At Home with Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell — Living Large in Our Little House

By Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell | Photos by Kevin Pieper

Through a twist of fate and some major tugging at our heartstrings, the tiny house my husband, Dale, and I had built in the woods of Marion County as a respite from our busy lives in Kansas City has become our full-time home. We call it Our Little House.

We contracted to have our 480-square-foot lake cabin on Bull Shoals Lake built in 2003 on 2.5 acres. We planned to move to our property in retirement and build a larger home, using the smaller cabin as my office and a guesthouse. We enjoyed driving down from Kansas City to our cabin every other weekend and every holiday for four years until 2007 when our “future” plans suddenly became the present. My mother passed away early that year and my husband’s job of 23 years was in peril of being discontinued under the company’s new ownership.

Dale and I had never lived more than two miles from our childhood homes, and the losses of my mother and his job were the catalysts we needed to make a big change. We sold our 1,100-square-foot, 3-bedroom, 1 1/2-bath home in the city. When Dale secured a job in the Twin Lakes area at one of the region’s largest employers, we felt the fates approved.

When the 7.5 acres of property next to our cabin came up for sale, we purchased it. We spent the next year pursuing our dream of planning a larger home on our property while living in our small cabin, but construction costs had skyrocketed in the few short years since our original build and adding on to the cabin was also cost prohibitive.

Avid boaters and anglers, my husband and I immediately took advantage of our full-time proximity to not only Bull Shoals, but also the region’s other bodies of water. We explored the many hiking trails near our home in state and national parks and took advantage of outdoor adventures on the Buffalo River.

By the time the first winter and summer had passed, we realized we were doing most of our actual living outdoors. We went from “We can’t live in this tiny space” to “We think we can do this!”

As an independent writer, I did need space to work, so we decided to build a separate 320-square-foot studio with a full bath to serve as office and guest space. Luckily, it seemed the fates had conspired in our favor again. One year and one week to the day, at the beginning of the Great Recession, my husband was laid off of his job here in the Twin Lakes. It wasn’t an easy 18 months until he was called back to his job, but it would have been much harder with a larger mortgage payment.

Home Amongst Nature  
Even as lifelong suburbanites, we easily took to our wooded surroundings of dense forest that borders Corps of Engineers property. Our favorite features of Our Little House are the large 12 x 24-foot deck, which is half of our living space indoors, and a smaller 6 x 24-foot covered front porch, both of which are nestled in the trees and secluded from the road and the lake below.

When we aren’t boating and fishing or hiking a trail or checking the trail cam on our property, we can usually be found reading on our deck, grilling or entertaining by enjoying a cocktail or beer with friends on a warm day.  

One evening, a few summers ago, while sitting on the party deck alone with our dogs, I had my music playlist going and the classic “Dixieland Delight” by Alabama began to play. Though not in Tennessee, I realized that on this real-life Saturday night, I was being serenaded by many of the same sounds as described in the song.

I turned off my iPod. I could hear a croaking bullfrog down in our hollow and a deer snorting in the distance. I listened to “our” owl, the one we hear in the hollow much of the year, calling to its mate. I turned to watch the last of the hummingbirds of the day come to the feeder to get a little nibble before nightfall.

As dusk grew deeper, lightning bugs put on quite the light show and the coyotes began their soulful howls in the distance.

Night finally fell and I looked up and saw all of the stars, many more than one can see in the city, and was amazed to catch the Milky Way.

The natural beauty of our home mesmerized me so that I sat there in the moment, taking it all in for two full hours.

Living in Nature Makes us Want to Live More Naturally and Protect What we Have
I have long been an environmentalist, a tree hugger. Even when I was a kid, those television advertisements of the Native American crying at the pollution in our air and water struck a chord with me. As long as I can remember, I have used cloth shopping bags at the grocery store, and recycled and conserved whenever possible.

Living in such beautiful natural surroundings makes my resolve to protect the environment stronger. We no longer use harsh chemicals for cleaning, or pesticides or herbicides on the land. Chemicals such as bleach can kill the bacteria in the septic and also leak into the surrounding leach field.

We don’t have trash pick-up and have to take our refuse in to the local transfer station, making it necessary to find a way to produce less rubbish. That led us on a quest to eat less processed food and cook more naturally and healthy. Our trash is shrinking and our compost pile is growing.

Natural in the Kitchen  
Our home in the city had a large country kitchen. Although I had a lot of counter space and ample cabinet storage, I never learned to manage my kitchen. Instead, I felt as if it managed me. The extra counter space had me running from end to end, cutting and chopping or mixing and stirring. By the time the meal was done, I was worn out and barely enjoyed eating.

When we moved to Our Little House, I didn’t have the option of running to the nearest restaurant, and we didn’t like the trash produced by convenience foods. I forced myself to learn to cook. I took some vegan cooking classes from Mountain Home native Lindsey Hardin, which set us on a course to eat a more natural, healthier diet.

My tiny kitchen forced me to keep everything organized. Instead of running back and forth in a large kitchen, everything in my tiny kitchen was within reach. I could chop and mince while stirring pots and reaching for spices. My cooking became a graceful dance and the results showed, and meals became enjoyable again.

I began developing my own recipes and sharing them on my blog, LivingLargeinOurLittleHouse.com, and I was featured in the holiday edition of a national magazine, Where Women Cook.

Home Is Definitely Where Nature Is
Nearly eight years after we moved full-time to Our Little House, we made the decision to stay forever. Dale had been offered, and had actually accepted, a job back home in Kansas City, but we hadn’t been able to find a house that felt like home, that provided the surroundings, comfort and peace of Our Little House. In another twist of fate, his job as a diesel mechanic here in the Ozarks once again opened and he happily reclaimed it.

When my husband had first accepted that higher paying job in the city, we were excited at the prospect of going to a place we still considered “home.” We were looking for a smaller home as we had become accustomed to the smaller payments and minimal time commitment on cleaning and maintenance. I admit that I was also a little excited to have a bit more room, where I could once again have my china cabinet and beautiful dishes.

However, as our search for a home turned from summer to fall and the leaves began to change and the warmth of our woodstove comforted us in our cozy little home, we began to realize just how much we love it here.  

Nowhere else in the city or surrounding areas would we be shielded in privacy from neighbors, nor could we take walks in the woods to shake the stress from a challenging day. When my husband was offered his job back here, we had already made up our minds. We were where we need to be. Kansas City will always be our hometown, but the woods and Our Little House are now our home. M! February/March 2017

Buy Kerri’s book, Living Large in Our Little House, published by Reader’s Digest, and read Kerri’s blog at LivingLargeinOurLittleHouse.com.