One thing we have learned over the years is to always be willing to change our plans if a better solution presents itself. Our original plan was to build our home using Aircrete, completing one room at a time. The kitchen and living room would be the main “hub”, and all the other rooms would come off of that central hub.

The layout we had chosen dictated that Mike’s mushroom lab (Edible, gourmet, medicinal) be built first. Mike and I tend to be overly-optimistic about large projects: They always seem take five times longer and cost three times more money than we expect. Throw in 3-4 weeks of COVID recovery, and now we are in Fall, looking at a lovely, perfectly level spot where a lab belongs.

Enter Plan B: Mike decided to talk to the cabin/mini-home builders down the road, and ended up purchasing a 12×20 side entry cabin for his lab.

While more expensive overall than the Aircrete structure, this cabin will give Mike something he needs: The time to start generating some income here on the Homestead. We have a level spot already. We are picking up some gravel today and then the cabin can be delivered. Water and electricity are located right next to the lab, so hookups should be fairly straightforward.

An added bonus is that we will get our workshop/garage back. Mike has the entire interior of his lab filling the garage: A full kitchen cabinet set, flow hood, microscopes, fruiting chambers, and boxes upon boxes of miscellaneous equipment, just waiting to be set up and put to use.

I will be posting pics of our progress soon! For now, I got some pretty shots around the Homestead today.