The link I'm posting here is something that all y'all should bookmark and save.
Why? you ask. Well, 'cause just about any and every kind of wood you can name or imagine is "there"
Yep, without a doubt, one day, you or someone you know is gonna say: "Yeah, I've heard of it, but what does it look like?" well, now you'll know....

OK..... on to whatever it is I have to say about whatever it is I am thinking of right now. Right now being a dark damp and cool 3:30 am

This may not have much to do with little houses per se, but it's close. I reckon that and that I woke up wide awake just a little bit ago make it OK.

OK! I came back "up here" to say that as I added a bit at the bottom, this is now at 3:51 am EDT, a "Smaller Homes" centric post!

It seems to me that people beginning to look at smaller houses as the ticket or a key to a better life, is indicative of somewhat of a shift in consciousness towards all of us, big city and out in the sticks lovers all, living in just a bit more "harmony" for lack of a better term, with the world we live in.

I am well aware that as 95% of Americans do not live in or near where the closest town of 3500 is considered going to town, and that all of us look at life differently depending on where we were raised and where we have lived and the experiences we have had. This is just from my personal perspective.
If you've got kids and grand-kids, and wish them a future where nature is more than an hour on PBS, whether you live in the big city a small town or way out in the woods, maybe it's your perspective too?

Hopefully, we are due for a break from the the rain that we have had here for the past 6 months. Maybe we'll get our septic system installed next week, or as we told the installers that as we're no where near ready to move yet, we're in no huge hurry to get the system installed, in two weeks, the wait won't bother us at all.

Before we bought the new place we made certain that there were perkable system sites and that installing a system would present no unexpected issues. Everything was just peachy, and so we have a new, and two already existing approved test sites.
Doing our due diligence, we became aware that the property and the creek, which is really more like a small river than a big creek where we are, our entire locale actually, are part of what the state has mandated as a "Protected Watershed". A truly wild place that there are now a days very few places like it remaining anywhere in the NC Piedmont. It seems, so the inspector fellows tell us anyway, that we will be the closest septic system to the creek for close to ten miles as the crow flies, though maybe 20 miles or a bit more following the creek. The same creek being close to 60 miles as the creek flows, from where the same creek flows by, and from where some of the same creek water even originates, at our Foothills place.
Though we had a new and valid permit for a 3/2 system with the intention of building a 1/1 800 sq ft max house, I just had to make certain that the way the permit was granted ad the location of the system are the best we could do. This involved three extra meetings at the Environmental folks offices, and two extra meetings with the testers/inspectors, a couple of meetings with a soils expert and some folks from a local university program too. And a lot of walking around, which IMNSHO, was the best part of it all.
It turns out that putting the new system in the most optimum location possible meant that we had to move it a little bit west and a little bit north, but the house could still be built right where we wanted it. All in all we figure that the total cost of all of this to us was somewhere around a bit more than $500 dollars.

That's $500 to insure that our footprint and resource use are as little and as unobtrusive as possible. We have been told that since we already had several valid test and permit sites, that all we did was just throw over $500 away, and waste a lot of time just to move the system location a hundred and something feet.
A well designed and properly sited and maintained 3/2 system serving a We know people who have spent $500 more on something that they wanted for none other than aesthetics, only to tear it out and replace it with another even more costly piece of pretty just a few years later. Some of these same people tell us that that money and time we put into a septic system was nothing but a big waste. As long as it works today, and since it's something you never see it anyway, it seems to be at the bottom of most peoples priority list.
We think different. Sunday we saw an eagle swoop down by the Chestnut Oaks and come back up with a rabbit. And that, to us anyway, is sight worth $500, 5000 times over....

Wherever you live and whatever you build, for your children and your childrens childrens future, please, every once in a while, think about helping, in even the smallest way, to leave them something more than a Lexus and an insurance policy. Think about leaving them a world where there are places that are safe for Where the Wild Things Are. And I'm not talking about your local library either, though that is another place well worth your consideration too.

Thank you.

And now, a great big yawn, and am back to bed. Have a great day wherever you are!

Hey!!! Regarding little houses, I have been looking with no success at all, all around here for Honey Locust lumber, or trees big enough to mill into at least several hundred bd ft of 5/4 or 4/4 six inch to eight inch planks for flooring. Last night a fellow called us saying someone gave our my number and told him of our quest. He told me that he has 10 rather large Honey Locust trees growing at the back of his pasture that he wants GONE. He had a more than a few choice words regarding fully mature Honey Locust, his tender skin, his tractor tires, and Honey Locust and their great big thorns. He told me that if we want them and are willing to cut them down and clean up whatever mess we make and haul them off, that they are ours for the the cost of our time and effort.
Wednesday morning me and him are taking us a walk among the cows and take a good look at what just may be (hopefully so!) our new living and kitchen/dining room floors. And if there's enough bd ft of lumber there, we're goona do everything except the bathroom floor!
If you've never seen it, Honey Locust is absolutely beautiful stuff, hard as a rock, and near as I can tell, just about rot proof too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Honey Locust, and near any wood you can name, details and images