Airing my obsessions

After falling over tinyhouseblog.com, I became a little obsessed with small houses. But it's not just about small houses; it's about living within your means, being happy with less, and making the most of what you can afford. I guess that's why I like crafting so much. I know what makes me happy, too, and when the time comes for "settling", I'll know what to focus on: gardens, animals, knitting, slow pace lifestyle and places, cooking, music, books, and the person I want to share it all with.

I found myself not wanting to get out of bed this morning because my daydreaming was so immensely pleasurable. There was a green roof, a small house, and planting to be done :) But then I realized that the reason I was obsessing about it was because it was all in my head; I need to get it out.

So here's my "settling" dream:

Merrickville has captured my imagination. I've never been there, but I walked the streets in the summer using Google StreetView. There's a cute little public library, a preserves shop, antique stores, a homemade ice cream parlour, historic hotels and B&B's, a coffee shop and homely pubs. Everything is picturesque and interesting, and I can imagine welcoming visitors to my home and having them fall in love with the little town too.

With a population under 3 000 and just an hour outside of Ottawa, I feel like it's a reasonable place to be.

There's a 9 acre lot just a 10 minute bike ride outside of the town and directly beside the Rideau Bird Sanctuary. This is what I dream of putting on it:

In about 600 sq. feet, all of the essentials can be housed. Also, a bedroom with wrap around windows in a wooded, country setting ... perfect? Yes.

Can the roof look like this?

I love what I call "rock garden plants" (aka drought-friendly) and it seems like they would be most useful and most beautriful on a roof. It would be so much fun to choose the patterns, textures, and colors for the plants you're putting on your roof!

In other gardening ambitions, ever hear of aquaponics?

I would like my vegetables to be grown using the power of fish poo and recycled water, please. I don't eat fish right now, and I wonder if I would be able to kill them, but I know that it is a very healthy protein and maybe somebody else could do the fishing.

Since the house is small, the flower garden is on the roof, and the vegetable garden is on top of a fish pond, I'll have lots of space for these:

Not only are pygora goats cute and curious creatures, they make enough milk for humans to have some too and their lovely locks can be spun into this:

Yeah. It all comes back to the yarn.

Of course, there would be space for my kitties to roam during the day, and I hope to have a big friendly Goldendoodle following me about. A wood stove in the living room, a long farmhouse table at which board games will be played and good food will be devoured, friends and family coming together in a peaceful place, with music in the background providing a beat to live by.

Home will be a good spot.