A few that New York City flew for a slower life in Oregon got a rough awakening when their little home Dream fell apart.
Soo Jae Lee and Jeffrey Castro gave up their 400 square foot studio in Manhattan in 2019, after they were inspired by Tiny-House videos on YouTube, as reported by Business Insider.
In 2020 they bought one on wheels from Facebook Marketplace for around $ 60,000 and parked it a lot they rented for $ 675 a month on Sauvie Island, about 30 minutes from Portland.
“In retrospect we realized that we had jumped in the deep end before we completely understood the concept of 'Living tiny Living', 'Castro said, adding that it took a few months' to really sink that this living situation was not what I was what I was expected. '
Lee and Castro, who earned a living by selling their crafts, spent $ 2,000 for some updates, including installing a shower system and a new paint layer.
But the house was in a nature reserve, making their internet connection spotty, forcing them to rely on cellular WiFi, which was at best 'unreliable and slow'.
Soo Jae Lee and Jeffrey Castro gave up their studio of 400 square feet in Manhattan to live in a small house on agricultural land in Oregon
In 2020 they bought a small house on wheels from Facebook Marketplace for around $ 60,000
Lee and Castro, who earned a living by selling their crafts, spent $ 2,000 for some updates, including installing a shower system and a new paint layer
The couple often experienced power outages, especially when it was eliminated during the fire season.
And when the winter came, they had frozen pipes, with Castro parts that they sometimes had to deal with water shortages for days.
In the wilderness it also meant that the pair was exposed to the elements, and when forest fires outbreaks in Oregon in 2020, they said they were under dangerous breathing conditions for weeks.
“When the natural fires flooded the island, it kept us locked up in the small house because of the high toxicity levels,” Castro told BI.
“The door steps required an N90 mask, the sky was smelling terribly and we didn't see any sunlight that all the time.”
Because the forest fires took place during the COVID-19 Pandemie, the couple could not run anywhere.
“Our small world had become even smaller and dangerous. This situation felt completely outside our control, and that was frightening, Castro explained.
The house was in a nature reserve, making their internet connection spotty and forced them to rely on cellular WiFi
When the winter came, they also had to deal with frozen pipes, where Castro shares that they sometimes had to deal with water shortages for days
Being in the wilderness also meant that the couple was exposed to the elements
Then the next summer they went through a heat wave that lived them in temperatures up to 116 degrees Fahrenheit without a cooling system or even ice.
The couple was surprised to discover that life in the wilderness does not necessarily mean less work.
'To our surprise, we didn't delay. Mother Nature keeps you really sharp, “Castro said.
“There was always something to prepare for life on the farm, and everything felt like a tight deadline.”
After two years in their small house, the couple sold it and moved to an apartment.
They then moved to a rental house in Portland in 2023.
“To be honest, I did not respond to this trip with a clear self -feeling or my possibilities,” Castro said about his time in the small house.
He added: “I am proud of how soo Jae and I have overcome the obstacles that we have put ourselves through.”
