border Tour page, I encourage you to do so. The tour was an amazing success. Photos from the tour area now available. Many thanks to all those who attended the tour events and provided us with encouragement and support.

Thanks. I want to thank the global team of volunteers and contributors “behind the scenes” who help make all this possible. I’m very grateful to the many people who continue to uphold and advance the mission of the Small House Society. Thanks again for your support. Please let me know if there is any way that the Small House Society can serve you better.

Regards,
Gregory Johnson, Facilitator
Small House Society

Internet: http://www.smallhousesociety.org
E-Mail: shs @ resourcesforlife.com (without spaces)
Postal: c/o Resources for Life, PO Box 2717, Iowa City, IA 52244-2717
Phone: (319) 621-4911

* * *

Choose Your Advertising. The topical advertising links below are provided by Google AdSense. In providing these links, we give our site visitors the option to view advertising or not. We don’t necessarily endorse the advertisers generated by these links, but they are supposed to be context relevant and for that reason you might find them helpful. These links will take you away from our site if you don’t right click and choose to open them in a new window or tab. We’re currently experimenting with this form of advertising. Let us know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. In particular, if you find advertisers listed here that are offensive or misleading, contact us and we’ll have them blocked. Our filtering of ads ensures you get the most useful advertising possible. Click on a topical link below to view a page of ads related to that topic.

Dear Friend of Small, Simple, and Sustainable Living,

I know that time is precious for everyone, so I’ll try to keep this update short. The approximate reading time is about 4 minutes. Feel free to reduce your reading time even more by skipping over topics that don’t interest you.

Discussion List. As a result of misdirected emails over the past two days, some discussion that belonged on our discussion list ended up going out to the monthly newsletter list distribution. I apologize for the inconvenience. Unfortunately, about 10 people unsubscribed from the monthly newsletter list because of this. The problem is now corrected.

Small Living Journal. The Small Living Journal continues to reach thousands of people with practical solutions to simpler and smaller living. Please take a moment to visit the journal to learn more and subscribe.

Tumbleweed Blog. The blog at TumbleweedHouses.com offers excellent information on a wide variety of simpler smaller living issues.

From previous newsletters…

The Clayton i-house. The most recent designer/builder to boldly enter the national stage has been Clayton with their i-house. [see video]

FLYP Media. There was a very nice multi-page article produced by Flyp Media. If you missed it, you’ll want to take a look.

Small House Movement Video Overview. In response to hundreds of email and phone inquires, I’ve created a simple 10 minute video that introduces the Small House Movement. A new and improved version of this video will be produced in the future in response to feedback and suggestions. Please watch the video and let me know if you have any comments.

Rocio Romero. From their latest newsletter, it’s clear that Rocio Romero is continuing to design and build art that you can live in. Take a look.

Tata Housing. The India-based company, Tata made news recently for creating the world’s first $2,500 car, the Tata Nano. It’s not a concept car. It’s an award winning vehicle that people are purchasing and driving. Now Tata has launched Tata Housing. What Tata has achieved with small cars they are now creating in the small house industry. I’ll be going to India on June 26 through July 12 and hope to learn more while I’m there.

The Small House Book. Jay’s newest book, The Small House Book, is now available on the TumbleweedHouses.com website and has received positive reviews among those who have read it. If you use our link to the TumbleweedHouses.com website, some proceeds from book and home sales will help support the Small House Society.

Energy Efficient Construction Video. A video is now available for those interested in extreme energy savings. Take a look.

Small Living Presentation in Wisconsin. On 2 April 2009, at a conference on Temperance at Viterbo University, in La Crosse, Wisconsin, I delivered the keynote presentation on the topic of simple and small living. A complete video of the presentation (1 hour of presentation and 20 minutes of questions and answers) is available for viewing on Blip.tv and Vimeo.com.

Small Living Journal. The recent launch of the Small Living Journal at www.SmallLivingJournal.com was a huge success. The journal was launched on 23 March 2009 with it’s first issue, and since then thousands of people have visited the site and hundreds signed up for the RSS Feed. The Small Living Journal began as a simple idea put forth by Stephanie Reiley (of ComingUnmoored.com). Stephanie contacted many of the writers (and leading voices) within the small house movement; people who are regularly sharing their own small living experiences on blogs and websites. She brought these writers together, one by one, to join in a kind of collaborative writing project that would be the Small House Journal. Already admired and respected in the movement, it didn’t take Stephanie long to gather a significant base of support, and the dream became a reality. Please take a moment now to visit the Small Living Journal and subscribe to the RSS Feed.

Membership. Many thanks to all those who have already joined or renewed their membership this year at the $5 annual level. If you’ve not done so already, please visit the membership page. Your support helps us support simpler and smaller living initiatives. Thanks to all those who gave above and beyond the $5 suggested membership donation.

New Online Community. In recent months, there has been incredible growth among the small living online comunities and discussion forums. In addition to the Small House Society Online at Yahoo Groups, there is now a new Small House Society Online Community at ResourcesForLife.com with small living topics organized into sub-forums rather than a single discussion list. It’s advertising free and doesn’t require a Yahoo account. Visit the Community Information page for more information including a video tour. Other communities and discussion lists, independent of the Small House Society, include the Tiny House Yahoo Group, The Tiny House Forum by Michael Janzen, and the Tiny House Village Network. The combined membership of these groups represents thousands of people. The messages posted to the forums and lists exceed 10,000 messages. I believe this is a sign that the small house movement has reached critical mass and is about to experience rapid growth in the coming months. The Small House Society Online Community maintains an active listing of current discussion lists and online forums.

New Live Events and Workshops. As of this month, ResourcesForLife.com now offers online events, seminars, classes, workshops, presentations, and teleconferencing. Using this new technology, the Small House Society hopes to offer special live events as well as hosting collaborative meetings for the movement. More news will be in next month’s newsletter.

Media Coverage. There continues to be excellent media exposure for the movement toward smaller and simpler living. Just about every week we receive media inquires from print and television journalists around the world. Most recently the Small House Society was featured in the Financial Times of London and Shedworking (both with photos courtesy of my Fiancée, Makur). There was also a very nice article about the movement in the Economist.

