Homesteading Archives - Forest2Sea 2 Hippies in the Forest

Our Own Forest

Scott McGee — Sun, 12 Jul 2020 15:41:01 +0000

Falling in Love with Washington

Our first trip to Washington was on a road trip from Southern California in 2013. After two long days of driving , we arrived on the Olympic Peninsula in the dark of night. We wanted to see Olympic National Park, so we stayed two nights at the Mora campground and the amazing Hoh Rainforest campground. The rainforests and wild coastline were from a fairy tale! We were in awe of the beauty. Three days was definitely not enough!

That initial trip planted the seed that led to our move to Washington. One long day hike on the Hoh River Trail was enough to inspire CrtrGrl to set the bold goal of doing our first backpacking trip in the Hoh. The following year, we did a 4 night, 5 day backpacking trip up to Glacier Meadows and back. Almost every year after that, we’ve made a trek to visit Washington, quickly deciding that we needed to live here.

<== Photos from our initial trip to Washington and our backpacking trip up the Hoh River Valley the following year.

Searching for the Right Place for Us

We made a plan to start checking out areas to live in. We wanted to be close to nature, but also have easy access to civilization. Our requirements included being near amazing forests and mountains, but also near scuba diving in Puget Sound. So one year, while on vacation, we checked out Orcas Island, Anacortes, Bellingham and North Cascades National Park. Though each had their unique appeal, they didn’t quite check all of our boxes.

While hiking on Sucia Island State Park, we met a gentleman who told us he dreamed of retiring in Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula. We missed that stretch on our first road trip, so in 2017, we made the two day drive again with Port Townsend as our main destination. We fell in love with the charm and history of Port Townsend. It’s a small town that still looks like a sea port from the 1800’s. From Port Townsend, we were able to take day trips to more amazing Olympic National Park areas. We visited Sol Duc and the Elwha River Valley, and also to the towns of Sequim and Port Angeles. It definitely captured our heart!

CrtrGrl hiking in the beautiful North Cascades National Park, WA ==>

CrtrGrl captured me photographing Fossil Bay, Sucia Island, at low tide.

There was one more place to check off. On our way south, we stayed near Hoodsport and the Staircase entrance to Olympic National Park. The diving there is reportedly amazing, but the town was a little too small and remote for us. At that point, we had done our homework enough to know the general area we wanted to live in. From then on, we focused our attention on the area surrounding Port Townsend.

All the places we checked out in Washington over 7 years! Click each dot to see where.

From Rat Race to Tiny Living

Starting in 2016, we got serious about changing our lives. I had a stable career working on computer systems, but the place I worked was in a building with no windows that came with a 130 mile round trip commute. We wanted a simpler life, with less impact on the planet. Then we discovered tiny houses, the skoolie community and minimalism!

We asked ourselves what was really important to us. For CrtrGrl, she could sit in the forest all day and be completely happy. For me, I love to explore and capture what I see to share with others. What would we be willing to sacrifice to have more time and space to do that? A lot!

Since then, we’ve had a Grand Plan (literally this check list in an Evernote note – just that last item isn’t done yet!):

Pay off all debts
Minimize expenses
Save money
Buy skoolie
Quit day job
Move to WA
Start online business
Buy small plot of forest land in WA
Build Skoolie and tiny dwellings in WA

Now it didn’t all happen in the order we planned or even in the way that we planned. But somehow, we’ve navigated the ever changing obstacles to get closer to our end goal. We paid off all of our debts and minimized our expenses by cutting out things that weren’t necessary. That allowed us to start putting money into savings. We did all of that over the years while we were traveling to Washington to find the perfect area to live. CrtrGrl and I also started to brainstorm ways to transition to earning income from home, with the ultimate goal of earning passive income. We yearned to do meaningful work that aligned with our values. We’ve been slowly developing alternate ways of earning a living, but really haven’t succeeded in that department yet.

