Sliding into Island time while I wait for my jacuzzi...

Almost a year since my last post.  Still haven't started building, but lots of experience in tiny living, and getting to know what it is like to live on an island in a rain forest.

The winter was long and wet, followed by a cool wet spring, much needed after several years of summer drought in BC.

In late April I was able to return to my land after spending the winter in a small loft apartment, and over the past two months have been enjoying warmer weather, lots of intense gardening, and making myself more comfortable here.

A couple of weeks after returning home, my water pressure dropped, meaning that my on-demand hot water heater no longer worked.  So cold showers for almost three weeks while I figured out what was happening.  The solution was to install a cistern, which I was going to do next year anyway, and connect to the well so that the cistern always remains full while preventing the well from running dry in the dry summer months.  After three weeks of cold showers you cannot imagine the pleasure of a hot shower!

Other improvements include:

• installing some used kitchen cupboards in the shed (hard to find - I actually had to remove the cupboards from a kitchen under renovation and pay for them as well!).  This meant I could put my dishes and glasses in a cupboard, freeing up the 4' counter space for meal preparation.
• upgrading from a plastic basin and hose for washing up, to hooking up a small outdoor sink to the hose (inspired by a stainless steel outdoor sink that Lee Valley has in their spring/summer  2017 catalogue), with a bucket underneath to catch the gray water, some of which I use to water plants.
• concerted effort (with my cat Monkey's help) to stop mice from entering the shed by plugging up a hole with steel wool, and setting out mouse traps.
• moving the sink into the shed - the downside of the outdoor sink was trying to wash in the rain or at night in the dark.  I also plan to install a drain pipe from the sink to my gray water pit, eliminating the need to empty buckets.  I can still catch rinse water in a basin and reuse it for watering my garden.

Then I decided to look for used tubs and found a beautiful jacuzzi tub that someone was offering for free.  Installing that in my outdoor shower room has created completed chaos.  We had my neighbour come in with his backhoe to dig a trench from the shed to the tent (some 150 feet) to lay piping for water and electricity. To refill the trenches I am putting in a layer of sand first, and removing the many rocks that were dug up.

Then I removed one wall of the shower room to accommodate the tub and slightly expand the space.  We will install a clear roof over the tub, leaving the shower part still open, hardwire the jacuzzi tub, connect it to my water heater, and run a drainpipe out to another gray water pit.  Having electricity there also means we can install a plug for my tent, and no longer have a very long extension cord lying outside to my tent for my light and for charging my laptop.

So later this week I will have the pleasure of having a soak in my outdoor jacuzzi!

Small is good...

Notwithstanding my last post, and after many more hours of drawing house plans, I have come to the conclusion that I would be happier in a slightly bigger house, especially for the winter months when more time is spent indoors.

While it is fascinating to read the inspiring stories of tiny house living, it is not for everyone. There are also stories - though perhaps more word of mouth rather published for the world to see - of those who abandon their places after a few weeks or months, finding living in such small spaces too confining.

For the past six weeks I have been living in my temporary tiny house summer retreat on Gabriola Island, a 12' x14' expedition tent that I have installed on a platform, with a small outdoor shower.  I also have a shed which I have set up as my summer kitchen, while outside an old green garden cart serves as my wash station.

Living in nature has been wonderful.  The early morning concert of birds, the stunning night sky with a myriad of constellations I have yet to identify, the hoots of the owls at night.

My latest house plan has expanded to just over 800 square feet, a small home that will include a guest bedroom and loft area.  This feels right - now we can finalize these plans and professional drawings in order to apply for the building permit.

Search for greener building materials - Hemp "Lego" Building Blocks

Recently I have been researching greener alternatives for building material such as drywall.  I was very interested to discover the company Just BioFiber which is located in Calgary.  It manufactures hemp building blocks with an R27 to R 40 insulation rating.  Curiously enough, I also stumbled upon on article that said Lego is considering making greener lego blocks by using hemp.

