Tiny House Podcast

decided to give interviewing each other a shot, so you get a sense of why the three of us came together in the first place. This is our first installment. And we’re not even sure it’s going to see the light of day. Fun fact: We actually recorded similar shows early on, but guess what? They haven’t seen the light of day either. I don’t even know why I’m writing this...chances are, you’re never going to read it.

We were surprised this episode passed so quickly. Which is always a good sign. Michael Withy made a name for himself in the Occupy movement in Portland, Oregon during its heydays. Remarkably (to us) that notoriety would catapult him into his current line of work: conceptualizing affordable housing communities around the country. Fascinatingly enough, we never got to what Michael does because we were blown away by his stories about what he did. Don’t worry, it all ties together nicely to tiny houses. And as you can tell by the end of the show, we’re going to have to have Michael return to the studio for round two.

We started this show with an joke that had unintentional macabre connections with reality. Once we recovered from that ghastly story, we were pleased to welcome Tiny Innovations principal Jeremy Killian who shared his secrets for succeeding in the Tiny House Movement as one of the preeminent builders. Jeremy should know a thing or two: he has over 200 builds in the works, both commercial and private individual clients seeking his builds, and an amazing business model that has put Tiny Innovations seemingly in the middle of it all that is Tiny...all without having to deal too much with zoning, planning, and many of the other challenges besieging other builders. It was almost as good as the conversation we had after the show. But since we didn’t record that, you’re just going to have to settle for what we did record. Snatch your hammer and beer and enjoy our latest episode.

Tiny houses meets ex-offenders meets the housing crisis. Linda and her husband David, one day went from being entrepreneurs straight into debtor’s prison….literally. But this story ends up positive as the experience lead to David receiving “a calling” to serve those people they found themselves behind bars with. The result? Fresh Start Ventures, a new non profit organized to help ex-offenders avoid returning to prison. What’s really interesting about Fresh Start is they combine their mentoring work with housing...tiny house housing for ex offenders, through an innovative program that uses Tiny Houses as ADUs, community development and mentorship to create better and lasting opportunities for those coming out of prison.

Who on earth goes from a tiny house in Idaho to a nationwide road trip in a tiny travel trailer? Uh, that would be Macy Miller! We caught up with her and her family on a nationwide national park junket to talk about their newest digs, which they rebuilt from the frame up, their road trip and one of the nicest jurisdiction violation conversations we’ve ever heard. Here’s what you get when you pair two architects, two kids, a great dane and a road trip with no definite end: a pack of stories to last a lifetime.

Designer, treehouse builder, creator and fanboy of Buckminster Fuller, Dustin Feider takes advantage of nature’s oxygen-makers to create nothing short of art. Dustin’s designs typically riffs off the “bucky ball” aka the geodesic dome. Primarily his treehouse designs are enjoyed by Californians and range from $10,000 to more than six figures. So where did this passion for trees, oxygen and unusual, artistic structures originate? You’re going to have to listen to the show to find out. But bring a healthy dose of “give us some slack”: We somehow got super-high in this episode and we sometimes make no fucking sense whatsoever…..plus we have a new co-host. No we didn’t shit-can Michelle. How could we do that? http://www.o2treehouse.com

Having BA Norrgard on Tiny House Podcast has been a long-anticipated event here at the studio. She and her new husband John graced us with their presence to talk about their story, how they got into the tiny house movement, what they see as the future of the movement and how they are plugging in to that movement in a way that will be personally profitable. From paralegal to tiny house luminary, BA has had many of her tiny dreams come true. We sat down with her to find out what the future holds for her. http://www.abedovermyhead.com

Janice and Brian are intrepid entrepreneurs who met “in the worst workplace in the world”. That fateful encounter led the two not only into their relationship, but also into two successful organizations, one of which has introduced a brand new teardrop trailer to the car-camping market. Aeroteardrop trailers makes well-built, semi-customizable trailers with so many feature options, your head would spin. One option is a “car-roof tent” designed for the African Plains to keep lions from doing what they naturally do…..eat people. Janice and Brian joined us in-studio to share their story, how they got to where they are and what’s next for this intrepid entrepreneurial couple. Take a listen! http://aeroteardrops.com

Jeremy Weaver from Wind River Tiny Homes quit medical school years ago to pursue a masters degree that emphasized entrepreneurialism. Thus Wind River was born! And now, he’s about to move on from Wind River to pursue other, even more wonderful adventures, including living in a farmhouse he built himself, popping out another baby and, possibly traveling to Africa to do some really fantastic things. But before that, Jeremy joined us on the show to update us on Wind River builds, customers, quality and his own personal journey as an owner of one of the premier tiny house builder companies in the United States. http://www.windrivertinyhomes.com

What a lovely surprise. Our volunteer sound engineer Rick McNerney joined us on the show today. By now you probably know our show is so much better with Rick’s assistance (thanks Rick). What you may not know is we met Rick at a tiny house festival, that we hit it off instantly and, that Rick and his wife are nearly-complete co-building an epic tiny house. We’re still scratching our heads at how this creative guy, with so many hobbies and a 60-hour-a-week job manages to have time to make us sound so good each week. We’re also still scratching our heads about how great this episode was. It was like a chat among friends over beers. Take a listen.