We ask for funding to buy and develop 52 acres to build small cottages where a diverse practicing artists can stay and rent. These include musicians, writers, visual artists, possibly those in the healing arts, too. The property we identified is a secluded 52 acres in Strafford, Vermont, easily accessible yet a slice of heaven. It is extremely wooded but has some trails that need an upgrade and thinning. There is a primary house, completely off-grid that we now rent and totally maintain ourselves having installed a new solar system. There are two parcels on the 52 that are septic apprioved as building sites. We want to use those but also to build from plans of "Jamaican cottages": https://jamaicacottageshop.com/ These cottages are Vermont built and we want to build 3-5 in lovely positions through these woods that we plan to maintain and create a balance between the natural landscape and an inviting, cleanly rental invitation to artists.
Our market will be multi-disciplinary artists—musicians, writers, visual artists, who seek a week to a month of an escape within a natural setting, far from the business of a city yet close enough to enjoy small town Vermont or crossing the Connecticut River into Hanover, New Hampshire where cultural pursuits await. We ask for funding to develop 52 acres to build small cottages where these artists can stay and rent. The retreat industry for those individuals seeking mindfulness and spiritual isolation is an important industry now, in particular with the mandated solitude created by the COVID-19. But, also important is the creative energy and a chance for artists, of all disciplines, to seek beauty and serenity for a week to longer stays of even six months.
Our intention is to develop a 52 acre parcel of land while living in the existing off-grid house (log and post and beam, which will remain the primary residence) while thinning the forest in a mindful, sustainable way, developing singular trails and opening certain passages for the construction of cottages, all solar powered, some gravity fed water systems throughout this land. The owner is asking for $325,000 for the land and house but we think, with the right funding we can buy it now for $300. We are asking for $200-$300 more to do the development of these woods, ready it for cottages and construct the cottages we hope will be inviting and nurturing for artists to rent.
At this time, my son, an experienced master plumber, electrician and carpenter, has developed the primary residence and upgraded the solar battery system. We want to use funding for the purchase of it ($300,000) and to request additional funding to design, thin the forest, harvesting the existing trees for the cottages we build and designing a beautiful and peaceful community where artists can visit and rent stays. In addition, I am a visual artist and yoga instructor and hope one cottage can be open and designed for classes to be held daily or as a common space for artists to use for spiritually invigorating practices. We call this project Kumari of the Woods. My yoga teaching is Kumari Yoga and my artistic practice is Kumari Studios. I have a website: www.kumaristudios.com.
My son is a master licensed plumber in the Vermont/New Hampshire area. HIs business is BGY Diversified and is highly successful. My work has been as a professor at a small progressive college in Vermont, Goddard College, and I hold an MAE from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from Goddard College. In addition, I coach others on developing self and healing practices in their lives, teach yoga and paint as much as I can. My bio is on the Goddard website: https://www.goddard.edu/people/kumari-patricia-younce/ . I have published a book titled Manifestations of Self Within Place through Authorhouse in 2018. I am committed to finding authenticity and joy in the natural world, in Vermont, which composes my painting practice and my story in this book. Another glimpse of this practice is what I recently wrote for the college's website: https://www.goddard.edu/uncategorized/manifesting-goddard-in-your-life/ . Further, my son and I have worked together on renovating our older farmhouse in Cabot, Vermont. The total house renovation is almost completed and the house is going on the market in April 2020. We believe in restoring old structures, improving new ones and in a mindful way, developing land to honor the landscape, the natural life energies and to support renewable and alternative energy systems as we build.