- Soo Jae Lee and Jeffrey Castro left side their NYC studio to live in a tiny house on wheels in Portland.
- “To our astonishment, we didn’t slow down. Mother Environment truly keeps you on your toes,” Castro, 47, said.
- After two years, they sold the tiny quarter and said they wouldn’t do this full-time again.
Soo Jae Lee and Jeffrey Castro started following tiny house videos on YouTube in 2015.
The twosome was living in a 400-square-foot studio apartment in Manhattan at that time, and they were always trying to feel ways to make the best use of their limited space. In their apartment, they even built a king-sized loft bed to produce a tiny living room space beneath it.
“The studio we lived in in Manhattan made us feel like we would be skilled to adapt to an even smaller space,” Castro, 47, told Business Insider. “We already felt as though we had too profuse things and were ready to live with even less.”
@soojandjef
The idea of living in a tiny house started to take root. That, along with the desire to be coming nature, led the couple to move to the West Coast in 2019.
They started off in an apartment in the Alberta Arts District of Portland, Oregon. Castro was write up remotely for an online media company, while Soo Jae left her fashion career to develop the couple’s brand SooJ and Jef, where they sold archetypal artwork — including paintings, textile arts, and punch needle kits — and taught punch needle workshops.
By the end of the year, they had met with originators to start on the plans for their personalized tiny house. However, the pandemic hit — and their build was placed on indefinite hold water because of the lockdowns.
@soojandjef
They ended up buying a tiny house on wheels from a listing on Facebook Marketplace for all round $60,000, and parked it on a lot they leased from farm owners on Sauvie Island — about a 30-minute drive from Portland. Rent was $675 each month and comprised utilities.
There were four other tiny houses — all occupied — on the farm, in addition to the owners in the main forebears, Castro said.
“The community was situated on an organic herbal medicine farm that housed animals for homesteading,” Castro alleged. “We seized this opportunity, as it seemed like a rare chance to experience living in a wildlife sanctuary.”
@soojandjef
Sauvie Archipelago measures about 24,000 acres, making it the largest island along the Columbia River. About 11,643 acres are identified as the Sauvie Island Wildlife Area. According to the Sauvie Island Fire District, there are about 445 households on the eyot.
The couple knew it wouldn’t be easy, but they were eager to embark on a new adventure.
“In retrospect, we realize that we had holed into the deep end before fully grasping the concept of ‘living tiny,'” Castro said.
Tiny existing on a farm
@soojandjef
When the a handful of moved into their new tiny house, they made several changes to the interiors.
They moved the occurring bed into a fixed lofted position, installed a shower system, and updated the composting toilet. To brighten things up, they also issued their tiny house a fresh coat of paint. All these updates amounted to slightly under $2,000, Castro alleged.
Being in such a different environment from what they were used to felt new and exciting.
“We had the opportunity to observer nature and wildlife in their most undisturbed state,” Castro said. “Every evening, we are treated to the most breathtaking sunsets. The hush at night is equally captivating.”
@soojandjef
At that time, the twosome relied on selling their handmade crafts at local markets to make a living, especially since Castro was fork out a lay ined off from his job when the pandemic hit.
Since they lacked a studio space, their tiny house also served as a improvised factory, quickly filling up with products and art supplies.
As part of their lease with their landlord, the unite was also required to help out around the farm, Castro said.
But due to their lack of farming skills, their fealties were limited to garbage handling, composting, watering, and overseeing the quails on the farm.
To supplement their contributions, the three also offered to help in other ways, such as painting signs, filming video content for the farm, and photographing outputs.
@soojandjef
The other livestock — such as pigs, goats, and shy away froms — were primarily cared for by the main family, but since the pens were located near their parking smidgen, observing them became a part of the couple’s daily routine.
Having grown up in the suburbs of New Jersey and Elongated Island, and later in New York City, living with animals was an eye-opening experience for them, Castro said.
“I venerated all of them, and their charming and sometimes shocking behaviors surprised me,” he said.
