Monthly Archives: May 2012

Somewhere Between Hard Knocks and Sloths

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Laura

An old friend Steve, wrote to me a while ago and said, “no offence meant here, but Tiny House Ontario is practically a hotel when compared to a hunting camp”.  “Yes, this is the point”, was my answer.  I have thought a lot about what Steve said and you know, he is not the only one either who puts these questions to me.  My cousin Irene says that she wonders about me (she thinks I have gone mad).  She has said to me more than once, “I lived that life for many years and I don’t understand why you want to go back to that!”

It is not about giving up on myself like men do in a hunting camp.  It is also not about doing without, or making due, like it was for my cousin Irene.  I simply don’t have five children to take care of in a home with no conveniences – I really do not know how women survived those hard times!  I do not idealize these times.  I do however idealize the less consumeristic life that people lead before all this advertising mania took over our lives.

There is a point to Tiny House Ontario and there are also several lines that I am not comfortable crossing.   Still, the lines are fuzzy when it comes to the way that I live.  I found this year when I was moving in, that I was not worried at all about plumbing, running water, electricity, but I did worry about two things.  Firstly, I needed to get the in-house built because of the weirdo that I picked up on here and secondly, how would I paint without a studio?  Now I have a bathroom – but I have not yet painted – but this may be just an issue of being so busy!  Time will tell me.

The Tiny House objective is NOT to lead a hard life.  I don’t always intend to live with no heat, plumbing, water, lights… so why do it now?   It is hard to explain even to myself, what I am trying to do.

Here is what I mean, with water as an example.

It is great to have running water and taps.  I get that!  Really I do!  Turn the tap or flush the toilet and presto snapo, there it is to take care of your needs.  Why would I want to give that up?  I mean, we need to have water to live.  We drink, cook, and wash up after cooking with it; we also need it for personal bathing, and cleaning house.  All of these needs are equally important for normal living (not for survival).  Why would I want to live without water?  I cannot live without water but I can, I found, easily live without running water.  Simply put, until I have a well installed, I have do my own running for water.  Fortunately, I have multiple sources of water within walking (or short driving) distance.  I have a few jugs that I can carry from my friend’s homes without having a vehicle to get them.  I have found that I can comfortably live with about 10 litres of water a day.  It is not difficult or even a hardship to plan through this requirement.  Still, if I did not have friends or family there, even this would become impossible, so I am grateful to them for allowing me to be a sponge (BAHAHAHA).

Along with cooking and cleaning with this 10 litres of water, I sponge bathe daily, wash my hair every third day, but even so, I need to shower weekly.  Thankfully, Liisa allows me to do this at her house, still, I think that the rain water shower will be great once it is fully hooked up.  I think, that with this connected that I will be able to reduce my dependence on gasoline because I drive to and from Liisa’s home for my weekly wash up.  Laundry, I bring to town – I do not pull out the scrub board much.

I guess, what I am saying is that my objective is not to live in a hunting camp.  I like things nice and I do also like to bathe and keep my hair looking fresh.  Tiny House Ontario is not about living a life of total hardship (or isolation).  I will in fact, put in a well with a hand pump as soon as money allows me to do this with cash.  My objective is to have a property without having a mortgage on it.  I don’t want any more debt than the mortgage on my Hamilton home (OK… I don’t want that either – but you know what I mean.  I hope.).

My objective is to build the most comfortable and ecologically sustainable life that I can with the least amount of money.  It is not an exercise in hardship.  It is an exercise in self sustainability and kinship with those around me.  As time and money dictate improvements will come.  A little at a time.  Tiny House Ontario is a work in progress.  I am not sweating the things that I could use there.  Still, if you know anyone who digs wells, donates solar arrays,  donates and installs septic systems, donates and puts on siding, has a tiny 12 watt fridge or a two burner interior propane cooker… all for free… let me know.  I am happy to bring on the conveniences.

Just because it is Tiny… does not mean that it is all free – but it also does not mean that it has to be awful either.   If only I had a money tree…

Really, honestly, I am totally happy with the model below.  A few cents at a time and with this, I grow a beautiful green life

Categories: Environmentalism, Forest, Friendship, Materialism, Money, Off Grid, Ontario, Simple living, Stuff, Tiny House Ontario | Leave a comment

Waiting and Going Green

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Laura

It has been 15 days since I arrived at Tiny House Ontario.  The forest changes so much every single day; I can’t capture it’s move from brown to green.  A slow motion camera would be fantastic  – or even a shot of photos taken three times a day, every day would have been great too.  Next year, perhaps I will remember to do this?

Now the canopy covers me and Tiny House Ontario disappears into deep forest.

Here is Leo packing up after the build a few days ago… see how green?

These days, the trees are so dense that the dogs hear people arriving before I can see them coming down the half kilometre lane.  Still, they keep me aware of what is going on.  This is Minnie standing guard.