CrtrGrl going through my comic books from jr high school

CrtrGrl’s RHCP benefit concert tshirt was sold on eBay

My childhood Star Wars toys that we ended up donating

As part of transitioning out of the rat race, we went through all of our belongings and started the process of minimizing. I’d read a few books by The Minimalists (Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life by Millburn/Nicodemus) and CrtrGrl had practiced it throughout her life, a result of moving a lot. The biggest challenge was going through my parent’s attic, where they had everything from my childhood. It was such a trip revisiting all of my childhood possessions (and school homework!). I pulled out a few things to hang on to, photographed things that had a special meaning to me and then donated/recycled them with the rest. We sold or donated a lot of our possessions, things we hadn’t used in over 6 months, things we wouldn’t need in Washington or be able to fit in a tiny house.

CrtrGrl and I Took the Red Pill

In late 2018, we bought Skoolie Woolie and in 2019, we made the leap! CrtrGrl and I saved up enough money to last about 6 months of reduced expenses. In March, I was promoted to deputy IPT lead for the Boeing team I was a part of. That prompted me to announce our plans that month and give my job over 5 months notice that I planned to leave. It enabled me to fully document everything I did and transition anything important. I was also able to negotiate some remote, part-time work after we moved and that helped with the transition. At the end of the day, I worked at that job for 17 years of my 21-year career. In some ways, it was leaving a family that was a huge part of my life. I definitely miss the people I worked with!

Boeing Seal Beach, CA, where I spent 17 years of my life.

A subset of the Wednesday afternoon running crew – Bob, me, Tony, Nathan, Sean, Mark & Dan. Photo taken by Mary Lou.

We are grateful my family gave us the opportunity to stay with them in Northern California, which made a huge difference in easing the transition. There, we did the demolition of Skoolie Woolie in prep for building it out the way we wanted and started collecting raw material. We also focused our time on a few of our entrepreneurial projects. After about 6 months, we found the perfect rental in Sequim, WA that would allow us to start our dream of living in Washington and also keep working on Skoolie Woolie. That was right about the time that COVID-19 really started to kick the United State’s collective ass.

View on my morning walk with Indi in Sequim, WA

Moving to Washington

We made the move to Washington in April, 2020, in the middle of the pandemic and while trying to launch our Forest2Sea AWEAR Apparel business. What a knack for timing! We packed up Skoolie Woolie with all of our belongings and made the long, 1 day drive from Northern California. The property owners were very supportive of our plans to build a tiny house/skoolie and have plans of doing their own year long road trip with their kids. We immediately got to work again on earning income, launching AWEAR Apparel later that month. Still living off of savings, we knew adding rent would push us harder to figure out income.

The family we’re renting a studio from have been such a wonderful gift to us. Combined with the other tiny house renters on the 10 acre property, it’s given us a sense of community that we hadn’t experienced in Southern California. CrtrGrl works in the shared garden, helps watch over the pets and we get to play with the kids. We’ve gone hiking and jogging and had late nights of beer and conversation around their campfire. It’s been a wonderful experience!

Our rental studio in Washington

Generational Gift

I now understand generational wealth and the privilege that comes with it. Through no action of my own, I am receiving the benefits of decisions my relatives made 80 years ago. We acknowledge how fortunate we are and how most people don’t have this. Since we’re living off our savings right now and trying to start up our own business, we wouldn’t have been able to qualify for a traditional land loan through a bank for some time.

My grandparents were fortunate to be in a position to buy land in Southern California in the 1940’s. They built their own house, by hand, on 5 acres of hilly chaparral. At the time, it was very rural, with only dirt roads in the area. Fast forward a few decades and it ends up in between the wealthy neighborhoods of Rancho Santa Fe and Del Mar. My grandparents gave some of that land to my parents as an early inheritance, so that they could be around to see my parents enjoy it. When my parents moved out of Southern California last year, they sold their property. With some of the proceeds from the sale, my parents wanted to do the same thing for their kids that their parents did for them.

