# Up Into the Trees



## RovingAnarchist (Jun 10, 2015)

I have an odd dream. I want to live in a proper, functional, has-electricity-and-plumbing treehouse! I know these things exist.

 

See? Awesome. So that's my dream. (Well, it's one of them... they all tie in together.) Besides being a thing I always wanted to do, I like the idea that anyone seeing it has their worldview shifted a little bit to a place where more things are possible, that they can do wonderful and weird things too!

Here's the plan:

-barter with an engineer/architect to design plans that meet the government's safety standards
-advertise on craigslist and freecycle for materials (scrap, recycled, whatever); collect it up until there's enough to complete the project.
-build it with friends
-become a traveller magnet and meet people from all over the world without having to pack up all my tools and gear. 

The bit where this plan falls apart is the tree itself. How can I acquire a tree without having to buy property? Building a structure of this type with all the amenities seems like it would be a bit too much of a magnet for cops etc to make a decent squatting project. (Thus the bit about getting a pro to do the plans- if it's going to be permanent, I don't wanna spend years in legal wrangling over the type of joists we used or some stupid shit like that. I already checked the base line laws, and my town has no regulations against treehouses of any size, provided you get the proper inspections from engineers and arborists. i suspect this means someone's already done this at least once.)

Thoughts? Suggestions? Any ideas you all have would help a lot!


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## Andrea Van Scoyoc (Jun 10, 2015)

If you get your tree house before I get mine, I'll hate you.

Kidding...maybe. 

To live in a tree is my dream too, except I don't need running water or electricity, just a solar powered charger for my phone being as it does everything I need.

I'd use a composting toilet.

I know my dream is a little more difficult, so I'd really have to be in the middle of nowhere, where no one would care, like Alaska.

Good luck with yours!


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## RovingAnarchist (Jun 10, 2015)

Composting toilet is the way to go, for sure. I want water for things like cooking and showering. Maybe a rain collection system connected to a filtration unit would do the trick? Frankly, I don't want to end up needing to haul a bucket up every time I need to do dishes. I live in Canada, most of the year it's too cold for that shit. I could convert my sewing machines to treadle, which pretty much eliminates my major electrical need. 

Solar panel for the phone- debatable as to whether there's enough sun for that around here in December. And heat, that's a major issue. I'm against the idea of a woodburning stove in a treehouse. A) That seems dangerous, and B) insulting to the tree. I wouldn't eat a steak in front of a cow.


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## Andrea Van Scoyoc (Jun 10, 2015)

There's definitely a lot to consider.

I also plan (or would if I actually had any hope of seeing my dream to reality) to live very primitively and would have two plates, two cups, two forks, etc (in case company dropped by - if more than one, well, they better be packing their own utensils, etc) and would build as relatively close to a stream or waterfall, as possible.

What I'd do is carry a bucket down with me for water to bathe in, I'd cook on the ground in a fire pit, and the same for dishes, then just hang the bucket on the tree or set it someplace safe.

As for cold weather...what a pain. The only thing I would see around insulting the tree would be to only use fallen branches that are dead anyway (so no disrespect, at least they're serving a grander purpose in the circle of living) or set up a kerosene heater.

But those things are expensive to burn...at least kerosene is in Florida, so I'm just going by what I know.


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## RovingAnarchist (Jun 17, 2015)

I belong to a site that's theoretically dedicated to "doing the inner work" via creative/art journalling to connect with your "inner magic" to "make your dreams come true." It's a lot of drawing symbols for aspects of yourself and conducting conversations with them to get past psychological blocks. I dunno, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Mostly it's a lot of ladies who want to sell art, write poems, and declutter. They spend a lot of time visualising their safe spaces to bring imaginary happiness into their lives temporarily. I figured that it couldn't hurt to run the treehouse past them.

Oh, the pain. I got only two responses (a post about getting off your fat ass to WALK a 5K got about 30!), and both of them were about connecting to my imaginary treehouse to find out what feeling I want from the idea of it. That I could paint bloody watercolours of trees instead.

I may have lost my shit a bit. I don't want an imaginary treehouse. i want a fucking tree with a goddamn house in it! (insert rant about late-stage capitalism, slave mentality, and the total lack of rebellion in society) 

I WANT WEIRD. For a bunch of people who claim they're trying to claim their inner magic, those folks miss the point by a shockingly large margin. No sense of wonder whatsoever. 

Now I simply feel sad. Partly over being condescended to so badly; mostly it's kind of mourning for their imaginations. The experience reinforced some of my reasons for wanting to do it in the first place.


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## Tatanka Yotanka (Jul 17, 2015)

Cotton Tree's would be perfect and can be used on tribal land that wouldn't require purchase so long as you sought approval from the local community. They represent independence as seen in the center of Freetown, but carry a significant memory of colonization.

These beautiful trees are severely threatened by illegal logging.


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## RovingAnarchist (Jul 17, 2015)

Cotton trees are very beautiful. I wonder if living in one would protect it from loggers, or if they'd go ahead and cut someone's house down?


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