Views of Gabriola

My property on Gabriola Island

Here is a link to a short video on Gabriola Island:

Coming full circle

It has been several months since I have shared anything about my tiny house design progress.

Last fall we started working on house plans for a modified version of the Marmara tiny house, once we discovered that there are no restrictions on Gabriola Island on the minimum size of a house.  My idea was to have an L-shaped house built on a foundation, basically the Marmara design with a small yoga studio on one side, that would double as a guest bedroom, using a murphy bed.

Devlin's Design

While we completed the design in November, it wasn't until our draftsman Devlin started drawing up the plans that we realized that the design I wanted did not comply with seismic code requirements for the island, and possible solutions interfered with the open concept I would like to have.  We started exploring other designs, in particular an intriguing looking house Devlin thought up that was like three small rectangles joined in the middle.

A few days ago, after playing around with the layout of this house for quite a long time, I decided that  it really didn't work as an open concept home with a loft.  I was also concerned that the house was getting too big and expensive - close to 800 square feet and almost twice the cost I had originally budgeted for.

Coming full circle, I wanted to go back to basics, which was to build a small but elegant tiny house that would not be very expensive.  So I looked at all of the options I had considered previously and a few new ones including:

- The Marmara tiny house from Four Lights

- Norse log cabins, from a company located in Nanaimo, especially one called the Eagle Point, a two-story log chalet that was too large for me but had a unique hexagonal living room.  

- Hummingbird's Cowboy tiny house on wheels

- Other tiny house designs, such as one by David Vandervort, an architect in Seattle, which is charming but too small.  Here is a link to it: Woodland Cabin

- At the Ottawa Home show I explored the Zen design for a modular home built by the Quebec company Maisons Bonneville, which was lovely and spacious, but with a flat roof, and a modern look that was beautiful, but not my style.

In the process I also discovered another tiny home builder located in Nanaimo, Rewild Homes.

And so we have come full circle, and today's plan is to build the Marmara, either on a foundation or on wheels, whichever works out best for the design and cost.  At a later date, if I wish I could easily build a small yoga studio and guest cottage, that could be located elsewhere on the property.

More on the Nicaraguan Seed House

To give you a feel for our build site, here is a short tour.   Worksite Tour

On the first day, we were given instructions on how to mix the concrete and mortar. We were then instructed to mix only half that amount and sometimes got confused.  We soon became more efficient hauling filled buckets by hand or using a wheelbarrow.

Each of the building sites had an oil drum filled with water, and there was a water truck located on a site three houses down from us where we sometimes had to go to get more water.  We would fill our buckets and walk back to refill the water drum.  Surayda easily carried a full bucket of water on her head, while I found it easier to carry two buckets, each about two thirds full.  At one point during the week, we ran out of water and several of the team went to the river for more.

We completed the walls of the home in three days.  The house was slightly higher in the back to accommodate a flat, slanted roof,  which was installed after we left.  Then we laid the foundations for a small sidewalk in the front and back of the home.

Jeff taking a much needed break

Kari and Jeff tamping the floor

Finally, we brought in many wheelbarrow loads of dirt into the house, and tamped the floor down, spraying it with water at the same time.  Then we formed a line and passed in bucket of concrete to pour the floor.

At the house dedication ceremony, we presented Surayda and Cesar with a bible, and we all placed our hands on the house as they said the Lord's Prayer in Spanish. Surayda made a tearful and moving speech of her gratitude for her new home. Surayda's Speech

Completion Day!

Building a seed house

Our Canadian Habitat for Humanity team of twelve met in Managua, where a team from the Netherlands, a closed team from Philadelphia (i.e. the team knew each other) and another team from all over the US also gathered.