Our dream has been to eventually own land to park our skoolie on. We want to preserve a small patch of forest and live in harmony with the plants and animals. We’re so grateful to my parents that they made that happen for us. Because of an early inheritance from them, we’re now the super excited and a slightly frightened owners of 5 acres of forest next to Olympic National Park, near Port Angeles WA.

<=== My grandfather, Jack Santone, building their house in 1942 and also my parent’s property with Skoolie Woolie parked on the driveway.

Take a tour of our forest with us!

Getting a Forest of our Own

From our new property, we’ll have access to multiple entrances to Olympic National Park. Lake Crescent is only a few miles away. On our way into town for groceries (20 minute drive), we’ll cross over the beautiful and recently freed Elwha river. Past Lake Crescent, to the west, is the Sol Duc river valley. Going west to 2nd Beach on the Pacific coast is only an hour drive. Then, the amazing Hoh Rainforest is 1.5 hour drive. If we want to visit the Salish Sea / Straight of Juan de Fuca, it’s only a 20 minute drive.

The land is heavily forested, with 3 cleared areas. It has electricity, a well and a septic system. It is second growth forest, bordered on one side by Washington State DNR (Department of Natural Resources) forest – that we hope is never logged! It’s filled with beautiful hemlock, cedar, dogwood and bigleaf maple trees. The forest floor is carpeted in ferns and moss. In one cleared area, it has a view across the valley of Mount Storm King. One of my favorite discoveries on the property are the moss covered, glacial erratic boulders that came from Canada in the last ice age. There’s also an overgrown trail to the upper part of the property that has a little cleared area that we plan to turn into a meditation/yoga spot.

Our plan is to preserve as much of the natural forest as we can. We don’t plan to cut down any more trees. CrtrGrl and I want to learn all that we can about the native plants and encourage them. We’ll be buying something temporary to live in, like a travel trailer, while we build out Skoolie Woolie into a permanent residence. Our plan includes building a greenhouse, growing a garden, plus building an office that can be a cabin for guests. We want to learn to be as self sufficient as we can, by growing much of our own food.

CrtrGrl and I plan to share our adventures and journey with you. As we learn to live in the forest, with minimal impact, we’ll share how we do it. We want to share our triumphs and our silly mistakes, so that you can learn from us. We’re all sharing this small blue planet. And we are interdependent with nature to provide a livable habitat, so we need to minimize our impacts and protect it the best we can.

[See image gallery at hippiesinforest.forest2sea.com]

The post Our Own Forest appeared first on Forest2Sea 2 Hippies in the Forest.

Building A Simpler Lifestyle.

CrtrGrl — Wed, 20 May 2020 22:40:19 +0000

Tiny Living Motivation

Most nights, at 7:30pm, I looked forward to Scott coming home from work so we could watch our favorite HGTV Tiny House Hunters. He would travel 130 miles round trip, 4 days a week & it showed on his face how this drive alone, was taking its toll. Little did we realize that living vicariously through the journeys of those who choose to live tiny was our motivation to a whole new lifestyle.

Tiny Living Inspiration

Once we became aware of the inspirations by the tiny living communities of HGTV & that we weren’t just being entertained by this reality, we continued on this virtual venture via YouTube for more research & inspiring stories. Eventually, we knew we wanted to follow this minimal life. For us, our motivation was to be better tenants of our Mother Earth.

Skoolie or RV or Tiny House

We knew we wanted to change our lives, but which tiny living was best suited for us? After watching YouTubers’ pros & cons of each, we chose to buy a school bus (skoolie) to convert into our first tiny home. Used RVs, specifically toy haulers, came close, but the strength, weight & cost of the school bus won our hearts.

