My New Home

I truly despise renting, which is part of the reason I have been so stressed about housing the last few weeks leading up to my move to Eugene and return to graduate school. My motivation for buying a house was driven in a large part by my desire to paint the walls whatever color I wanted, grow my garden however I determined, and keep a flock of chickens without asking for permission. All of that has changed, but I know it is a temporary change.

I think I’ve lucked out with my housing for the next year. I found a great roommate, Madeline, who is also entering the Masters in Landscape Architecture program this summer. She has an awesome dog, loves permaculture, and seems very easy-going. Having a roommate will hopefully make me a little less lonely for Jay (who will be living in NYC) and keep us both motivated on school.

We found a really sweet house in Eugene on Sunday, so the search is over! It’s a two bedroom bungalow with a huge garden that I am referring to as a “Gardening Commune”. There are two other separate studios in the large backyard that house other graduate students, who tend to also be MLA students. Everyone pitches in throughout the garden and enjoys the space. The landlord is also open to me bringing the chickens, which just sent me over the moon.

I’ve planted all of my vegetables already here in Portland, with half going into my raised beds and half going into containers. We will move in mid-June, which is still early enough to transplant some of the vegetables into the raised beds at my new home. Now my big challenge is to find the perfect movable chicken coop and construct it prior to our move south. So much to do!