Our team represented Canada from coast to coast, with volunteers from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, and we ranged in age from early twenties to sixties, from a variety of backgrounds, with one person from the construction industry (our masonry expert) to a stock trader.  For some it was our first build, and for others they had travelled the world doing builds in many different places, each of which, apparently, had their own particular methods of construction. In addition to our team leaders Bob and Joan from BC, we had an energetic Nicaraguan coordinator Tagni to keep us in line.

On our first day together in Managua, Habitat Nicaragua provided us with an orientation, before we headed to our respective buses and made the 1 - 1/2 hour drive to Pochomil on the Pacific coast, where we stayed for the week of the build.  Our motto, emphasized our Nicaraguan counterparts, was to be flexible.

The seed house is 162 square feet, made of concrete blocks, with a front and back door, two windows, tin roof, concrete floor, and concrete sidewalk on the front and back.  It costs $5000 to build, with a combination of volunteers, a skilled local mason, and an electrician.  As volunteers we cover the costs of our trip, plus a contribution to cover the cost of materials for the house.

The reason it is called a seed house is that it is built with half of one wall covered in a piece of tin, which can be lifted to form the roof of another room, when the homeowners have the funds to expand their house.

To be eligible for one of these houses, a person needs to own their land.  A number of other selection criteria come into play, such as monthly household income of under US $200 per month, households led by a woman, health issues, and the presence of a home-based business.  For example, one home we visited had a large clay oven in a separate structure where they baked bread.

We spent five days building the home.  When we arrived at our site, the foundation and first two layers of blocks were already in place.  Each day we had construction goals to meet (day one was to add four more layers of blocks) and there was friendly competition amongst the teams to see who progressed the fastest.

For our build, it was for a couple; she was already a grandmother in her forties, who had diabetes, and her husband worked cutting sugar cane, both of whom helped build their new house.  In addition there was a construction supervisor for the five sites, to make sure we built to code, a skilled mason for each build site, and a few local volunteers.

They already had an Eco bathroom unit, but no running water, and were living in a small wooden home with dirt floor at the back of their property.

We quickly learnt the various tasks needed to build the house, although at times we had to wait for the mason to make progress, and were not always shown what to do.

In addition to moving the bricks to the house, we needed to haul gravel, sand and water to mix mortar and cement on the ground, by hand.  This we did in teams of 3 or 4, finding a dance-like rhythm as we moved around in a circle.  Because of the heat, the mortar and concrete would dry out quite quickly, so we needed to keep it damp using wet empty bags of concrete, or adding more water to prevent it from drying out.

The house also needed two strips of looped rebar which was placed horizontally, the first about halfway up, and second closer to the roof, to strengthen the structure so that it could withstand earthquakes and tremors, Which happen fairly frequently in Nicaragua. These were built by hand, first by bending small bits of rebar into a C shape, then fastening these connectors to two long strips of rebar by twisting wire around them on both sides.  These lengths of rebar were then placed inside a  layer of bricks that had a channel inside of them.

Recently I was told that here in Canada often plastic are ties are used.  That would have been much easier - one person spent almost two complete days bending rebar into C shapes, another 2-3 women spent a similar amount of time attaching them to the rebar strips. While a couple of the people on the team brought tools with them, we didn't know ahead of time what exactly we would be doing.  For those with experience on other builds, they discovered that each country, even within Central America, has their own method of building.

Casas Semillas (Seed Houses) in Nicaragua

Just back from a trip to Nicaragua with Habitat for Humanity, with a group of 50 people from across Canada and the US and the Netherlands.  We participated in a blitz build, where we completed 5 seed houses in one week.

After Haiti, Nicaragua is the poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean.  It has not fully recovered from a devastating earthquake that took place in the 1970s, and from the political unrest in the 1980s, when the Sandinistas overthrew the longstanding repressionist dictatorship of the Somoza family, that led to a more peaceful era, but that had a very negative effect on their economy.

According to Habitat Nicaragua, there is a shortfall of 957,000 homes, and 78% of Nicaraguans live in substandard dwellings. Their goals for 2015-2016 include building more homes and eco toilets, and providing microloans for home improvements, particularly to women entrepreneurs with home-based businesses.

