It has been a long while since my last post. I was waiting for my fairy godmother to turn one of my pumpkins into my house, alas it did not happen 🙂 I had written a post at the end of May, and it was deleted, which is probably for the better as I was still quite angry and it’s best not to post in the heat of the emotion. At the end of May when I was just about to finalize my finances and get started building, my general contractor who was also my natural build consultant, pulled out of my project. He was scared that we were in over our heads and could not afford to build my house. This sent me into a tail spin. We had been working together for 2 year on this project, from the design stage, through permitting and all the planning. This is a large part of my attraction. I have consistently drawn men (in particular) to me who commit to do things with/for me (for $ or not) and then pull out at the last minute. I have been attracting this pattern my whole life and I took that opportunity to work through some of the injury and errors within that created that attraction. I had thought I had worked through it already, but there was still more, and I feel that there is still more, just different flavors.

I spent the next month researching to see if I could be the general contractor. Since I was almost starting at square one I had a lot to learn. I had already received some quotes for some work, and I had the projected budget from my former contractor to work with. He did not send me any of the quotes that he had received nor did I ask. I was too hurt by his decision to drop me and the project. I researched and researched, read and read, I made spread sheets and I contacted contractors, I researched what types of products I wanted in my home, what timelines to expect, what costs to expect. I focused a lot of energy in learning and every thing I learned showed me how much I did not know. Each tiny aspect of building a house is a rabbit hole to fall in, especially if, like me you are searching for the most natural, gentle and environmentally friendly way. There are not many contractors who take those things into consideration, price and then functionality seem to be the only variables. Both of those are extremely important, but not the only things to consider. I received a lot of different quotes from a lot of different contractors, trying to bring business to my area, and was surprised how hard it was to find someone who would #1 general contract, or #2, just be available to discuss the quote they gave me. I was talking with one contractor here who would help me to arrange the build and connect me with contractors, but no one would do the foundation work, and at that point I had not yet found someone who would be my hempcrete expert. I found a fella willing to try to work with hempcrete, but he was not dedicated to doing it as a business or really engage in the detailed discussion of what it would take to actually make the house.

I continued to research, contact and ask questions and they kept leading to dead ends in the overall construction aspect, but I did start making some great discoveries, the best of which at the time was my windows. I found this Manitoba company based out of Morden called Access Windows. They have created this amazing window system using aerospace technology, designed to allow heat in in the winter and keep it out in the summer, as well as meeting or exceeding all environmental standards. They are really amazing. I went to check them out and the depth of knowledge and passion for the product the consultant had was amazing! I left there feeling high on life and even more passionate about purchasing these amazing windows for my home. They were also almost $20,000 less than the local hardware store quoted.

The next great discovery I made, after realizing that I had the tools of social media to help me find a hempcrete contractor, was Dion LeFevber of 8th Fire Innovations! We have just started to talk about what his involvement will look like, but it is looking like we will be hosting hempcrete building workshops so we can share his expertise with Manitobans, find a willing work force, and build one of the first full hempcrete homes in Manitoba. It is all very exciting.

Through my journey I realized, after a friend pointed it out to me, that I not only wanted to build myself this amazing home, I genuinely wanted to help move natural building forward in Manitoba. If I were to work so hard to make this home happen, then no one would really want to follow in my footsteps. I feel very strongly that I need to break the path and leave tools on the way so others can learn from my experiences and hempcrete can become a viable building material in Manitoba. For this, we need access to hemp, to people who have the skills and desire to learn, to people who can bridge the gap between traditional building and natural building merging the best of both worlds and we need to have viable examples living in our extreme temperatures. Hemp is such an amazing plant, the benefits of building with it far outweigh the costs, many of which people are innovating ways to reduce as we speak. I discovered through this process that I had been relying too heavily on my original contractor to know it all and hold all of the information. I learned that I need to know it all, I need to hold all the information. I need to be an expert in my home and be able to speak to it, share it and know what I am talking about.

I continued to follow leads, talk to contractors, credit unions and hardware stores to see if it was possible to build before the frost. As it turns out it was not, not without a lot of pushing the river and forcing things to go. I know from experience there is a time and a place for things to occur, if I try to push it, it will not turn out for the best. In fact, it usually costs so much more in time, energy and money and doesn’t turn out the way I wanted. So, I settled in for another season or two before building could start.

After I had secured my hempcrete expert and determined that I was waiting until spring to build, I let the energy I had been putting into this build subside. I knew it was going to happen, but I also knew that a few things had to happen within me first. I did not want to put any thought, planning, seeking or energy into it. This lasted for almost 2 months, and today, it changed! I am happy to feel the motivation and desire again to get this project moving. I have a lot of plans for what I want to do between now and the build and I am so happy to have the desire to focus more on it. I will be putting a post in “my spiritual journey” soon, that explores the changes in me that lead to the return of my desire and those that are yet to come.

Thanks for your interest in my journey. I hope to be posting more and more wonderful things to come!