A Straw Bale Home: Small, Secondhand & Spectacular
(Page 2 of 3)
November/December 2008
By Molly Loomis
New techniques, old ties
The homeowners also wanted to incorporate elements of the Teton Valley’s rich agrarian history into their house. The golden barley straw revealed in the home’s “truth window”—a feature in many straw bale homes that allows viewers to peer into the straw-filled wall interiors—mirrors the crops in the surrounding fields, as do the walls’ earthen textures. The reclaimed doors throughout the house match those on the abandoned barns just down the road.
Next to the house sits an old 30-foot grain silo from a neighboring farmer’s field, which Meghan and Aaron resurrected into a two-floor studio, workshop and garage. Downstairs in the workshop, Aaron can concentrate on projects related to his contracting business, Natural Dwellings; upstairs is Meghan’s office, which doubles as a guest bedroom.
The Powerses’ land ethic doesn’t end there. In the spirit of the homesteaders whose descendants still populate the valley, the couple has an extensive garden that provides much of their food throughout the year—not an easy feat in Idaho’s short, temperamental growing season. They also raise chickens, pigs, cows and geese, which they feed with food from their garden and barley dregs from the local brewery. In turn, the animals provide meat, eggs and manure to fertilize the garden.
“During the construction, Meghan said, ‘If I could raise my own meat, maybe I’d eat it,’” Aaron says, “so my dad went out and ordered two piglets the next day.”
As in most homes, the kitchen is the heart of the Powerses’ house. But for Meghan, it takes on added significance. “The kitchen is the part of the house that ties us to everything we like about this place,” she says. “The garden, the animals, the chicken we’re cooking for dinner right now.”
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A Chat With the Homeowners
What books are on your nightstands?
Meghan: In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan and Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.
Aaron: The Places in Between by Rory Steward and Flying the Mountains: A Training Manual for Flying Single-Engine Aircraft by Fletcher Anderson.
Netflix or the local video store?
Meghan: Local. And we pay every penny because we’re always getting late fees.
What’s the house’s best hiding spot for clutter?
Meghan: There’s no hiding spot! That’s one of the catches of having a small house.
What sorts of leftovers are in the fridge right now?
Aaron: We almost always have burrito makings.
What’s your favorite way to pass a snowy day inside?
Meghan: Baking bread.
Aaron: Surfing heavy-machinery websites.
Do you have any tips for living in small spaces?
Meghan: Having a lot of outdoor living areas like our outdoor kitchen and garden really helps.
What was the most challenging aspect of building the house?
Meghan: Because everything is reclaimed, you can’t say, ‘I want this-size window.’ You have to work backward sometimes.
What part of the house are you most happy with?
Meghan: The way the passive solar performs. After two years we hadn’t used our radiant floor heating once, so this winter we drained it.
What was the lowest moment of the design and building process?
Aaron: The tarps leaked, and three-quarters to 80 percent of the straw was gone. “Quit” was going through our heads. But we called around and managed to find someone who still had some straw.