"Come In Out of the Cold"... For Next To Nothing!

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Song Feather agrees, and comments, "Tipis don't have as much impact on the soil . . . you can move them to allow the vegetation to reestablish itself."

"Yeah", Heinz adds, "instead of taking the wood to the house, you take the house to the wood."

But, though the couple both believe that portable tents are more convenient and ecologically sound abodes than their new lodge, they plan to wait until the weather breaks before they take up tipi residence again.

The wickiups that the group constructed are neither as big nor as warm as the earth houses. They're comfortable enough, though, and easy on the pocketbook, too.

Patty and Blackjack (who share one of these tents-with-a-sunken-living-room) dug a two-foot-deep foundation over which they set a pole framework. It took them four days to construct the shelter . . . three just to dig the pit. Their wickiup's roof and upper walls are a tipi canvas and their new house cost Patty and Blackjack only $30.00 . . . which is what the couple paid for a small used stove.

Dennis, another wickiup resident, feels that—though these "homes" aren't as well insulated as the earth lodges—their advantages in mobility and ease of construction outweigh the disadvantages in creature comforts.

Fact is, both forms of shelter have their advocates among the Flowering Tree Farm folks, as each of these primitive dwellings provides warm, low-cost, ecologically justified housing when the group needs it.

So, if you ever find yourself in dire need of warm, snug quarters that you can build in only three or four days for pennies . . . think of the Flowering Tree commune and its wickiups and earth lodges. The age-old designs still work!

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