In San Cayetano, a small community located on the Pacific coast a few hours from Managua, they built 80 homes and a community well, and plan to complete another 34 seed homes by June 2016, five of which we built at the end of January. Other organizations such as Women Build, and the municipality of San Rafael del Sur have also been involved in building homes and Eco toilets (composting toilets) in this area.

They have also been introducing "módulos húmedos" which are eco bathrooms that consist of an outdoor modular unit with a toilet, shower and laundry sink, all of which drain into a holding tank, that needs to be emptied once every two years.  Locals have been trained in the maintenance of the Eco bathrooms, providing some local employment.  However, homes do not have running water and many still have to carry buckets of water from the community well or nearby rivers.

We had to haul water for mixing cement, and while I struggled with the heavy bucket, our homeowner Surayda, a grandmother in her late forties, carried her buckets gracefully with ease on her head.  The buckets are like the white buckets we get of drywall compound or paint.  Try filling one of those to the top and carrying that on your head!

In my next post I will describe more about our team build and the seed house.

Dunrobin renos almost complete

While I haven't posted anything for a while, it doesn't mean we haven't been busy in Dunrobin.  The painting has almost been completed, the new floors looking fantastic in the living room and dining room.  Simon has done a great job on the bathroom, which will be finished in a couple of days once the granite top arrives.

Back on Gabriola, work on my house plans advances, and Elisha has promised me that I will receive them soon, which means we are still on track for getting building permits for a February build start.

And in with the new...

Out with the old...

With the painting almost complete, we are moving on to the floor - most of the parquet flooring in the living room and dining room has been removed.  Simon and I have been brainstorming what we might make out of all this parquet flooring - some sort of Christmas crafty sort of thing - in our spare time.  I have had an ad on Kijiji offering it for free, but haven't had any takers.

Kevin is installing the floor, and I am hopeful that I can keep a section of the dining room floor intact that has an interesting pattern on it, with the idea of using it to make a table.  Simon will be building a firebox, so that I can remove all of the logs to the left of the fireplace.  This, combined with cleaning the stone, will make the fireplace even more of a "feature".

The bathroom floor is in poor shape, so we may have to remove it and replace it with a new plywood underlay.  Once that is done, however, it should be fairly quick to install the vinyl flooring I have.

Once these floors are completed I will be able to put my house back in order.  All of the walls are bare, and so I will have to pick a few select pictures to put on the walls.  The curtains have all been laundered or dry-cleaned, and now need ironing before they can be rehung.

I really like the idea of living in a completely new home - something I have never done before.  

Equanimity

e·qua·nim·i·ty

ˌekwəˈnimədē/

noun

1. mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, especially in a difficult situation.

   "she accepted both the good and the bad with equanimity"

   synonyms:

   composure, calm, level-headedness, self-possession, coolheadedness, presence of mind.

For the past two weeks I have been moving full speed ahead on preparing my home for staging and selling.  It has been complete chaos, as I have been getting the ceilings painted throughout the house, as well as the walls in the three bedrooms, bathroom and dining room, as well as the stairs to the basement and the basement trim.  I am also removing the flooring in the bathroom, living and dining room in preparation for new hardwood floors and new bathroom flooring.

After another typical crazy day yesterday, last night when I got home I filled the bathtub and added some eucalyptus bubble bath, lit a beeswax candle, poured myself a glass of wine, and turned on some mellow music by Deva Premal and Mittra. The house may be turned upside down, but lying in my tub with the lights out and just the warm glow of the beeswax candle, I felt total calmness and relaxation flow over me, truly equanimity in the midst of a storm.

The tao of staging...

