The floor plan was specifically designed with large open spaces to encourage heat to circulate. The downstairs is one large room with a kitchen in one corner while the upstairs will eventually divide into three bedrooms with interior walls. The rooms, however, have no ceilings and are open to the attic for ease of access to storage as well as a strategy to improve air circulation on the second floor. The walls are timber-framed, using locally sourced and milled hemlock and a few whole tree trunks harvested from the Bowers property.

Staying warm in the Vermont winter is a challenge. According to Mark, “for insulation, we have stacked straw bales bought from local farms placed between the posts. These straw bales make our walls about 18 inches thick.” To protect the straw bales from the elements, Mark designed a roof with three-foot eaves in all directions. The Bowers are also in the process of entombing the straw bales in an earthen plaster made from clay excavated on-site, and fine gravel found at a local quarry.

Solar panels they purchased used on Craigslist provide the electricity at the Bowers home. “Currently, we are using golf cart batteries to hold the electricity because the used lead-acid batteries that were given to us had been left out in freezing weather and become sulfated,” Lara says. “Pro tip: protect your batteries at all times!”

She also mentions that “we have enough power to run our super-efficient refrigerator from Phocos and are content for now. We have another eight solar panels we plan to set up on our shed because we have learned that solar power generation drops by 80 percent in November in Vermont.” To cut back on energy usage during the wintertime, the Bowers are also planning to build a rocket mass heater this fall.

Goals of Self Building a Sustainable Home

The challenge of self-building their own home has not come without its own set of difficulties and challenges. Some timeline setbacks and a lost job forced them to move into the house before they finished construction. Despite this setback, Lara mentions that one of the overarching goals for building their homestead was to provide financial sustainability.

“As long as we are living (at our homestead) with no mortgage, electricity, or water bills, we can get by on one income,” Lara says. “Next year we will be able to reduce our food bills by completing a greenhouse, extending our food forest, adding some vegetable gardens, and building a coop for both chickens and rabbits. Our hope is that Blessing can offer this financial security and environmental peace of mind to others as well.”

The Bowers aren’t merely content after having built a sustainable, debt-free homestead for themselves. Instead, they are searching for ways to invite others to discover the joy that comes with this type of lifestyle. “With 31 acres, we have plenty of room for other households to join us in an intentional community,” Mark says.

“We plan to build an addition to our house so that the Bowers family can live entirely upstairs and the downstairs of the building will be a communal kitchen, dining, and living space. This will foster community, but also mean that families joining us would not need to build such a large house for themselves. Between the opportunity to build small, and having most necessary tools already available at Blessing, we hope to remove as many financial obstacles as possible for any household interested in living this way.”

While there have been a couple of interested families, no one has yet committed to joining the Bowers on their homestead. “We envision a community where people live in their own houses and come together to eat and farm,” Lara says.

“My advice to people thinking of taking their lives in this direction? If you have any love for yourself at all, start small,” Lara adds. “If we had stuck to our original design, we would have probably been able to move in last fall and not be in our current position of scrambling to finish our walls before winter hits.”