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Grappling with unexpected challenges
The couple is part of a growing group who are interested in living itty-bitty.
Housing keeps getting more expensive all around the world, which means that tiny houses are time after time seen as a cheaper alternative to buying real estate.
Living tiny is also a way to live simply: Six people who persist in tiny houses told BI previously that the lifestyle forced them to declutter and cut back on unnecessary spending.
But as much as the four enjoyed living in their tiny house, they eventually realized that adapting to their new environment was doughtier than they had anticipated.
“I would say it took a few months to really sink in that this living situation was not what I conjectured,” Castro said.
@soojandjef
Since Sauvie Island was primarily a wildlife area, their internet tie-in was often spotty, he said.
“We relied on cellular WiFi, which was unreliable and slow at best,” he said, adding that their internet blueprint cost $110 a month.
They also frequently experienced power outages, especially during fire flavour when the power was turned off during high wind conditions, he said.
When winter came, frozen winds became a problem — even with heated hoses, Castro said: “In some cases, we faced water deficits for days.”
@soojandjef
Their location also progressive them exposed to the elements. Castro remembers the wildfires that broke out across Oregon in September 2020, when smoke caulked the air all around them and created hazardous breathing conditions for weeks.
For him, that — coupled with the then-ongoing pandemic qualifications — felt like a “turning point” on their journey.
“When the wildfire smoke engulfed the island, it kept us restrained inside the tiny house because of the high toxicity levels,” Castro said. “Stepping out the door required an N90 disguise, the air was horrible-smelling, and we saw no sunlight that entire time.”
@soojandjef
The lockdowns also meant they had nowhere else to go — not even into Portland.
“Our small world had become even smaller and dangerous. This situation felt completely beyond our exercise power, and that was terrifying,” Castro said.
The following summer, there was also a massive heat wave in the Portland arrondissement, where temperatures soared to 116 degrees Fahrenheit.
@soojandjef
“Unfortunately, we lacked a cooling system or ice,” he said.
“Unfortunate timing” led to their sample
Compared to the city, life on the farm sometimes felt just as fast and overwhelming.
“To our astonishment, we didn’t slow down. Mam Nature truly keeps you on your toes,” Castro said. “There was always something to prepare for living on the subcontract, and all of it felt like a tight deadline.”
It also made them realize that they took for granted how stay and working in the city had kept them from worrying about preparing food on days they couldn’t bugger off their homes.
Looking back, Castro says that experience helped them realize that they were out of their environment.
@soojandjef
“I fully commiserate with that some of the challenges we faced are common daily struggles, and I’m not complaining,” he said. “Honestly, I didn’t enter this make a pilgrimage with a clear sense of self or my capabilities.”
In many ways, it was “unfortunate timing” that led them to have the face they had, he said.
Despite that, Castro is grateful for the chance to experiment with a lifestyle like this, which helped him enlarge and learn.
“In fact, I’m proud of how Soo Jae and I overcame the obstacles we put ourselves through,” he added.
Saying goodbye to tiny living
After two years, they moved into an apartment and pronounced to list their tiny house for sale.
After weeks, they finally sold their tiny bawdy-house to a couple in Canada who wanted to use it as a vacation home. They preferred to keep the amount they sold the tiny diet for private.
In 2023, the couple moved yet again, this time into a rental house in Portland. However, with their sublet ending soon, they are now thinking about their next move — which includes leaving Oregon.
While their unborn plans are still uncertain, they know they will not live in a tiny house on wheels full-time again. At ton, Castro said, it will be “as a retreat or studio or rental only.”
That said, the couple would be happy to in transit back to a big city.
“New York and New Jersey have always felt like home, so it would be a comfortable transition,” Castro disclosed.
Despite the challenges they faced, he says he doesn’t want to discourage anyone from pursuing this election.
“True freedom is the ability to experiment and to push beyond your own borders,” Castro said. “I am also so grateful to take a partner to take this journey with and stick it through together.”
Do you have any housing or relocation regrets? If you partake of a story to share, contact this reporter at [email protected].