Tiny surfing tender at Mollusk

I'm not much of a surfer, but I still enjoy hip surf shops which often feel more like art galleries than retail outlets. This interesting little boat is located in Mollusk Surf Shop, a few blocks from Ocean Beach in my Outer Sunset neighborhood. While the boat probably wouldn't survive the nearby surf it's elegant design, woodwork and glasswork look great in the shop.

"Tiny Cabin, Giant View"

I'm fortunate that both my parents continue to clip out and send me interesting articles from the various publications they read. I particularly enjoyed a recent Wall Street Journal article about a tiny, idyllic cabin in the Sierra Nevada mountains outside Tahoe. Snowboarder Mike Basich built his home from granite stones and wood he collected from his property and milled himself. The off-grid cabin, which is several miles from the road, also boasts a fire-heated hot tub and his own personal ski lift. Impressive and inspiring!

Kukri looking for work...

A few weeks ago I was gathering wood while camping when I decided I really needed a good hatchet that could fit in my backpack. After a little research I realized I wanted something that could also clear brush. I finally settled on a Nepalese machete-like knife called a kukri:

While the kukri is often considered a weapon (utilized by the Nepalese Army and Gurkha units in the British and Indian armies), it is also a very effective tool for a wide range of chopping and cutting tasks. However, at ~2 pounds it's probably too heavy for extended backpacking trips. There will be plenty of work once I'm living in a tiny home outside the city, but while I'm still living in SF there are limited opportunities to give the kukri a good workout. So, if you live in the SF Bay area and need some help chopping or clearing my kukri and I will happily assist...

Design Elements: Barn motif

I really like the barn motif on this Mission District garage. It may serve some industrial purpose, but more than likely it's more aesthetic than functional. Either way, it adds character to the neighborhood.

"I'm probably the most fortunate person in the world."

I wanted to share this inspirational article from yesterday's edition of the San Francisco Chronicle which depicts an artist named John McAbery who happily lives and works in his tiny hand-built beachfront cabin on the Lost Coast. He built the cabin solely with hand tools and materials salvaged from the beach, and he sustains himself by carving and selling beautiful nature-inspired sculptures out of naturally felled, native Bay Laurels.

Design Elements: Planter seat

As a boater and a tiny home enthusiast I appreciate anything that successfully serves multiple purposes such as this simple but effective planter bench seat (though the seat itself could be a little deeper). Relatively easy to construct with salvaged wood or inexpensive wood from your local lumber yard. One could even imagine storage under a deeper bench for tools and supplies used to maintain the integrated garden flora (ideally native species that require minimum energy and inputs). Google "planter seats" images and you'll see a variety of interesting designs.

While thinking about fertilizer for the planter flora it struck me that one could design an outhouse where human excrement is composted and then directly used as fertilizer in the integrated planter (containing non-edible plants to be safe). A multifunctional closed system containing an integrated outhouse (with rain catchment), composting system, and planter (with a few pungent plants) where use of the outhouse helps adjoining flora thrive.

Design Elements

While walking through my neighborhood recently I was intrigued by the simple yet relatively unique design of these exterior window shutters. They seem to fit in well because the design is similar to what your mind expects.

My first wooden barrel!

This week I proudly welcomed into my home my first wooden barrel. Of course, humans have been making barrels for more than 2,000 years, but I find these oak barrels, still widely used for aging beverages such as wine and whiskey, to be a marvel of design and craftsmanship: curved wood, significant mobility given size, and watertight without caulking or glue!

I can think of several uses for an oak barrel including water catchment (rain barrel) and plant potter. However, I purchased this one, a ~60 gallon French oak cask made at Tonnellerie Rousseau in France and used locally by a friend to produce Pinot noir, because I hope to miraculously transform it into an ofuro (Japanese bath).  I'm not entirely certain at this point how that's going to happen, but I know I want warm/hot water, ideally solar-generated, and at least some circulation, while absolutely minimizing new holes in barrel, ideally utilizing only existing bunghole. I also need convenient, well-designed ingress and egress. Please feel free to comment as I am open to any and all ideas.

Silver Lake cabin

Labor Day Weekend I was hiking around Silver Lake, a beautiful alpine lake south of Lake Tahoe. The northeast shore has a lot of interesting cabins and homes nestled in the trees. This particular cabin caught my eye because it's relatively well integrated into its environment even though it's location in a boulder field with few trees actually left it more exposed than most cabins in the area.  However, its modest size, lack of a dedicated driveway, natural-looking lines, and materials which, at least in theory, could have been largely sourced from the vicinity make this cabin almost an extension of the environment.