I met the Evans family just before Christmas through Jaclyn's sister Cat. Jaclyn and Colin have been married for over 4 years and have two beautiful little girls: Karaleigh age 2, and Aria age 4. When I met their girls, they were all about performing, poking, and playing. Normal kid stuff. Cat had told me about her sister Jaclyn's wonderful massages and her family's unique lifestyle. She mentioned that Jaclyn enjoyed bartering services and well, I can't resist a good massage so Chris (my husband) and I reached out to Jaclyn about trading a photo shoot for massages for us. I was intrigued by the lifestyle that they lead and couldn't wait to document it and spend more time with them.
The Evans family lives at the summit of the Santa Cruz Mountains in a 500sqft home that has a bedroom, a bathroom, and a kitchen/living room combo. This September will mark 5 years in their humble abode.
Jaclyn describes their lifestyle as, "Rewilding; transitioning from a lifestyle of relying on society to being self reliant. Every change in perception and choice makes a big difference, and successful changes fuel that fire to continue on. Whether it be composting, foraging, fire making, or making our own soap."
Karaleigh is on the left and Aria is on the right. I arrived soon after they woke up that chilly winter morning.
Colin makes his family butter coffee and butter hot chocolate.
Even his girls drink the coffee sometimes.
Karaleigh was not a fan of the "gooey egg" that daddy boiled and made momma eat the gooey part.
First, Aria wanted to show me their fort.
And then it was Karaleigh's turn.
Jaclyn: Come sit and drink coffee with me. We do that together.
Colin: I don't like to sit by you *jokingly*
Jaclyn: You can squat. You like to do that.
Colin: I can do that :-)
As part of their organic and natural lifestyle, Colin and Jaclyn only drink water from springs, like ones they find here.
Even though the girls haven't seen the Disney princess movies like most little girls, they know all of the songs by heart and enjoy playing with their dolls. Rapunzel is Aria's favorite.
Karaleigh is quite the ham and loves performing for anyone. I predict she will be an actress or performer of some kind when she's older. In this photo she is "pinning" (spinning). She can't pronounce her s's yet. I can't handle how adorable these two chickies are.
While dad makes a fire in their bedroom, the girls practice their hand drill skills that they learned at a nature awareness program in Felton called Fox Tracks. The three of them attend every Monday.
“Our inspiration for parenting comes from the old tribal mindset. Our culture is not set up to support this but we do what we can to bring it back to the roots of togetherness, songs, story telling, and following our children’s natural desires and passions rather than imposing those things. This is a reason we have chosen the unschooling route.”
Time for some archery Aria got her own bow and arrows for Christmas.
It was a wee bit chilly outside at 10:30 am in the mountains.
Ilford 400 - 35mm film
Karaleigh was looking for some help with Aria's bow and arrow.
Every parent needs their own space. This is Colin's star jointed annex that he built himself
The bottles on the floor were collected to store fresh spring water.
Colin's standing workstation helps improve posture and focus when working on the computer.
Jaclyn wanted some photographs of Colin on his slack line. Have you ever tried walking on one of this things? It's hard!
“Our house is small and can get messy. We get make trips to Goodwill often as we aspire to live in a yurt one day with more space to pursue our lifestyle dreams. In the meantime, while our kids are real little, I like to remember the quote ‘cobwebs be quiet, dust go to sleep, cus I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep’”