Interviews. Please let me know if you would like to have your website and business featured in a video. The plan is to explore small living websites while interviewing the owner(s) about their work. The narrative can accompany a video tour of the website.

How a House is Built. The latest book from Dennis Fukai and Barbara Fukai offers a detailed and three-dimensional presentation of home construction. Learn more about How a House is Built on their website.

India Tour. In January I completed a second visit to India (from December 25 to January 15). This second trip offered an opportunity to learn more about housing and urban planning issues. I encourage you to read my full report if you didn’t yet get a chance to do so before. During this trip, I learned about a planned community called Lavasa.

Radio Interviews. Audio is now available for recent interviews with Gregory Johnson on ABC News Australia (includes Jay Shafer), National Radio in Ireland, Iowa Public Radio Book Reading/Interview, and Public Radio Interview with Ben Kieffer from February 2007. I hope to have more audio available in December.

Website Redesign. The Small House Society web pages have been significantly upgraded with new navigation links at the top of each page and the addition of a Facebook group.

Kiva Lending Team. Resources For Life now has a Kiva Funding Team. If you’ve not yet heard about Kiva, I encourage you to check it out.

Border to Border Tour. If you’ve not had an opportunity to visit the Border to Border Tour page, I encourage you to do so. The tour was an amazing success. Photos from the tour area now available. Many thanks to all those who attended the tour events and provided us with encouragement and support.

Thanks. I want to thank the global team of volunteers and contributors “behind the scenes” who help make all this possible. I’m very grateful to the many people who continue to uphold and advance the mission of the Small House Society. Thanks again for your support. Please let me know if there is any way that the Small House Society can serve you better.

Regards,
Gregory Johnson, Facilitator
Small House Society

Internet: http://www.smallhousesociety.org
E-Mail: shs @ resourcesforlife.com (without spaces)
Postal: c/o Resources for Life, PO Box 2717, Iowa City, IA 52244-2717
Phone: (319) 621-4911

* * *

Choose Your Advertising. The topical advertising links below are provided by Google AdSense. In providing these links, we give our site visitors the option to view advertising or not. We don’t necessarily endorse the advertisers generated by these links, but they are supposed to be context relevant and for that reason you might find them helpful. These links will take you away from our site if you don’t right click and choose to open them in a new window or tab. We’re currently experimenting with this form of advertising. Let us know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. In particular, if you find advertisers listed here that are offensive or misleading, contact us and we’ll have them blocked. Our filtering of ads ensures you get the most useful advertising possible. Click on a topical link below to view a page of ads related to that topic.

Dear Friend of Small, Simple, and Sustainable Living,

I know that time is precious for everyone, so I’ll try to keep this update short. The approximate reading time is about 4 minutes. Feel free to reduce your reading time even more by skipping over topics that don’t interest you.

Open Tiny House Event. If you’ve been reading Jay Shafer’s blog, you know about his cross-country trip, the Fencl Coat to Coast Tour. Jay will be having two open house events in Iowa City. One on June 3 at 6PM (Mercer Aquatic Center), and another on June 4 at 12: 30 PM where both of our homes, the Mobile Hermitage and the Fencl, will be available for viewing and purchase (508 Melrose Court).

From last month’s newsletter posted two days ago…

The Clayton i-house. The most recent designer/builder to boldly enter the national stage has been Clayton with their i-house. [see video]

FLYP Media. There was a very nice multi-page article produced by Flyp Media. If you missed it, you’ll want to take a look.

Small House Movement Video Overview. In response to hundreds of email and phone inquires, I’ve created a simple 10 minute video that introduces the Small House Movement. A new and improved version of this video will be produced in the future in response to feedback and suggestions. Please watch the video and let me know if you have any comments.

Rocio Romero. From their latest newsletter, it’s clear that Rocio Romero is continuing to design and build art that you can live in. Take a look.

Tata Housing. The India-based company, Tata made news recently for creating the world’s first $2,500 car, the Tata Nano. It’s not a concept car. It’s an award winning vehicle that people are purchasing and driving. Now Tata has launched Tata Housing. What Tata has achieved with small cars they are now creating in the small house industry. I’ll be going to India on June 26 through July 12 and hope to learn more while I’m there.

Mobile Hermitage – Now For Sale!

The Mobile Hermitage, pictured above, is one of the homes that helped start the Small House Movement back in 2003. The Mobile Hermitage is now being offered for sale at a price of $40,000 $30,000 or best offer. Please contact us to make an offer. This is the same home that was featured on National Public Radio, Public Television, Better Homes and Gardens, and even the Oprah Winfrey show requested to have it on the show. The sale of the home will help advance the Small House Movement and make way for an exciting new development in smaller, simpler, more sustainable living.

The Small House Book. Jay’s newest book, The Small House Book, is now available on the TumbleweedHouses.com website and has received positive reviews among those who have read it. If you use our link to the TumbleweedHouses.com website, some proceeds from book and home sales will help support the Small House Society.

From previous newsletters…

Energy Efficient Construction Video. A video is now available for those interested in extreme energy savings. Take a look.

Small Living Presentation in Wisconsin. On 2 April 2009, at a conference on Temperance at Viterbo University, in La Crosse, Wisconsin, I delivered the keynote presentation on the topic of simple and small living. A complete video of the presentation (1 hour of presentation and 20 minutes of questions and answers) is available for viewing on Blip.tv and Vimeo.com.

Small Living Journal. The recent launch of the Small Living Journal at www.SmallLivingJournal.com was a huge success. The journal was launched on 23 March 2009 with it’s first issue, and since then thousands of people have visited the site and hundreds signed up for the RSS Feed. The Small Living Journal began as a simple idea put forth by Stephanie Reiley (of ComingUnmoored.com). Stephanie contacted many of the writers (and leading voices) within the small house movement; people who are regularly sharing their own small living experiences on blogs and websites. She brought these writers together, one by one, to join in a kind of collaborative writing project that would be the Small House Journal. Already admired and respected in the movement, it didn’t take Stephanie long to gather a significant base of support, and the dream became a reality. Please take a moment now to visit the Small Living Journal and subscribe to the RSS Feed.

