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Living in the woods
Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal
and give strength to body and soul. ~John Muir
In June of 2006, after many years of searching, we finally found the property in the woods
that we had been looking for. We had originally thought to purchase a piece of property on
which to build an earth sheltered home. However, we were lucky enough to find the perfect
piece of property, with an earth home already built on it. So, we bought it.
Here is where we live. The links below will open up maps and satellite imagery. The arrow in the
Google Map
points to the spot where I was standing when I took the above picture and the small green rectangle to the left of
it is the roof of the house in the image above.
Most people would think that a city boy like like me would not have any interest in living
in the woods. I’ve lived and traveled in large cities all of my life, Singapore, Amsterdam,
Mexico City, Hong Kong, Minneapolis… the list goes on. A move to a wooded acreage in Minnesota
is not what most technologists would choose. But then, I’m not your average maven next door.
I have many good friends and family living in SE Iowa. These are folks whom I met soon after moving to the US in 1980.
The best times that I’ve had while living here have been living with the families of my friends on their farmsteads. I love the friendly,
neighbourly people that live in small towns. The the sense of community is very important to me. Most of all I
love the closeness to the earth, to nature, and to the continual changing scenes and colors
of the surrounding countryside. Even though I emigrated to the United States, this early experience has given me small town roots.
When living in the city you can rarely see the sky. You can’t really watch the stars at night
because of all the lights around you. Everything that you do outside is surrounded by the
overtunes of traffic, airplanes and all of the hundreds and thousands of people around you.
In very sharp contrast, is the light, the dark, the colors, the smells, the peacefulness
surrounding me in the woods. When I step outside, I can see the sky – in it’s natural color.
No smog in the way. I can smell the woods, with the rich mulch on the ground around me and
the sharp tangy smell of the acorns underfoot - and not the stinky exhaust smell of a nearby
lawnmower. At night I can lay out in my hammock (on my sod roof) and see thousands of times more
stars than were ever visible in the city. And, most of all - when I step outside what I hear
is the wind blowing through the trees, the turkeys gobbling as they walk up the hill, and maybe
if I’m lucky the coyote howling down in the valley below.
Living in the woods allows me to focus on my work in ways that were never possible before. I
don’t have the interferences and distractions that I had. Life is at a quieter pace,
and I’m able to let my imagination loose a bit more often – and my work has taken on a more
creative approach to problems.
Chino
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