Jayn’s New Digs
In 2006 I wrote a post about my friend Jayn and her house called Home is Where the Art is. It began: Her art can’t be separated from the life she lives and the place she lives it from, an old Appalachian country home with a flower child touch and an artist’s manifested vision… See pictures HERE.
In 2010, I wrote an article for Natural Awakenings magazine about Jayn, who is part of the Zephyr Community and my neighbor. It was titled A Simple Living Devotee and began like this: For two decades Floyd potter Jayn Avery lived completely off the grid. The country home where she and her partner raised their two daughters was built in 1929 by a local farmer for his bride’s parents. It had no electricity. When Avery and her family moved in, it cost the same to install solar panels as it did to bring electric power to the house. In keeping with the family’s interest in self-sufficiency, they chose solar power. They grew food, raised goats, chopped wood for their wood stove, and kept their food cold in their spring box for years before purchasing their first gas powered refrigerator… Read more HERE.
Today Jayn is getting an addition to her house to make room for her daughter and granddaughter, who are moving in with her. I call it Jayn’s “sweet new suite.”
Living off the grid as a simple living devotee, Jayn first had an outhouse and then graduated to a composting toilet. Now she’s getting a new septic system and a flush toilet, and my son Dylan is doing the plumbing! Another friend, Ian, who grew up playing at Zephyr, like Dylan did, is the construction manager. Others have pitched in making the project a community effort.
I guess this is how we make life simpler now. Looking good, Jayn! Check out Jayn’s website HERE.
