Heat and Succession

Each morning we greet the sun as she ushers in the day.   We have yet to put the furnace on in spite of several below freezing nights.  Seems we can manage well enough if we keep the day's heat in in the evening (with drapes and blinds closed).  Come morning, we draw everything open to let the sun warm the house once again (3 cheers for free heat!).

Our "new" home on the coast has a wood stove and believe me, we are very much looking forward to heating our home with wood again!  I just love that steady, constant heat and also, the exercise that heating with wood heat gives us.  I miss it.  Wood is plentiful on the coast (unlike here) and our land has a fairly decent tree cover so we should be able to get most of the wood we need right from our own property.

Let me tell you a bit more about our relocation plans... My parents are in their early 70's and wanted to downsize so they sold their home which was becoming too much for them to maintain (too large of a house and too much garden to look after). They want the freedom and ease of a small, level entry home and they want to be able to travel and know that someone is around to look after their home and little patch of earth.  Enter hubby and I!   

By combining resources, we are able to live on acreage (in separate homes) in an area that is desirable to us all (on the west coast of BC).  As it happens, after an exhaustive search, the property we found (and fell in love with) had only one family home on it so this means we have to build a home for my parents.  We had hoped to find a property with 2 existing homes but were unable to find anything suitable set up in way that would meet our needs.   We are looking at the opportunity to build as a positive, for it will give us the ability to build a passive solar, accessible, open plan home with wide doorways in case a walker or wheelchair is needed in future.  This will mean that my parents can stay in their home as long as possible and not be forced out due to accessibility problems.    It will also mean that the house will be energy efficient with very low utility bills (important for all, but most especially in retirement on a fixed income).

Thinking about succession (in true permaculture style), hubby and I will have options going into our own senior years.  The rental market is very strong where we are moving to so that second little home could be easily rented out which would bring in a bit of income to supplement our own retirement.  Alternatively, my hubby and I will have the option to move into the small home in old age if perhaps one of our adult children wants to buy in and move into the main family home.  With 5 kids, odds are that one may want to do so.    Nobody can predict the future, but providing the most flexibility is our goal for we know for certain that life can and will change.   We have always wanted to move "home" but until this opportunity arose (which benefits both parties), we never thought it possible.  

I shall tell more of our story as it unfolds...  stay tuned!