1. Tao (in Chinese philosophy) is the absolute principle underlying the universe, combining within itself the principles of yin and yang and signifying the way, or code of behaviours, that is in harmony with the natural order. The interpretation of Tao in the Tao-te-Ching developed into the philosophical region of Taoism. My stager Anne came through the house and has given me instructions for decluttering and guidelines for highlighting the features of my house. Every time I leave the house now I seem to have another box or piece of furniture that is going to someone. I am excited to have the painting and renovations completed soon so we can get to the fun part of decorating and showcasing my home, which will be happening in a couple of weeks, just in time for Christmas entertaining. While I was sad to lose the vibrant blue walls of my dining room, and cool green tones of my bathroom, I have complete faith in Anne's expertise and knowledge of how to stage a home As we went through each room of my home, I realized how many beautiful objects I have that reflect the story of my life and travels, including: a picture of སྒྲོལ་མ-Tara, a female Bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism who appears as a female Buddha in Vajrayana Buddhism. She is known as the "mother of liberation", and represents the virtues of success in work and achievements. I found this at Watt Dhammamonkhol in Bangkok during my meditation retreat to Thailand in 2001.  Phra Virinyang founded this buddhist monastery, and also developed the nine-month meditation course I took at the Dunrobin Thai temple in 2001.   Here is a picture of the huge Buddha that he had sculpted by some Italian artists from a massive chunk of jade that he located in British Columbia while meditating.  It was partly for this reason that he decided to establish various meditation centres across Canada to provide a venue for teaching meditation in English, including the one located in Dunrobin, where he sent several monks to meditate on world peace.  Previously, he had offered his course in Thailand, including teaching meditation to the King of Thailand, and had been looking for a suitable place to teach in English. This magnificent Buddha statue at Wat Dhammamongkol was sculpted from a single 32 ton block of jade found in a Canadian river in BC

1. the huge ostrich egg from South Africa, the country I was born in; the antique chest from Madagascar that used to sit in my parents' front hall for as long as I can remember; ཐང་ཀ་ - the gorgeous tangka meticulously painted by Tibetan buddist monks in Nepal, that I found in the night markets of Chang Mai, Thailand; the handwoven basket made from reeds from Lake Peten Itza near Flores, in northern Guatemala near Tikal; the simple handmade mahogany chest that I had commissioned in 1981 in Flores, near Tikal for which I paid a mere $15; momentos from my time in Antigua Guatemala including the hand-painted set of butterflies Seb gave me, a girl's face made out of a coconut shell, a woollen rug, and colourful huipiles made using backstop looms; several priceless quilts that were made by my mother Pamela. a coffee table we acquired while we were living in Judibana, Venezuela; a beaten-up yet still lovely red leather camel footstool purchased in Egypt in the 1950s, another piece that sat in my parents'  living room for more than fifty years; the vibrant orange and brown wall hanging from Zimbabwe; a meditation book from Z.; the hand-woven macrame wall hanging that I found in Colombia and gave as a gift to my mother after my 1975 road trip by jeep with Rafa and Luis to Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador  and Peru, with the highlight being a visit to the stunningly beautiful and spiritual Machu Picchu. My mother gave the hanging back to me several years ago, a short while before she passed away;  Looney-Baloony various water colour paintings of sunflowers and hibiscus from my mother; a hand-turned bowl created by my father; Looney-Balooney, a paper mache creation that my six-year old son Sebastian made me for my 33rd birthday that we celebrated on the island of Montserrat in 1987; a dragon that Peter gave me on our first wedding anniversary in 1991 on which he, Sebastian and I sit perched, wearing the clothes we wore at our wedding, while I am holding Alex as a new-born baby, wrapped in the baby blanket made by his great-grandmother.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Elisha has been working with the draftsman to get my house plans finalized in preparation for applying for building permits.

1. 
   

Where will we stay when we visit you?

Descanso Bay

A few of my friends have expressed concern that my tiny house won't be large enough to accommodate guests. In actual fact, it can sleep six comfortably, and will have two full bathrooms, as well as an outdoor shower and sink.