Membership. Many thanks to all those who have already joined or renewed their membership this year at the $5 annual level. If you’ve not done so already, please visit the membership page. Your support helps us support simpler and smaller living initiatives. Thanks to all those who gave above and beyond the $5 suggested membership donation.

New Online Community. In recent months, there has been incredible growth among the small living online comunities and discussion forums. In addition to the Small House Society Online at Yahoo Groups, there is now a new Small House Society Online Community at ResourcesForLife.com with small living topics organized into sub-forums rather than a single discussion list. It’s advertising free and doesn’t require a Yahoo account. Visit the Community Information page for more information including a video tour. Other communities and discussion lists, independent of the Small House Society, include the Tiny House Yahoo Group, The Tiny House Forum by Michael Janzen, and the Tiny House Village Network. The combined membership of these groups represents thousands of people. The messages posted to the forums and lists exceed 10,000 messages. I believe this is a sign that the small house movement has reached critical mass and is about to experience rapid growth in the coming months. The Small House Society Online Community maintains an active listing of current discussion lists and online forums.

New Live Events and Workshops. As of this month, ResourcesForLife.com now offers online events, seminars, classes, workshops, presentations, and teleconferencing. Using this new technology, the Small House Society hopes to offer special live events as well as hosting collaborative meetings for the movement. More news will be in next month’s newsletter.

Media Coverage. There continues to be excellent media exposure for the movement toward smaller and simpler living. Just about every week we receive media inquires from print and television journalists around the world. Most recently the Small House Society was featured in the Financial Times of London and Shedworking (both with photos courtesy of my Fiancée, Makur). There was also a very nice article about the movement in the Economist.

Interviews. Please let me know if you would like to have your website and business featured in a video. The plan is to explore small living websites while interviewing the owner(s) about their work. The narrative can accompany a video tour of the website.

How a House is Built. The latest book from Dennis Fukai and Barbara Fukai offers a detailed and three-dimensional presentation of home construction. Learn more about How a House is Built on their website.

India Tour. In January I completed a second visit to India (from December 25 to January 15). This second trip offered an opportunity to learn more about housing and urban planning issues. I encourage you to read my full report if you didn’t yet get a chance to do so before. During this trip, I learned about a planned community called Lavasa.

Radio Interviews. Audio is now available for recent interviews with Gregory Johnson on ABC News Australia (includes Jay Shafer), National Radio in Ireland, Iowa Public Radio Book Reading/Interview, and Public Radio Interview with Ben Kieffer from February 2007. I hope to have more audio available in December.

Website Redesign. The Small House Society web pages have been significantly upgraded with new navigation links at the top of each page and the addition of a Facebook group.

Kiva Lending Team. Resources For Life now has a Kiva Funding Team. If you’ve not yet heard about Kiva, I encourage you to check it out.

Border to Border Tour. If you’ve not had an opportunity to visit the Border to Border Tour page, I encourage you to do so. The tour was an amazing success. Photos from the tour area now available. Many thanks to all those who attended the tour events and provided us with encouragement and support.

Thanks. I want to thank the global team of volunteers and contributors “behind the scenes” who help make all this possible. I’m very grateful to the many people who continue to uphold and advance the mission of the Small House Society. Thanks again for your support. Please let me know if there is any way that the Small House Society can serve you better.

Regards,
Gregory Johnson, Facilitator
Small House Society

Internet: http://www.smallhousesociety.org
E-Mail: shs @ resourcesforlife.com (without spaces)
Postal: c/o Resources for Life, PO Box 2717, Iowa City, IA 52244-2717
Phone: (319) 621-4911

* * *

Choose Your Advertising. The topical advertising links below are provided by Google AdSense. In providing these links, we give our site visitors the option to view advertising or not. We don’t necessarily endorse the advertisers generated by these links, but they are supposed to be context relevant and for that reason you might find them helpful. These links will take you away from our site if you don’t right click and choose to open them in a new window or tab. We’re currently experimenting with this form of advertising. Let us know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. In particular, if you find advertisers listed here that are offensive or misleading, contact us and we’ll have them blocked. Our filtering of ads ensures you get the most useful advertising possible. Click on a topical link below to view a page of ads related to that topic.

Dear Friend of Small, Simple, and Sustainable Living,

I know that time is precious for everyone, so I’ll try to keep this update short. The approximate reading time is about 4 minutes. Feel free to reduce your reading time even more by skipping over topics that don’t interest you.

This newsletter contains some repeated news from last month for those who just recently joined our list or didn’t get a chance to read last month’s newsletter. The new content is at the top and repeated information is further down the page.

Open Tiny House Event. If you’ve been reading Jay Shafer’s blog, you know about his cross-country trip, the Fencl Coat to Coast Tour. Jay will be making a stop in Iowa City from June 3 to 5, and we hope to have an open house with my home and the Fencl on Thursday. More details will be posted in about 48 hours, just as soon as we have more details about the specific time. Jay has already scheduled an open house at 3:00 PM in Iowa City on June 3 at the Mercer Aquatic Center.

The Clayton i-house. The most recent designer/builder to boldly enter the national stage has been Clayton with their i-house. [see video]

FLYP Media. There was a very nice multi-page article produced by Flyp Media. If you missed it, you’ll want to take a look.

Small House Movement Video Overview. In response to hundreds of email and phone inquires, I’ve created a simple 10 minute video that introduces the Small House Movement. A new and improved version of this video will be produced in the future in response to feedback and suggestions. Please watch the video and let me know if you have any comments.

Rocio Romero. From their latest newsletter, it’s clear that Rocio Romero is continuing to design and build art that you can live in. Take a look.

Tata Housing. The India-based company, Tata made news recently for creating the world’s first $2,500 car, the Tata Nano. It’s not a concept car. It’s an award winning vehicle that people are purchasing and driving. Now Tata has launched Tata Housing. What Tata has achieved with small cars they are now creating in the small house industry. I’ll be going to India on June 26 through July 12 and hope to learn more while I’m there.