It is so warm now that these plants that I initially had in my window are moved outside.

I start the little 10×10 raised garden too.  At dusk… another day until the soil arrives to the rock.

Categories: Dogs, Erazim Kohák, Forest, Nature, Ontario, Open your eyes, Simple living, Tiny House Ontario | Leave a comment

In-house

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Laura

I have a place to go!  The in-house (eco-outhouse) is finally done!

A sink and toilet are fully enclosed and I will also have an outdoor shower.  The little building is right beside the Tiny House – One opens the window and walks thorough to get into the tiny in-house….  The building is fully removable if I get into any issues with Tiny House Ontario being larger than 9x 12 now.

It adds just 16 square feet of living space (minus the 3 and 5/8ths wall on three sides and it is in fact so small that it had to be built from the inside out.  Plastic, then tile-wallboard, This was then insulated from the outside and after this the plywood was nailed on and the steel roof too.

My friend Leo did most of the work because a lot of it was out of my element and also with it being so darned small… workspace was pretty limited.  As easy on the eye as Leo is… being in a 4×4 room together working is a might too small.  ;-P

My cousin Vernie built me a beautiful custom vanity with a carved floral door and it has a Habitat for Humanity sink in it, which was $20… It makes the room really pretty.

I have to tallied the costs yet but even so – The interior is done and ready and in use.  I have not yet put in the eves trough and rain barrel, so there is no running rain water yet but the drains work so I use a small enamel pitcher to wash for now.  When the rain water is done, I will tally and I will let you know what the 4×4 (exterior measure) bathroom cost.

Categories: Off Grid, Ontario, Simple living, Tiny house, Tiny House Ontario | 5 Comments

Crazy Crazy Glued

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Laura

When I purchased the four foot counter top for my place and it was 2 and 3/4 inches too short I just sighed a little and accepted it.  This may have been the right thing to do in retrospect.

I put a piece of wood in there and aside from the appearance, it worked just fine for me at that size and shape.

Still, I was visiting the Home Hardware in Gananoque and getting a  piece of plywood cut and noticed that there was a piece, the same as mine, left over and sitting in the waste and thought I should ask.  The young lad doing the cutting said that the counter guy was gone and therefore he would not let me buy it and told me to come back the next day.

Next day, I went and talked to Diana who asked me to show her the piece – she went back with me to see it and talk to the guy and the store manager Laura said – if the lads can cut it, I can have it… so I left it too them.  Jim, showed the patience of Job and did an excellent job with the cut which was a funny one because it goes under the stairs.  I brought it home and it slid right into spot.  One problem though was that the little cut end was still exposed – but ever frugal, I had a little sample of the counter top, so I used my Japanese saw and custom fit it for the end.

Anyway – this is when things got hinky.  They did not have crazy glue at the store so I got the store brand and this came to so fast that I had the stuff everywhere.  It covered my left hand and sadly, I glued myself right to the little counter top.  I can tell you that gluing your fingers together is NOTHING but if you glue yourself to something smooth like a new counter, you are in trouble and do you know, it hurts too.  I took the counter out and went outside and used an exacto-blade to cut myself free.  Left a good layer of skin there. I also needed to get a manicure because took so much skin and nail off of the left hand.

Still, the counter is in and it looks finished now that I have scraped my thumb off it.

Thanks to Gananoque Home Hardware for all the effort… I wonder if you might be able to help me with the bit missing from my thumb?

 

 

Categories: Tiny House Ontario, Writing | Leave a comment

Evicted!

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Laura

 

Last fall a Ms. Mama Mouse moved into the BBQ at Tiny House Ontario and because I am a person who is highly concerned about the ethical treatment of animals I left her be.   I also fed her and her family when I went home.  She liked Mary’s Organic Crackers (who doesn’t?) and also the peanuts that Liisa brought her were a big hit, and the shells became part of her bedding after, so these had a HUGE added bonus.  Ms. Mouse came to look forward to my visits and would come out to see what sort of tasty treats were coming her way.  When I peeked in with a treat, she would peek out at me.

Even so, now that it is spring, and this is my main means of meal preparation I had to evict Ms. Mouse.

Since she has come to expect nuts, seeds, she sat watching me, totally aghast, as I took her home apart.  Poor little girl.  I think she even cried a little with me.  It was about half removed by the time she decided to run for her life.

After clearing her out, I turned the BBQ on bringing it up to 500 degrees for a good hour and then allowed it to sit at about 200 for an additional hour in order to kill germs or whatever she left behind.  The BBQ is probably in its last year of life, so I think when this happens I will leave it in the forest for the mice.

It is two days now and so far she has not moved back and seems to have accepted the newly located home that I have made for her.

 

 

 

Categories: Forest, Friendship, Nipple, Ontario, Open your eyes, Simple living, Tiny House Ontario | 2 Comments