When developers bought the land that Skip Connett and Erin Flynn were farming in Austin, Texas, and planned to turn their fields into RV lots, the couple conceived of a plan to save their farm and add an attraction to the development.

Instead of building community around a golf course or a pool, they argued for making the farm the focal point and to build tiny houses around it so residents would benefit from fresh produce and views of fields and flowers.

Village Farm was launched as “the nation’s first Agrihood” with the 1902 mule barn and farmhouse as the centerpiece, surrounded by 170 tiny homes. Skip and Erin came back to restart their Green Gate Farms and manage it on a contractual basis; part of that agreement is that they have a tiny home for themselves to live in while running the farm. While they still haven’t given up their home on their larger farm in Bastrop, Texas, they feel it’s important for farmers to live on-site.

Skip and Erin had just moved into their barn-style tiny house the day before we arrived and gave us a tour of their new home and the farm they’d been stewarding for the past 15 years (after leaving corporate jobs to become farmers).

Village Farm resident and sales manager Rebecca Powers gave us a tour of a couple different models (they offer 10 options), as well as the home she shares with her family of four.