Mobile Hermitage – Now For Sale!

The Mobile Hermitage, pictured above, is one of the homes that helped start the Small House Movement back in 2003. The Mobile Hermitage is now being offered for sale at a price of $40,000 $30,000 or best offer. Please contact us to make an offer. This is the same home that was featured on National Public Radio, Public Television, Better Homes and Gardens, and even the Oprah Winfrey show requested to have it on the show. The sale of the home will help advance the Small House Movement and make way for an exciting new development in smaller, simpler, more sustainable living.

The Small House Book. Jay’s newest book, The Small House Book, is now available on the TumbleweedHouses.com website and has received positive reviews among those who have read it. If you use our link to the TumbleweedHouses.com website, some proceeds from book and home sales will help support the Small House Society.

From previous newsletters…

Energy Efficient Construction Video. A video is now available for those interested in extreme energy savings. Take a look.

Small Living Presentation in Wisconsin. On 2 April 2009, at a conference on Temperance at Viterbo University, in La Crosse, Wisconsin, I delivered the keynote presentation on the topic of simple and small living. A complete video of the presentation (1 hour of presentation and 20 minutes of questions and answers) is available for viewing on Blip.tv and Vimeo.com.

Small Living Journal. The recent launch of the Small Living Journal at www.SmallLivingJournal.com was a huge success. The journal was launched on 23 March 2009 with it’s first issue, and since then thousands of people have visited the site and hundreds signed up for the RSS Feed. The Small Living Journal began as a simple idea put forth by Stephanie Reiley (of ComingUnmoored.com). Stephanie contacted many of the writers (and leading voices) within the small house movement; people who are regularly sharing their own small living experiences on blogs and websites. She brought these writers together, one by one, to join in a kind of collaborative writing project that would be the Small House Journal. Already admired and respected in the movement, it didn’t take Stephanie long to gather a significant base of support, and the dream became a reality. Please take a moment now to visit the Small Living Journal and subscribe to the RSS Feed.

Membership. Many thanks to all those who have already joined or renewed their membership this year at the $5 annual level. If you’ve not done so already, please visit the membership page. Your support helps us support simpler and smaller living initiatives. Thanks to all those who gave above and beyond the $5 suggested membership donation.

New Online Community. In recent months, there has been incredible growth among the small living online comunities and discussion forums. In addition to the Small House Society Online at Yahoo Groups, there is now a new Small House Society Online Community at ResourcesForLife.com with small living topics organized into sub-forums rather than a single discussion list. It’s advertising free and doesn’t require a Yahoo account. Visit the Community Information page for more information including a video tour. Other communities and discussion lists, independent of the Small House Society, include the Tiny House Yahoo Group, The Tiny House Forum by Michael Janzen, and the Tiny House Village Network. The combined membership of these groups represents thousands of people. The messages posted to the forums and lists exceed 10,000 messages. I believe this is a sign that the small house movement has reached critical mass and is about to experience rapid growth in the coming months. The Small House Society Online Community maintains an active listing of current discussion lists and online forums.

New Live Events and Workshops. As of this month, ResourcesForLife.com now offers online events, seminars, classes, workshops, presentations, and teleconferencing. Using this new technology, the Small House Society hopes to offer special live events as well as hosting collaborative meetings for the movement. More news will be in next month’s newsletter.

Media Coverage. There continues to be excellent media exposure for the movement toward smaller and simpler living. Just about every week we receive media inquires from print and television journalists around the world. Most recently the Small House Society was featured in the Financial Times of London and Shedworking (both with photos courtesy of my Fiancée, Makur). There was also a very nice article about the movement in the Economist.

Interviews. Please let me know if you would like to have your website and business featured in a video. The plan is to explore small living websites while interviewing the owner(s) about their work. The narrative can accompany a video tour of the website.

How a House is Built. The latest book from Dennis Fukai and Barbara Fukai offers a detailed and three-dimensional presentation of home construction. Learn more about How a House is Built on their website.

India Tour. In January I completed a second visit to India (from December 25 to January 15). This second trip offered an opportunity to learn more about housing and urban planning issues. I encourage you to read my full report if you didn’t yet get a chance to do so before. During this trip, I learned about a planned community called Lavasa.

Radio Interviews. Audio is now available for recent interviews with Gregory Johnson on ABC News Australia (includes Jay Shafer), National Radio in Ireland, Iowa Public Radio Book Reading/Interview, and Public Radio Interview with Ben Kieffer from February 2007. I hope to have more audio available in December.

Website Redesign. The Small House Society web pages have been significantly upgraded with new navigation links at the top of each page and the addition of a Facebook group.

Kiva Lending Team. Resources For Life now has a Kiva Funding Team. If you’ve not yet heard about Kiva, I encourage you to check it out.

Border to Border Tour. If you’ve not had an opportunity to visit the Border to Border Tour page, I encourage you to do so. The tour was an amazing success. Photos from the tour area now available. Many thanks to all those who attended the tour events and provided us with encouragement and support.

Thanks. I want to thank the global team of volunteers and contributors “behind the scenes” who help make all this possible. I’m very grateful to the many people who continue to uphold and advance the mission of the Small House Society. Thanks again for your support. Please let me know if there is any way that the Small House Society can serve you better.

Regards,
Gregory Johnson, Facilitator
Small House Society

Internet: http://www.smallhousesociety.org
E-Mail: shs @ resourcesforlife.com (without spaces)
Postal: c/o Resources for Life, PO Box 2717, Iowa City, IA 52244-2717
Phone: (319) 621-4911

* * *

Choose Your Advertising. The topical advertising links below are provided by Google AdSense. In providing these links, we give our site visitors the option to view advertising or not. We don’t necessarily endorse the advertisers generated by these links, but they are supposed to be context relevant and for that reason you might find them helpful. These links will take you away from our site if you don’t right click and choose to open them in a new window or tab. We’re currently experimenting with this form of advertising. Let us know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. In particular, if you find advertisers listed here that are offensive or misleading, contact us and we’ll have them blocked. Our filtering of ads ensures you get the most useful advertising possible. Click on a topical link below to view a page of ads related to that topic.