[See image gallery at hippiesinforest.forest2sea.com]

The Change Chain Continues

While we were searching for our bus, we were already on a path to reducing our impact on our planet by choosing a vegan/cruelty free lifestyle. There is more information on that in my CrtrGrl blog. The tiny home living journey was just a link to the ever growing chain of lifestyle growth. This was becoming an adventure & we’re enjoying every aspect of this ever growing journey.

Embrace Change

After paying off all of our debt, minimizing our expenses and saving up some money, Scott quit his job of 17 years. I had already retired from 21+ years of pet sitting, which also required much driving, due to health reasons. Together, we found & bought our bus, Skoolie Woolie & began to brainstorm on how to earn income. Living in North County San Diego, we still were paying for an apartment that was quite expensive. Reluctantly, we accepted the fact we may need help. We were grateful that Scott’s family opened up their doors so that we could work on realizing our goals.

[See image gallery at hippiesinforest.forest2sea.com]

Change = New Opportunities

While staying at my in-laws’ house that they had just bought in Northern California, we were able to use my father-in-law’s tools & receive lots of advice, including advice from friendly, welcoming neighbors. We also offered to help out with whatever Scott’s parents needed as our way of giving back for the free room & use of utilities.

During our stay there, we were working on a new project we had in mind for a while, to hopefully be our new source of income. It was also important that this business fit our lifestyle standards & give back to our planet. We have other smaller projects we started, but this idea was our biggest passion. So while building out our bus, we were building out our new company, Forest2Sea AWEAR Apparel.

Diving Into New Business

AWEAR Apparel has been a long journey in the making. From an idea that sparked in our minds to our grand opening this past Earth Day. AWEAR Apparel is one of the ways we raise awareness of becoming responsible tenants of our harsh, but beautiful, Earth… our home. We created our eco-apparel using Scott’s award winning nature photography, from underwater to above. Our apparel is made in the US of recycled polyester from plastic bottles. We also donate 5% of each sale to The Whale Sanctuary Project, the first seaside whale & dolphin sanctuary.

[See image gallery at hippiesinforest.forest2sea.com]

Forest2Sea

Forest2Sea is our wedding theme & we chose to use this as our “mother ship” for all our projects, including our biggest project, AWEAR Apparel. We spent many days & nights on the computer, all while trying to build out our bus so that we can move out sooner than later, but time & obstacles had other plans. The challenges didn’t stop us, but it did slow things down. These obstacles did their job of testing our mental & emotional health. We went from plan a, b to c, d, e…

Challenges Are Hidden Opportunities

Obstacle runs are my favorite type of races, but in life, not so much. Personally, I had my fill & was ready for a small taste of success. Little did we know that the obstacles we faced were an open door to realizing one of our dreams, much sooner than we thought. We were able to find an incredibly beautiful place to park our bus and rent a studio, all while working on our bus & living with a community of like-minded people.

Dreams Are Moss Covered Trees

A beautiful family took us all in – pets, bus, FJ, hubby & wife to live on their gorgeous property in the Pacific Northwest, specifically Washington. THIS was our destination goal, but we didn’t expect to be able to move so soon. It’s where our obstacles took us. It’s still so surreal & we are so grateful to this family for welcoming us into their community! Now, with the Olympic forest as our backyard, we can work on realizing our business & continue to embrace the changes to an improved lifestyle.

[See image gallery at hippiesinforest.forest2sea.com]

Building A Movement

Alongside our other eco-projects, our focus with AWEAR Apparel is to build a movement of like-minded, inspirational & motivational folks. Our main motivation is to protect our Mother Earth the best way we can. We want to inspire others to take those steps toward self-improvement. We built this business as a small, modest tool to becoming eco-conscious & be aware of what we buy, all along giving back to our community.

Our school bus build is just another way we want to give back to our planet. We know Skoolie Woolie, (aka SkooWoo), will take on a few phases as Scott & I continue to learn & grow. We’re excited about the future ventures SkooWoo & our business will take us on. We hope you all will hop right in & enjoy the ride with us.

[See image gallery at hippiesinforest.forest2sea.com]

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