My loft bedroom will have a queen bed, the yoga studio will have a queen murphy bed, and another two people can sleep in the living room.  I also have room for two in my camper truck, another two in my small tent, and 4-6 people in my large tent.

So I have definitely thought about friends and family in the design of this house.  In the future, I will build a small guest cottage.

Gabriola also has many delightful options including:

Descanso Bay Regional Park for year-round camping

Descanso Bay Regional Camping

Natural Pace Snooze 'n Sail

Two lovely B&Bs with kitchenettes where I have stayed are:

Thru the Grapevine Guest House hosted by Joan and Sam Manson

Twin Beaches B&B hosted by Josephine and Shaun Whelan

And about ten minutes from my place, there is also Page's Resort and Marina for camping and cabin rentals.

Turning furniture into a house for someone else

For quite some time I have thought about helping out with Habitat for Humanity on one of their builds.  I decided that 2016 is the year to do it, and have signed up for a build in Nicaragua in late January.  They still need a few more people to join the team, in case you are interested.

To participate, we need to do our own fundraising, so I have decided that I will put all of the money I get from selling my furniture, snowblower and other things towards my Nicaragua fund.  I already have commitments for over $1000.

I also sell beeswax candles, and from now until I leave in January, will be putting all money received (all money, not just the profits) towards my build fund.  Last weekend my yogi friends bought $320 worth of candles which was greatly appreciated as a good start to my fundraising.

Decluttering, downsizing, and getting ready for home renovations

Moving to a tiny house is a process of reducing.  As a first step I am finding new homes for most of my furniture and belongings.  Already I have found places for my canoe, kayak, wind surfer, snow blower, water bed, coffee table, wicker chair, curtains, and bedroom side table.  The canoe was a gift from Margaret, who I have mentioned before, when she moved to Salt Spring Island.

A Cornerstone volunteer who is a student is just starting out and needed furniture and kitchen stuff; another friend is leaving her husband and also needs things for her new life - so my Champion Juicer that I never ever thought I would let go of, my bread maker, two desks, my laser printer, my blender, and my food dryer have all moved on.

I have researched smaller appliances and purchased a slightly smaller printer that can also scan and copy, a smaller bread maker, and a small mini prep food processor to replace the blender, which I found half price at the Bay and is red.

I have also started to create a mental list of things I plan on bringing with me:

• hammocks
• bed frame (but not the old not-so-comfortable mattress)
• small chest of drawers for clothes
• large mahogany trunk I inherited, an antique from Madagascar
• hand carved four panelled Indian screen (which I hope to have made into doors in the new home)
• my secretary's desk
• six square floor cushions that when covered with a mattress cover create a comfortable double bed
• my hand woven basket from Guatemala
• my books on yoga and art

• my paintings
• my glow-in-the-dark poster of the Milky Way
• the silk curtains from the dining room
• a couple of carpets
• my chain saw
• three very large ceramic pots for flowers to put on the deck of my new place
• two solitary bee's nests

• my leather couch and spinning chair
• my outdoor couch and chair
• a black bamboo coffee table for the deck from Venezuela
• three stools for the kitchen eating peninsula
• several beautiful quilts made by my mother
• my macbook, iPad and iPhone
• TV, cd player and cd collection and a couple of records
• kitchen things, probably about half of what I currently have in the kitchen
• yoga mats, blankets, blocks and bolsters
• my singing bowl collection
• my little hot tub

Tiny house design ready - house plans being drafted...

Last week I waited to hear back from Elisha with the final design.  On Friday afternoon, I drove down to Stillpoint Yoga Retreat Centre near Picton, for a reunion weekend of yoga with sister yoginis and brother yogis . We spent a very special year back in 2000-2001 doing yoga teacher training together with Glenn.  This was our 15th year reunion, and there were sixteen of us - only missing a few from our original group.  A couple of people couldn't come, and then there was Lori, for whom we had held a memorial retreat last year.