Dear Friend of Small, Simple, and Sustainable Living,

As anticipated, this past month we experienced one of the most significant advancements in the small house movement since the dawn of the 21st century. We’ve reached critical mass and are now preparing for exponential growth in the movement. At one point, this past month, a Google search on small house actually resulted in over a billion results! I actually have it documented on video. Today the number is at about 170 million.

I know that time is precious for everyone, so I’ll try to keep this update short. The approximate reading time is about 4 minutes. Feel free to reduce your reading time even more by skipping over topics that don’t interest you.

This newsletter contains some repeated news from last month for those who just recently joined our list or didn’t get a chance to read last month’s newsletter. The new content is at the top and repeated information is further down the page.

Mobile Hermitage – Now For Sale!

The Mobile Hermitage, pictured here, is one of the homes that helped start the Small House Movement back in 2003. The Mobile Hermitage is now being offered for sale at a price of $40,000 $30,000 or best offer. Please contact us to make an offer. This is the same home that was featured on National Public Radio, Public Television, Better Homes and Gardens, and even the Oprah Winfrey show requested to have it on the show. The sale of the home will help advance the Small House Movement and make way for an exciting new development in smaller, simpler, more sustainable living.

National Media Seeking Small Housers. We were recently contacted by someone representing a major daytime television news show. If you’re interested in possibly being featured on the show, please let me know. They are looking for couples or small families who have recently downsized. On May 8, another global media outlet is about to launch a major comprehensive story on the small house movement. More about that will be in next month’s newsletter.

The Small House Book. Jay’s newest book, The Small House Book, is now available on the TumbleweedHouses.com website and has received positive reviews among those who have read it. If you use our link to the TumbleweedHouses.com website, some proceeds from book and home sales will help support the Small House Society.

Energy Efficient Construction Video. A video is now available for those interested in extreme energy savings. Take a look.

Small Living Presentation in Wisconsin. On 2 April 2009, at a conference on Temperance at Viterbo University, in La Crosse, Wisconsin, I delivered the keynote presentation on the topic of simple and small living. A complete video of the presentation (1 hour of presentation and 20 minutes of questions and answers) is available for viewing on Blip.tv and Vimeo.com.

Small Living Journal – An Update. The recent launch of the Small Living Journal at www.SmallLivingJournal.com was a huge success. The journal was launched on 23 March 2009 with it’s first issue, and since then thousands of people have visited the site and hundreds signed up for the RSS Feed. In the most recent edition, the SLJ began delivering video streams of news about the small living movement – which makes it the first (and only) online video broadcast channel dedicated to the small living movement. I believe the Small Living Journal is a significant development in the small house movement because it’s the first initiative that brings together the many voices of the movement in one unified and collaborative online publication. It represents a very necessary next step in the evolution of the movement. The Small Living Journal began as a simple idea put forth by Stephanie Reiley (of ComingUnmoored.com). Stephanie contacted many of the writers (and leading voices) within the small house movement; people who are regularly sharing their own small living experiences on blogs and websites. She brought these writers together, one by one, to join in a kind of collaborative writing project that would be the Small House Journal. Already admired and respected in the movement, it didn’t take Stephanie long to gather a significant base of support, and the dream became a reality. Please take a moment now to visit the Small Living Journal and subscribe to the RSS Feed.

From previous newsletters…

Membership. Many thanks to all those who have already joined or renewed their membership this year at the $5 annual level. If you’ve not done so already, please visit the membership page. Your support helps us support simpler and smaller living initiatives. Thanks to all those who gave above and beyond the $5 suggested membership donation.

New Online Community. In recent months, there has been incredible growth among the small living online comunities and discussion forums. In addition to the Small House Society Online at Yahoo Groups, there is now a new Small House Society Online Community at ResourcesForLife.com with small living topics organized into sub-forums rather than a single discussion list. It’s advertising free and doesn’t require a Yahoo account. Visit the Community Information page for more information including a video tour. Other communities and discussion lists, independent of the Small House Society, include the Tiny House Yahoo Group, The Tiny House Forum by Michael Janzen, and the Tiny House Village Network. The combined membership of these groups represents thousands of people. The messages posted to the forums and lists exceed 10,000 messages. I believe this is a sign that the small house movement has reached critical mass and is about to experience rapid growth in the coming months. The Small House Society Online Community maintains an active listing of current discussion lists and online forums.

New Live Events and Workshops. As of this month, ResourcesForLife.com now offers online events, seminars, classes, workshops, presentations, and teleconferencing. Using this new technology, the Small House Society hopes to offer special live events as well as hosting collaborative meetings for the movement. More news will be in next month’s newsletter.

Media Coverage. There continues to be excellent media exposure for the movement toward smaller and simpler living. Just about every week we receive media inquires from print and television journalists around the world. Most recently the Small House Society was featured in the Financial Times of London and Shedworking (both with photos courtesy of my Fiancée, Makur). There was also a very nice article about the movement in the Economist.

Interviews. Please let me know if you would like to have your website and business featured in a video. The plan is to explore small living websites while interviewing the owner(s) about their work. The narrative can accompany a video tour of the website.

How a House is Built. The latest book from Dennis Fukai and Barbara Fukai offers a detailed and three-dimensional presentation of home construction. Learn more about How a House is Built on their website.

India Tour. In January I completed a second visit to India (from December 25 to January 15). This second trip offered an opportunity to learn more about housing and urban planning issues. I encourage you to read my full report if you didn’t yet get a chance to do so before. During this trip, I learned about a planned community called Lavasa.

Radio Interviews. Audio is now available for recent interviews with Gregory Johnson on ABC News Australia (includes Jay Shafer), National Radio in Ireland, Iowa Public Radio Book Reading/Interview, and Public Radio Interview with Ben Kieffer from February 2007. I hope to have more audio available in December.

Website Redesign. The Small House Society web pages have been significantly upgraded with new navigation links at the top of each page and the addition of a Facebook group.

