Special Report: Creating a Tiny House Village

The Sanctuary Event Center looks to Built a Tiny House Village

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On the outskirts of a small town in Central Minnesota big things are happening in the tiny house movement.

A husband and wife gave up the corporate lifestyle, purchased land near Ogilvie and are in the process of opening a tiny house village.

It’s a vision Bill and Brenda Campbell hope will inspire others to live a simpler way of life.

For years DeAnna Reiter had been fascinated with the tiny living.

“It’s definitely a growing movement. I see it picking up more and more each year,” explained Reiter.

For Reiter, tiny living is now a reality, thanks to Bill and Brenda Campbell.

“It’s a tiny home. The floor plan is about 12 by 20 square feet and we have double lofts,” explained Reiter.

She came to the sanctuary, an event center in Ogilvie, Minnesota quite a few years ago.

“I came up here for a couple of retreats that they (the Campbells) were hosting and just really connected with their whole family and with this land that I especially think is just so peaceful and calming,” said Reiter.

With bargain hunting on craigslist, her tiny house would soon take shape.

“Bill and Brenda who own the property, Bill drew up all the plans, building all the building on it. We did a lot of reclaimed lumber and different pieces because we had the luxury of time,” said Reiter.

Tiny living on a tiny budget, the house only cost about $9,000–dollars to build.

“We don’t have plumbing in it yet because of dealing with heating purposes during the winter,” explained Reiter.

However, the home does have electricity, the bare essentials and a priceless view.

“Having openness, and emptiness and not all these material possessions that we have year after year you pick up more and more things,” said Reiter.

Reiter and her family live a minimalist lifestyle on the weekends at the Sanctuary and reside in the Twin Cities during the week.

“I come up as often as I can when the weather is nice and do a lot of writing, so it’s just really nice to kind of get away from the cities and just be out in nature,” said Reiter.

The reality is that Reiter could soon have like–minded neighbors.

The Sanctuary’s Owner’s, Bill and Brenda Campbell, hope to expand their event center and 80–acres into a village.

“Boy if we had little tiny houses all over the place we could combine the event center, weddings and stuff like that with places that people could stay,” said Bill Campbell.

The couple envisions some houses on foundations, other on wheels where people would be able to bring their own tiny house or rent one.

“I love community. I love having people around and they are not necessarily next to you all the time. So they are able to come back out to the village and be on their own, but when they want community we call all get together,” said Brenda Campbell.

The husband and wife duo’s goal is a sustainable village bringing together people from different walks of life, to live debt free.

“What I would really like to see is like a self–sustaining thing where we have people that want to start an organic garden out in a certain area and say, let’s work on that together,” explained the Campbell’s.

The couple believes their idea is possible.

They’ve already captured the interest of Reiter.

“Having a tiny home is a novel and great idea to have smaller finances, yard work, housework and financial commitment and all of that,” said Reiter.

It’s an idea that could transform the Campbell’s barren land into a community.

The Campbell’s are slowly creating sites for tiny homes on their acreage.

To learn more about the Sanctuary: http://www.thesanctuaryminnesota.com/