Building Plan C

So originally we'd planned on building a small house before we move to Soulstice Homestead, then thought, since we had the 4 grandkids to bring with us, perhaps we should start big.

Starting big has always been advised against by every homesteader ever to write a book or blog or host a podcast. Dealing with various family crises this year has pushed us into the direction of the current plan - plan C - which now seems much more practical and do-able.

Andrea had an old 1975 International Schoolbus that had been parked in storage for years from a previous life in the New Mexico Mountains. It had been converted to an RV, with wiring and a sink and lots of storage area and beds. We don't know if it runs but we had it towed to our current rental and it's been here for a few years. When her son and daughter, their significant others and children all moved in with us at the same time (12 bodies in one house) we decided it was time to clean up the bus, tow it to Soulstice Homestead, and set up our first living space.

We figure if mom is now home with the grandkids, we can set up a quick place to stay so we can spend several days on the land at a time, as well as get away from the pure chaos that has taken over our current home.

We have an electrician lined up to look at the wiring and make sure it's sound. We've been cleaning it up on the inside and outside getting it ready to paint - since we have water here, but no rain catching system set up there yet. Much easier to paint when you have water  access. The bus is wiped down and swept out (picture left is the 'before' version).
We have a roll of Geotex to lay out on the strip of property where the bus will rest. We're digging out the area a foot or so deep so we can level it off, roll out the Geotex, dump gravel on it, then tow the bus down.

The plan is to park it so the front faces east, leaving the door open to the south, where we'll build a free-standing greenhouse as an extension of the living space and an outdoor kitchen/food prep area. The extension will be right above where we started the grey water trench , so the sinks will drain off to that easily. If we strawbale off the bottom of the bus it should help seal it off from the cold in winter.
To heat the bus this fall and winter, a rocket mass heater can go in the extension greenhouse and the exhaust can be piped off under the length of the bus and out the back so the heat rises from the heated cob through the metal floor of the bus, turning that temperature-conducting floor problem into an asset.

Our solar panels can go on top the bus, shading the roof from the hot sun, which will give some relief from the heat of summer, but we'll need more tricks than that to stay cool. A cob wall of plastic bottles with the bottoms cut off to create the venturi effect all along the upwind side of the extension could cool things off a bit. Some retractable blinds could help too, along with climbing vines with big leaves, like grape vines, all along the roof of the extension.

The 275 gallon water tanks will line the back of the bus, also covered in strawbales to keep out cold and sun. We believe we can fit 5 along the length of the bus, which should be more than enough. The other 6 can be used behind the pallet house and the animal sheds when we build them - all to the north to stay out of the sun.A solar pump will do for moving the water into the bus as needed.

 Reaching this solution has many benefits.

• We're keeping a lot of material (which is the bus) out of the landfills by turning it into a home.
• Being licensed as an RV means we can likely get away with using a composting toilet.
• It's already built and nearly ready to move in.
• It is weather resistant (aside from tornados).
• We're still paying off the land (til 2020), so if we somehow lose the land, the bus can move with us.
• The bus can be moved to more convenient parts of the land if needed - it's not necessarily a permanent structure.

I plan to move into the bus as soon as it gets towed to Soulstice Homestead, driving to our current rental to take care of the animals until I can build shelters for them at the Homestead. Andrea works in town and will likely spend some nights in the bus and some in town until more conveniences can be added to the bus to make the commute more feasible.
We've had a lot of things blocking our way to living on our Homestead, but persistence and adapting to change are our allies on this journey.

update 3/21/2019

We've been digging a level bus pad to park the bus, though we've taken a break after my recent toe surgery. The gravel is laid out, though, and we're hoping by spring to have the bus towed down. 

Since the bus hasn't been started in 20+ years we went online, found a Youtube channel and figured out how to unlock the airbreaks, so instead of paying $1500+ to tow it on a flatbed we can tow it with a wrecker for $580. 

showing the original gravel pile and Geotex

The digging was by hand - maddock and shovel -- and sometimes my bare hands. 12ft x 50ft and in some places 2ft deep. One man job. I learned a lot about digging during that job. One thing is that if you're patient and don't try to rush, it's a lot easier than it looks. I'm 60 years old (at the time of this writing) and weigh 128lbs. I didn't keep track of how many hours I put in, but I managed to finish it in a few weeks on and off, a few days a week.

Here are a few more images of the dig.

Tracking runoff after a rain to make sure
no puddles will form under the gravel

Drain pipe leading to the greywater swale

As it progresses we'll continue to add to this post.