Kiva Lending Team. Resources For Life now has a Kiva Funding Team. If you’ve not yet heard about Kiva, I encourage you to check it out.

Border to Border Tour. If you’ve not had an opportunity to visit the Border to Border Tour page, I encourage you to do so. The tour was an amazing success. Photos from the tour area now available. Many thanks to all those who attended the tour events and provided us with encouragement and support.

Thanks. I want to thank the global team of volunteers and contributors “behind the scenes” who help make all this possible. I’m very grateful to the many people who continue to uphold and advance the mission of the Small House Society. Thanks again for your support. Please let me know if there is any way that the Small House Society can serve you better.

Regards,
Gregory Johnson, Facilitator
Small House Society

Internet: http://www.smallhousesociety.org
E-Mail: shs @ resourcesforlife.com (without spaces)
Postal: c/o Resources for Life, PO Box 2717, Iowa City, IA 52244-2717
Phone: (319) 621-4911

* * *

Choose Your Advertising. The topical advertising links below are provided by Google AdSense. In providing these links, we give our site visitors the option to view advertising or not. We don’t necessarily endorse the advertisers generated by these links, but they are supposed to be context relevant and for that reason you might find them helpful. These links will take you away from our site if you don’t right click and choose to open them in a new window or tab. We’re currently experimenting with this form of advertising. Let us know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. In particular, if you find advertisers listed here that are offensive or misleading, contact us and we’ll have them blocked. Our filtering of ads ensures you get the most useful advertising possible. Click on a topical link below to view a page of ads related to that topic.

Dear Friend of Small, Simple, and Sustainable Living,

I’m about to share with you one of the most significant developments in the small house movement since the dawn of the 21st century.

I know that time is precious for everyone, so I’ll try to keep this update short. The approximate reading time is about 4 minutes. Feel free to reduce your reading time even more by skipping over topics that don’t interest you.

This newsletter contains some repeated news from last month for those who just recently joined our list or didn’t get a chance to read last month’s newsletter. The new content is at the top and repeated information is further down the page.

Small Living Presentation in Wisconsin. On 2 April 2009, at a conference on Temperance at Viterbo University, in La Crosse, Wisconsin, I’ll be delivering the keynote presentation on the topic of simple and small living. The event is open to the public.

Small Living Journal. There is now an online journal for the small house movement, and it’s called the Small Living Journal online at www.SmallLivingJournal.com. The journal was launched on 23 March 2009 with it’s first issue, and in the first few days of the launch, thousands of people visited the site and hundreds signed up for the RSS Feed. I believe the Small Living Journal is one of the most significant developments in the small house movement because it’s the first initiative that brings together the many voices of the movement in one unified and collaborative online publication. It represents a very necessary next step in the evolution of the movement. The Small Living Journal began as a simple idea put forth by Stephanie Reiley (of ComingUnmoored.com). Stephanie contacted many of the writers (and leading voices) within the small house movement; people who are regularly sharing their own small living experiences on blogs and websites. She brought these writers together, one by one, to join in a kind of collaborative writing project that would be the Small House Journal. Already admired and respected in the movement, it didn’t take Stephanie long to gather a significant base of support, and the dream became a reality. Please take a moment now to visit the Small Living Journal and subscribe to the RSS Feed.

New Online Community. In recent months, there has been incredible growth among the small living online communities and discussion forums. In addition to the Small House Society Online at Yahoo Groups, there is now a new Small House Society Online Community at ResourcesForLife.com with small living topics organized into sub-forums rather than a single discussion list. It’s advertising free and doesn’t require a Yahoo account. Visit the Community Information page for more information including a video tour. Other communities and discussion lists, independent of the Small House Society, include the Tiny House Yahoo Group, The Tiny House Forum by Michael Janzen, and the Tiny House Village Network. The combined membership of these groups represents thousands of people. The messages posted to the forums and lists exceed 10,000 messages. I believe this is a sign that the small house movement has reached critical mass and is about to experience rapid growth in the coming months. The Small House Society Online Community maintains an active listing of current discussion lists and online forums.

New Live Events and Workshops. As of this month, ResourcesForLife.com now offers online events, seminars, classes, workshops, presentations, and teleconferencing. Using this new technology, the Small House Society hopes to offer special live events as well as hosting collaborative meetings for the movement. More news will be in next month’s newsletter.

From previous newsletters…

Membership. Many thanks to all those who have already joined or renewed their membership this year at the $5 annual level. If you’ve not done so already, please visit the membership page. Your support helps us support simpler and smaller living initiatives. Thanks to all those who gave above and beyond the $5 suggested membership donation.

Media Coverage. There continues to be excellent media exposure for the movement toward smaller and simpler living. Just about every week we receive media inquires from print and television journalists around the world. Most recently the Small House Society was featured in the Financial Times of London and Shedworking (both with photos courtesy of my Fiancée, Makur). There was also a very nice article about the movement in the Economist.

Interviews. Please let me know if you would like to have your website and business featured in a video. The plan is to explore small living websites while interviewing the owner(s) about their work. The narrative can accompany a video tour of the website.

How a House is Built. The latest book from Dennis Fukai and Barbara Fukai offers a detailed and three-dimensional presentation of home construction. Learn more about How a House is Built on their website.

India Tour. In January I completed a second visit to India (from December 25 to January 15). This second trip offered an opportunity to learn more about housing and urban planning issues. I encourage you to read my full report if you didn’t yet get a chance to do so before. During this trip, I learned about a planned community called Lavasa.

Radio Interviews. Audio is now available for recent interviews with Gregory Johnson on ABC News Australia (includes Jay Shafer), National Radio in Ireland, Iowa Public Radio Book Reading/Interview, and Public Radio Interview with Ben Kieffer from February 2007. I hope to have more audio available in December.

Website Redesign. The Small House Society web pages have been significantly upgraded with new navigation links at the top of each page and the addition of a Facebook group.

Kiva Lending Team. Resources For Life now has a Kiva Funding Team. If you’ve not yet heard about Kiva, I encourage you to check it out.

