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Shea Gunther – Teepee-Living Technologist

Shea Gunther in front of his Tepee
Images courtesy of Shea Gunther


I thought that I was a little bit ‘out there’ for trying to compost during our cold winters, but my eco-buddy Shea Gunther makes me feel like a bit of a light-weight! He has decided to live in a teepee all winter long – and in Maine, no less! (winters in Maine are almost certainly more severe than here in Southern Ontario).

Now before you conclude that he is completely out of his mind, I should probably point out that this ‘teepee’ (also spelled ‘tipi’, btw) of his is no ordinary pup tent! It is a serious structure (two, in fact!) created by Colorado Yurt Company. Oh, and did I mention that he has “power, an internet connection, a full bathroom and kitchen, and wood stove” (and his cat, Fee, to keep him company)?
😆

All joking aside, this sounds like a seriously cool adventure and I’m going to be very interested to see how things pan out for Shea. I wasn’t able to find any winter pictures on his website yet, but hopefully he’ll post some fairly soon (I assume there must be at least as much snow in Maine as there is here right now, but I could be wrong).

Don’t let the semi-rugged living conditions fool you though. It sounds as though Shea is still very busy with his various online endeavours. Aside from providing teepee-living updates on his blog, he will also be planning out his ‘Gunther Green Home‘ – a ‘super eco-friendly’ home that he’ll be building in the spring of 2008. Here is a brief blurb about that:

I’m building a super green home starting in the Spring of 2008 called the Gunther Green Home. It will be net-zero, producing as much energy as it uses with solar panels and wind turbines using the power grid as it’s battery. The Gunther Green Home will use straw bales for the walls and passive solar for the heating with a food fired masonry stove backup. We’ll use local and natural materials. The home will have a green roof, an ice cooled food storage room, and a secret passage or two.

I also recently learned that Shea (along with a couple of other eco-friends, Chris Baskind and Michael D’Estries) is involved with a fun new website – Snarfd, described as “a daily collection of the web’s coolest, oddest, and most beautiful destinations.” I spent some time on the site recently and found it very entertaining!

[UPDATE]: Just in case you miss the comments section of this post, Shea has informed us that he is no longer living in his tipi, but that he still works there (that’s still pretty rugged if you ask me). Other great things have happened in his life, leading him to abandon the project (with good reason!) – read all about it >>HERE<<.

[tags]tipi, teepee, yurts, rugged, roughing it, shea gunther, sustainable, green home, snarfd[/tags]

Written by Compost Guy on December 11th, 2007 with comments disabled.
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2 comments

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Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Shea Gunther
#1. December 12th, 2007, at 5:03 PM.

Hey Bentley, love the new site! Thanks for the attention here. I want to update you on some changes in the project though- long story short is that I’m not living in the tipi anymore, now it serves as my office. My wife and I went through some marital downs and ups this fall and as part of our reconciliation I agreed to move back in with her and the kids in the house she had got when we were in the down phase o’ things. Life is great again and we’ve worked through most of the big issues that caused the disruption in the marriage force. You can read the details here: http://sheagunther.org/great-news-reconciliation-tipi-living-and-changes-in-the-project/

So I’m not quite as hardcore-cool-crazy but then again- how many people do you know who work in a tipi?

😀

Keep up the great blogging!

Shea

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Naidie
#2. May 21st, 2008, at 6:04 PM.

Hi,
I have always liked the idea of living in a tipi and going back to nature. A friend of mine however is thinking of moving into one full time though. I wondered if you can give me any advice or ideas on how to make this work. Especially food and cooking and toilets.
I really like what you’re doing and think its a great idea.
Thankyou for any help you can give me.