Koviashuvik Local Living School

The "gnome home" we wrote about in our last post caught the interest of many of our readers. It is one of many components of the place we are living during October and November. Up to this point, we've referred to the property as a homestead, but more specifically it is called Koviashuvik Local Living School.

Koviashuvik is an Inuit word loosely meaning a time and place of joy. Our hosts are Chris and Ashirah Knapp who bought this rural, wooded Maine parcel years ago and have gradually transformed it into a property that supports their family of four, teaches occasional day-students, and feeds and houses apprentices throughout the year.

Chris teaches a home school class flanked by his children Owen (7) and Bonnie Bee (5).

Ashirah poses with her daughter.

The Knapp family lives in a tiny home (less than 500 sq ft) they built with wood they exclusively harvested from their property.

This off-grid home has enough solar power to run a few CFL lightbulbs each evening and charge some batteries in rechargeable devices. Drinking water is carried in with a yoke from a nearby spring 10 gallons (80 lbs) at a time. Wash water is collected from what the clouds release. Heat, cooking, and clothes-drying are all courtesy of the wood stove.

Storage crops like root vegetables, cabbages, and apples chill out in the stand-alone root cellar all the way into June when the cache finally disappears.

A passive-solar greenhouse provides nutritional, fresh greens for the family during the winter months. With a rain water collection system and a solar hot-water heater installed, this is also the only spot on the property where a warm shower is possible.

Serving as an outdoor classroom and a woodworking facility, the "shed shop" and its vestibule is a hub of productive activity. It's here that fir poles are stripped for construction, axe handles are crafted, and furniture is made--all with hand tools.

To further their vision and facilitate more year-round learning, the Knapps are also constructing a classroom building. As you might suspect, the lumber for this project also has been harvested and milled exclusively on the grounds. The post and beam framing includes several hand-hewn logs.

To support the growing number of students expected when the classroom is completed next year, a "humanure" outhouse actively composts waste.

Hopefully this quick visual tour of Koviashuvik's facilities helps paint a picture of our setting. The old-world style of construction and earth-conscious design also point to more than our physical surroundings--they embody the character of the people who live and work here.

In addition to the Knapp family, we're sharing this special place with three younger apprentices.

Yard, Lottie, and Carensa enjoy a lighter moment fixing Yard's bike together in the shed shop.

As we've knelt in the dirt with them, shared meals with them, and learned alongside them we've found them to be impressively mature and very capable despite two of them being half our age. We're pleased to be fellow apprentices with people of such great character.

I think the magnetism of Koviashuvik attracts a special kind of mettle.