In 2008, I recall walking through the halls of Pearce High School, feeling hopeless because I was presented with a reality that demanded every waking moment of my time and energy. No room for my needs or interests in the state's version of what I should be doing with my life. This was not a new feeling to me, for I had blindly walked society's path for 15 years. I was beginning to feel frustrated because I needed the freedom to decide how, where, and why I spend my dear time on this Earth. My reasons for being in school were blurry, at best. Such an uncertain future left many students jaded and hopeless. Before quitting school in January of 10th grade, I spent many school days in a lulled state produced by a host of psychoactives, because I was wasting my time, uninterested in the work in front of me.
I am sure there are countless students who share my sentiments regarding school. Perhaps you wonder about ways out? Or you are worried about filling the void of free time if you choose to quit? The alternative I chose is home schooling, or unschooling, which I adopted as my educational philosophy. Unschooling is the natural way of learning. The child directs his own life, and the parents simply facilitate resources to enable the child to discover his true passion. My parents were apprehensive about an unstructured education, so at first there were some required readings and activities--math, history, journal writing-- after a while I even tired of this because, grades, my former sole motivation for work was gone. Besides, I was uninterested in the subjects. I began researching gardening, as I remember enjoying helping my mother work in the garden as a child. I yearned for a deeper relationship with nature. This relationship involves immersion observation of natural patterns, something I would learn the next year when I enrolled in a Permaculture Design Certification course in Fort Worth. This class introduced me to many facets of sustainable culture: natural building, gardening, farming, rainwater harvesting, cooking, alternative energy, intentional community, etc. This wisdom has been feeding my passion for the past few years since quitting school. In October of 2009 I participated in a work-trade house building workshop, which taught the students how to build with a time tested mixture of clay, sand, and straw called cob (link leads to the teacher's website). At this workshop I met David Reed, veteran carpenter of 25 years, who recently shifted his perspective from conventional to natural building. David told me about some property on which he hoped to build his family's future home in Hempstead, Texas. He welcomed anyone with a vision of living on a sustainable off-grid community. I was very intrigued by this idea, as I was already hoping to acquire a small plot to build a house and garden. The decisions were far from set in stone, so the opportunity sat in the back of my mind for a number of months. During this time my brother and his girlfriend invited me on their travels in Southeast Asia, but that is for another post (as if i haven't rambled enough). David and I kept in touch over facebook over the winter, spring, and summer. In August, he announced a cob workshop in Hempstead, October of 2010, one year after last year's workshop. I was stoked to get out there and start building. I met David at his house in deathly hot Houston in September. We spent almost a week at his wife and kids' house while he worked on his rickety, yet trusty GMC truck. We departed for Hempstead on September 13; I remember that day vividly. It was slightly rainy when we arrived at the beautiful pine forest lot. We were surrounded by stillness and raw land that looked untouched and ancient, besides the grid of dirt roads that permeated the failed 1970's housing development (the owner was jailed for embezzlement). Lucky for us, there is no water, no power, and way cheap property taxes, perfect for the makings of an off grid community. We began by setting up our tents that would be our living situations until further housing situations were arranged. Then, we cleared out some paths to the main house site and felled a few skinny pines and one sizeable oak. This made just enough space for the 26' diameter house (see footprint in photo). I'll write some more later.