May 1st, 2025, has arrived, and another April Earth Month has passed. That idea started me reflecting on the reason I began this website journey. Also, I received a post about The Climate Friendly Homes Tour , which took place on April 26th across BC in a variety of neighborhoods. Everything was coalescing; James Rowley and Leanne Koehn had their Hammond Forever House listed on the tour for the 2nd year. Serendipitously, the couple were my first interviewees of 2020. It has been 5 years since the website began. So many significant signs told me I needed to take stock.
So, I reached out and messaged James. “Hey James, I was hoping to get some updates on Hammond Forever House. Would it be okay for me to send you some questions that you can respond to?” He wholeheartedly agreed.
Hammond House History…
Hammond is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Maple Ridge, BC. This is where Leanne’s grandfather, Carl Whitehead, bought some land after he and his wife decided to move west from the BC Interior. The land had a small cottage on it, but Carl needed a larger place to accommodate a growing family. This marked his venture into building the main heritage home from the ground up. This was back in 1922-23. You can hear more details about this by going to the 2:25 time code in the April 2020 video interview.
Community Acknowledgement and Achievements
The Whitehead Property gained historic status in 2015. It is also important to mention that it resides on the unceded shared territory of Katzie and Kwantlen First Nations. More recently, a hundred years later in 2023, Leanne and James won the BC’s Heritage Award for Conservation for the unprecedented effort to bring it to net zero while maintaining its heritage status. As well, the Maple Ridge Climate Hub awarded Hammond Forever House, their Climate Champion Award in 2022.
Some Updates…
In this current update, James briefly outlines how they built a heat recapture system in the basement. This system utilizes the heat that the home generates to keep it warm in the winter. Speaking of heat generation, they recently invested in a heat pump condensing dryer to help contribute to this. One of my favorite early ventures was the “penny floor” that they installed in the upstairs bathroom. He goes into detail about this on his BLOG. Meanwhile, on the YouTube Channel, he takes viewers through the processes of each project.
Here was the question I posed: “It’s hard to believe, but it’s exactly 5 years since we talked about Hammond Forever House. Can you give a brief synopsis of the changes since that last conversation?” Watch the following video for his responses.
Published May 2nd, 2025
So go check out the HAMMOND FOREVER HOUSE BLOG and YouTube Channel. James creates engaging, informative, and sometimes comical video updates on the adventures of being an eco-warrior.