I checked my phone frequently to see if Elisha had sent me the design, but was not able to get a signal where we were.  I slept comfortably both nights in my truck, but Saturday evening the temperature dropped quite a bit.  I woke early, feeling cold, and decided to get up.
Like me, Glenn is an early riser, and was up, so he offered me a delicious cappuccino.  Where else could I find such special treatment at 4 a.m.!  I also realized that he had wireless internet, so I checked and discovered that Elisha had sent me the design Friday afternoon after I left Ottawa.

Here is the more or less final design.  I originally had the yoga room with a separate outside entrance and not connected to the rest of the house, which was a mistake, so we changed the yoga/guest bathroom to have two doors, one from the kitchen, the other from the yoga studio.  Although this design doesn't show it, this change means that we will move the stairs out a bit, giving slightly more room in the kitchen and reducing the overall size of the living room slightly.

Remote Controlled Smart Toilet

Very recently I discovered this amazing toilet on www.costco.ca. This morning, when I looked at it again, it was already sold out.

This smart toilet combines the best features of a conventional high quality ceramic toilet with the innovations of a modern advanced toilet with such decadent features as heated seating, warm flowing water and air drying.  Ecologically and sanitarily advanced, this toilet eliminates almost all need for toilet paper or wet wipes as the jets included are the most efficient option currently on the market.

The Ove Tuva Smart Toilet connects directly to the water supply, eliminating the need for a tank, and includes a remote control.

Cooking with the Jetsons

As I mentioned earlier, I am looking at getting a speed oven for my kitchen. Speed ovens combine a microwave and an oven as one appliance.

You can use the microwave for reheating, defrosting and cooking, while the convection oven is used for browning, baking and roasting. They can be used separately or can combine the features of both. These ovens really excel by combining the speed of the microwave with the baking quality of the convection feature.

The top selling speed ovens are manufactured by Jenn-Air and Miele, with Miele's version being the most expensive non-commercial speed oven on the market.

What sets Miele's MasterChef speed oven apart is that essentially it is a self-setting cookbook in your appliance. You pick what you are cooking and how you want it cooked. Then voila, the oven sets itself to the perfect cooking temperature and time. 

Jenn-Air until recently only offered their speed oven as part of a combo micro/wall oven unit, but now it is available as a separate unit. I was able to look at this one at a local appliance store.  This was exciting.  I asked the salesperson how it was possible that I hadn't heard about this and why didn't everyone have one.  His response - it is not big enough to roast a turkey in it.  Ahh, that makes sense, but is completely irrelevant to a vegetarian.  What I could see is that it has two racks, so that it would be possible to bake a two layer cake, or a casserole and something else at the same time, while basically taking up no more space that the average microwave.

We do have the incredibly good fortune of having a commercial grade speed oven in the kitchen where I volunteer at an assisted living residence for about forty formerly homeless women.  This high end oven was provided by a generous donor, and it elevates high speed cooking to an art form.

How it works is that it is built with holes to spin the air and focus it onto food in concentrated bursts. To put things in perspective, the average oven takes about 18 minutes to cook chicken strips while a speed cooking oven can achieve the same result in 90 seconds.  On the safety side, the oven has a built-in catalytic converter that removes harmful vapours, smoke and odours, eliminating any need for an exhaust hood.

The controls on speed ovens are intuitive and precise, letting users find their ideal settings and know that they'll taste the same delicious results. Temperature, airflow, cooking time, and many other parameters can be selected from one touchscreen, which displays picture-based icons of various foods.  Users can store up to 100 unique programs - each with its own cooking, holding and time instructions. Visual and auditory alarms can also be set to ring when food is ready to serve. Finally, a front-panel USB port gives users the power to save and transfer recipe data, just in case they would like to have an extra backup.

The Jetsons was first shown on TV fifty years ago.  Move over Jetsons, I have an amazing speed oven too!

Treehouse would also be an interesting guest cottage...