Border to Border Tour. If you’ve not had an opportunity to visit the Border to Border Tour page, I encourage you to do so. The tour was an amazing success. Photos from the tour area now available. Many thanks to all those who attended the tour events and provided us with encouragement and support.

Thanks. I want to thank the global team of volunteers and contributors “behind the scenes” who help make all this possible. I’m very grateful to the many people who continue to uphold and advance the mission of the Small House Society. Thanks again for your support. Please let me know if there is any way that the Small House Society can serve you better.

Regards,
Gregory Johnson, Facilitator
Small House Society

Internet: http://www.smallhousesociety.org
E-Mail: shs @ resourcesforlife.com (without spaces)
Postal: c/o Resources for Life, PO Box 2717, Iowa City, IA 52244-2717
Phone: (319) 621-4911

* * *

Choose Your Advertising. The topical advertising links below are provided by Google AdSense. In providing these links, we give our site visitors the option to view advertising or not. We don’t necessarily endorse the advertisers generated by these links, but they are supposed to be context relevant and for that reason you might find them helpful. These links will take you away from our site if you don’t right click and choose to open them in a new window or tab. We’re currently experimenting with this form of advertising. Let us know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. In particular, if you find advertisers listed here that are offensive or misleading, contact us and we’ll have them blocked. Our filtering of ads ensures you get the most useful advertising possible. Click on a topical link below to view a page of ads related to that topic.

Dear Friend of Smaller and Simpler Living,

I know that time is precious for everyone these days, so I’ll try to keep this update short. The approximate reading time for this message is about 3 minutes. Feel free to reduce your reading time even more by skipping over topics that don’t interest you.

This newsletter contains some repeated news from last month for those who just recently joined our list or didn’t get a chance to read last month’s newsletter. The new content is at the top and repeated information is further down the page.

Membership. Many thanks to all those who have already joined or renewed their membership this year at the $5 annual level. If you’ve not done so already, please visit the membership page. Your support helps us support simpler and smaller living initiatives.

Media Coverage. There continues to be excellent media exposure for the movement toward smaller and simpler living. Just about every week we receive media inquires from print and television journalists around the world. Most recently the Small House Society was featured in the Financial Times of London and Shedworking (both with photos courtesy of my Fiancée, Makur). There was also a very nice article about the movement in the Economist.

Mission. Next months’ issue of the newsletter will include a writing about the Small House Society mission and a strategy for accomplishing it. Please be alert for that issue.

Interviews. Please let me know if you would like to have your website and business featured in a video. The plan is to explore small living websites while interviewing the owner(s) about their work. The narrative can accompany a video tour of the website.

From previous newsletters…

How a House is Built. The latest book from Dennis Fukai and Barbara Fukai offers a detailed and three-dimensional presentation of home construction. Learn more about How a House is Built on their website.

India Tour. Last month I completed a second visit to India (from December 25 to January 15). This second trip offered an opportunity to learn more about housing and urban planning issues. I encourage you to read my full report if you didn’t yet get a chance to do so before. During this trip, I learned about a planned community called Lavasa.

Radio Interviews. Audio is now available for recent interviews with Gregory Johnson on ABC News Australia (includes Jay Shafer), National Radio in Ireland, Iowa Public Radio Book Reading/Interview, and Public Radio Interview with Ben Kieffer from February 2007. I hope to have more audio available in December.

Website Redesign. The Small House Society web pages have been significantly upgraded with new navigation links at the top of each page and the addition of a Facebook group.

Kiva Lending Team. Resources For Life now has a Kiva Funding Team. If you’ve not yet heard about Kiva, I encourage you to check it out.

Border to Border Tour. If you’ve not had an opportunity to visit the Border to Border Tour page, I encourage you to do so. The tour was an amazing success. Photos from the tour area now available. Many thanks to all those who attended the tour events and provided us with encouragement and support.

Book With Membership Payment. You’ll notice there is now an option for those donating $20 or more to receive a free copy of Put Your Life on a Diet by Gregory Johnson. There’s also still the option for those donating $30 or more to receive a free copy of Living Small by Dennis Fukai.

Thanks. I want to thank the global team of volunteers and contributors “behind the scenes” who help make all this possible. I’m very grateful to the many people who continue to uphold and advance the mission of the Small House Society. Thanks again for your support. Please let me know if there is any way that the Small House Society can serve you better.

Regards,
Gregory Johnson, Facilitator
Small House Society

Internet: http://www.smallhousesociety.org
E-Mail: shs @ resourcesforlife.com (without spaces)
Postal: c/o Resources for Life, PO Box 2717, Iowa City, IA 52244-2717
Phone: (319) 621-4911

* * *

Choose Your Advertising. The topical advertising links below are provided by Google AdSense. In providing these links, we give our site visitors the option to view advertising or not. We don’t necessarily endorse the advertisers generated by these links, but they are supposed to be context relevant and for that reason you might find them helpful. These links will take you away from our site if you don’t right click and choose to open them in a new window or tab. We’re currently experimenting with this form of advertising. Let us know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. In particular, if you find advertisers listed here that are offensive or misleading, contact us and we’ll have them blocked. Our filtering of ads ensures you get the most useful advertising possible. Click on a topical link below to view a page of ads related to that topic.

Dear Friend of Smaller and Simpler Living,

I know that time is precious for everyone these days, so I’ll try to keep this update short. The approximate reading time for this message is about 3 minutes. Feel free to reduce your reading time even more by skipping over topics that don’t interest you. This newsletter contains some repeated news from last month for those who just recently joined our list or didn’t get a chance to read last month’s newsletter. The new content is at the top and repeated information is further down the page.

Membership. January is membership renewal month at the Small House Society. Many thanks to all those who have already joined or renewed their membership this year at the $5 annual level. If you’ve not done so already, please visit the membership page. Your support helps us support simpler and smaller living initiatives.

Green Building Presentation. Don Otto of DPO Construction is one of the foremost experts on green construction, and an advocate of building small. Don built Iowa’s first 5-star energy rated home in 1995. Don has just started building his latest home, and is welcoming visitors to follow the construction process with him. More will be posted on his website in the months ahead, where Don hopes to offer an online presentation of the construction process as well.

