Building a Better Nest: Living Lightly at Home and in the World

by Evelyn Searle Hess

For fifteen years, Evelyn Hess and her husband David lived in a tent and trailer, without electricity or running water, on twenty acres of wild land in the foothills of the Oregon Coast Range. When they decided to build a house – a real house at last – they knew it would have to respect the lessons of simple living that they learned in their camping life. They knew they could not do it alone. Building a Better Nest chronicles their adventures as they begin to construct a house of their own, seeking a model for sustainable living not just in their home, but beyond its walls.

What does it mean to build a better nest? Better for whom? Is it better for the individual or family? The planet? Green building and sustainable design are popular buzzwords, but to Hess, sustainable building is not a simple matter of buying and installing the latest recycled flooring products. It is also about cooperative working together in employment, in research, in activism, and in life. Hess is concerned with her local watershed, but also with the widening income gap, disappearing species, and peak resources. She actively works to reduce overconsumption and waste. For Hess, these problems are both philosophical and practical.

As Hess and her husband age, the questions of how to live responsibly arise with greater frequency and urgency. With unfailing wit and humor, she looks for answers in such places as neuroscience, Buddhism, and her ancestral legacy. Building a Better Nest will appeal to anyone with an interest in sustainable building, off-grid living, or alternative communities. The questions it asks about the way we live are earnest and important, from an author whose voice is steeped in wisdom and gratitude.

Genres: Architecture, Nonfiction, Memoir

192 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2015

Reviews

[Letty Lovechild · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about so much more than building a house! Evelyn Searle Hess, writes about how to build a better relationship with your self, the environment and the world around us. It is beautifully written, and full of inspiration and hope. Not the wishy washy kind, hope and inspiration stemmed from sustainability and quality. She so eloquently asks and answers all the right questions and is so considerate of everything around her and the interconnectedness of every action and every person. I borrowed this from the library, but I feel that I need to own it to share with others and to have as a reference when I feel overwhelmed.

[Doranne Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Building a Better Nest, Evelyn Searle Hess shares her fascinating story of striving to live on this earth, with a very small footprint; literally living in a tiny home, with solar panels and limited water supply, and growing much of her own food, all the while trying to support the local fauna and flora.

[Kate Belt · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is so much that engaged me in this memoir. First, it is set in Oregon. One of the reasons I love Oregon is for its wildness (along with all the great bookstores, restaurants, markets, and coffee shops). Hess speaks with awe about that wildness (not to be confused with wilderness, though that's there, too) early in the book. Her reverent prose describing creation and respect for its interdependence reminds me of Brian Doyle. Brilliant and intelligent reflections on the value of education(formal or self)to have knowledge of the world and ability to think analytically flow throughout the book. Writing about a satisfying life by living sustainably and in community, she tells her own stories and speaks from personal experience instead of soliciting opinions from around the globe. In their 70's, no less, Hess and her husband started building a small home in the forest, doing much of the work themselves or side by side with contractors learning as they worked. She and her husband, an architect, designed the home themselves. They yearn to leave as small a footprint as possible in this life.

[Margaret]

A charming memoir combined with philosophical musings and practical applications on what it means to live sustainably in this complex world. I thoroughly enjoyed Hess' deep knowledge of plants, animals, and eco-systems countered by her striving to learn about the complexities of constructing a home from scratch. Reflecting on her ancestry as well as her and her husband's aging only enhances one of the main themes of the book: family and community. A terrific read written by a local author.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a remarkable book, rich with wisdom, intensity for life, and appreciation for what is learned from our parents and grandparents. Without rancor or preaching, she exhibits her passion for preserving the place she inhabits.

[Cherylin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was nice to be in Searle Hess's world for a while and hear about her history and intentional living.

[Josie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved most of this book, though some of the family history wasn't my thing. I really enjoyed hearing about Hess' lifestyle and choices. Lots to learn in there. I'd love to meet this lady!

[Bridgid · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely read. A bit overly descriptive of the nature surrounding her at times, but still insightful.

p65 "To cherish what remains of the Earth and foster its renewal is our only legitimate hope of survival." Wendell Berry

p65 "I admired my mother's ability to make something from almost nothing...looking back at it, I'm especially impressed that she seemed to maintain an upbeat, curious, attentive perspective even when a stressful economy and the fears and loss of war could understandably push a person to far darker states. Her attitude undoubtedly helped me to realize that the road to happiness lies more in outlook than income, more in how you think than what you have."

p99 "I read somewhere that mistakes are the first step to creativity. I love that thought. Those of us who grew up feeling the need to be perfect were often afraid to explore the unknown, missing the heights as we tried to avoid the depths. Our artist-grandson Nate become aware of that problem when he was in design school. Talented young men and women, accustomed to success and praise, were reluctant to risk imperfection in someone else's judgment by trying something different. But without being willing to risk failure, they might never discover just how creative, how good, they could be, or how much fun it might be to explore new ways of imagining."

p112 Neil Kearns, associated with Aprovecho Appropriate Technology Center, designed a pedal powered set up for a washing machine

p171 "When I had my landscaping business, I learned that if you stake young trees too tightly, they cannot move in the wind, and they grow thin and weak. It is the movement - blowing with and resistance to the wind - that stimulates cell growth that makes trunks sturdy."

p181 "In this, the winter of my life, may my leaves also nourish the soil; may I divine the secrets of continuing to grow in the dark; may I remember to network and share and to nurture the embryos of whatever viable seeds I have been able to disseminate. May I always search through the mud for its source: life giving water. May I ever be guided by the steady waxing of the light, and may I also, like the bears, seek the peace and contentment of rest."

p184 "....Mother Goose ditty, 'for every problem under the sun/there is a remedy or there is none/if there is one, seek til you find it/if there is none, never mind it."

[Grace Elting Castle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Building a Better Nest: Living Lightly at Home and in the World
By: Evelyn Searle Hess
Published by Oregon State University Press 2015

I have spent every spare moment in the past two weeks reading Evelyn Searle Hess' amazing book, "Building a Better Nest...". Time definitely well-spent with a story that reads like part memoir, part a journal kept by a dedicated environmentalist, and sometimes a peek into a personal diary.

This is a writer whose mind holds so much knowledge of so many topics that this one book is a tiny library of fascinating facts all held together with her love of family and her lively sense of humor. Wait until you find the chapter where she discovers the color she will paint the walls in her great room!

I seldom read a book twice, but this one I will turn to again and again.

More, Evelyn, more! The world needs your words.

[Kee Onn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A writer builds a house in the woods, intending to tread lightly on the environment, and helped by community of people and the ecosystem. Thoughtful essays and interesting ideas, written in an era of optimism.

[Jen Ubelaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well done. Great story of a life living lightly that shared both the romantic and not-so-romantic views of life in the wilderness.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Glad I read it; probably not for everyone. . .

[Alex Mandrila · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this memoire that Hess wrote of her and her husband's aventure building a sustainable home in the woods into their golden years. I felt like it could have been a meeting between Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass and Michael Pollan's A Place of My Own, though at no point did the similarity scream in my ear while reading. It left me contemplating community and how I might do more for mine.