How a House is Built. The latest book from Dennis Fukai and Barbara Fukai offers a detailed and three-dimensional presentation of  home construction. Learn more about How a House is Built on their website.

Media Coverage. There continues to be excellent media exposure for the movement toward smaller and simpler living. Just about every week we receive media inquires from print and television journalists around the world.

India Tour. This month I completed a second visit to India (from December 25 to January 15). This second trip offered an opportunity to learn more about housing and urban planning issues. I encourage you to read my full report if you didn’t yet get a chance to do so before. During this trip, I learned about a planned community called Lavasa.

Radio Interviews. Audio is now available for recent interviews with Gregory Johnson on ABC News Australia (includes Jay Shafer), National Radio in Ireland, Iowa Public Radio Book Reading/Interview, and Public Radio Interview with Ben Kieffer from February 2007. I hope to have more audio available in December.

Website Redesign. The Small House Society web pages have been significantly upgraded with new navigation links at the top of each page and the addition of a Facebook group.

Kiva Lending Team. Resources For Life now has a Kiva Funding Team. If you’ve not yet heard about Kiva, I encourage you to check it out.

Border to Border Tour. If you’ve not had an opportunity to visit the Border to Border Tour page, I encourage you to do so. The tour was an amazing success. Photos from the tour area now available. Many thanks to all those who attended the tour events and provided us with encouragement and support.

Book With Membership Payment. You’ll notice there is now an option for those donating $20 or more to receive a free copy of Put Your Life on a Diet by Gregory Johnson. There’s also still the option for those donating $30 or more to receive a free copy of Living Small by Dennis Fukai.

Thanks. I want to thank the global team of volunteers and contributors “behind the scenes” who help make all this possible. I’m very grateful to the many people who continue to uphold and advance the mission of the Small House Society. Thanks again for your support. Please let me know if there is any way that the Small House Society can serve you better.

Regards,
Gregory Johnson, Facilitator
Small House Society

Internet: http://www.smallhousesociety.org
E-Mail: shs @ resourcesforlife.com (without spaces)
Postal: c/o Resources for Life, PO Box 2717, Iowa City, IA 52244-2717
Phone: (319) 621-4911

* * *

Choose Your Advertising. The topical advertising links below are provided by Google AdSense. In providing these links, we give our site visitors the option to view advertising or not. We don’t necessarily endorse the advertisers generated by these links, but they are supposed to be context relevant and for that reason you might find them helpful. These links will take you away from our site if you don’t right click and choose to open them in a new window or tab. We’re currently experimenting with this form of advertising. Let us know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. In particular, if you find advertisers listed here that are offensive or misleading, contact us and we’ll have them blocked. Our filtering of ads ensures you get the most useful advertising possible. Click on a topical link below to view a page of ads related to that topic.

Dear Friend of Smaller and Simpler Living,

I know that time is precious for everyone these days, so I’ll try to keep this update short. The approximate reading time for this message is about 3 minutes. Feel free to reduce your reading time even more by skipping over topics that don’t interest you. This newsletter contains some repeated news from last month for those who just recently joined our list or didn’t get a chance to read last month’s newsletter. The new content is at the top and repeated information is further down the page.

Blue Planet Green Living. A nice story about smaller living was offered by the newly launched Blue Planet Green Living website. I encourage  you to visit their website and learn more about this wonderful new resource.

Media Coverage. There continues to be excellent media exposure for the movement toward smaller and simpler living including an excellent CNN story about Jay Shafer and other small housers. I created an information page about Jay that includes the video from that CNN story.

India Tour. Last month I completed my 10-day visit to India. My brief time there was very full and offered an opportunity to learn about housing and urban planning issues. I encourage you to read my full report if you didn’t yet get a chance to do so.

Radio Interviews. Audio is now available for recent interviews with Gregory Johnson on ABC News Australia (includes Jay Shafer), National Radio in Ireland, Iowa Public Radio Book Reading/Interview, and Public Radio Interview with Ben Kieffer from February 2007. I hope to have more audio available in December.

Website Redesign. The Small House Society web pages have been significantly upgraded with new navigation links at the top of each page and the addition of a Facebook group.

Kiva Lending Team. Resources For Life now has a Kiva Funding Team. If you’ve not yet heard about Kiva, I encourage you to check it out.

Border to Border Tour. If you’ve not had an opportunity to visit the Border to Border Tour page, I encourage you to do so. The tour was an amazing success. Photos from the tour area now available. Many thanks to all those who attended the tour events and provided us with encouragement and support.

Membership. Many thanks to all those who have already joined or renewed their membership to the Small House Society this year at the $5 annual level. If you’ve not done so already, please visit the membership page.

Book With Membership Payment. You’ll notice there is now an option for those donating $20 or more to receive a free copy of Put Your Life on a Diet by Gregory Johnson. There’s also still the option for those donating $30 or more to receive a free copy of Living Small by Dennis Fukai.

Thanks. I want to thank the global team of volunteers and contributors “behind the scenes” who help make all this possible. I’m very grateful to the many people who continue to uphold and advance the mission of the Small House Society. Thanks again for your support. Please let me know if there is any way that the Small House Society can serve you better.

Regards,
Gregory Johnson, Facilitator
Small House Society

Internet: http://www.smallhousesociety.org
E-Mail: shs @ resourcesforlife.com (without spaces)
Postal: c/o Resources for Life, PO Box 2717, Iowa City, IA 52244-2717
Phone: (319) 621-4911

* * *

Choose Your Advertising. The topical advertising links below are provided by Google AdSense. In providing these links, we give our site visitors the option to view advertising or not. We don’t necessarily endorse the advertisers generated by these links, but they are supposed to be context relevant and for that reason you might find them helpful. These links will take you away from our site if you don’t right click and choose to open them in a new window or tab. We’re currently experimenting with this form of advertising. Let us know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. In particular, if you find advertisers listed here that are offensive or misleading, contact us and we’ll have them blocked. Our filtering of ads ensures you get the most useful advertising possible. Click on a topical link below to view a page of ads related to that topic.