On Thursday evening my friend Guillaume made the trip to Hamilton to spend the night with Hj and I. His intent was not simply to have a visit with us but to discuss his own tiny house build. His work as a chemical engineer has forced him through a few relocations, currently this involves a lot of hotel rooms and I can tell you from my own experience with work travel living in a suitcase is not nearly as glamourous as it might seem to those who have not done it. Every hotel in every city, no matter where you are becomes the same disconnected holding unit. Now, with his current location change he is keen to have a somewhat more stationary home which can be relocated when his career calls. A tiny house, is clearly his best and only option. However, the life appeals to him too. He loves the idea of a sustainable lifestyle and has big (ahem, tiny) plans. He is a person who is very connected to the Norse tradition and having a simpler life is strongly in keeping with his personal values.
We looked together through a lot of photos and talked about the long and short term planning aspects of owning a tiny house. As well we talked about him building the house while he stays at Tiny House Ontario. In fact, he will soon be buying a trailer and bringing it there to begin the job in earnest.
He will initially put the house in the clearing beside THO and once the shell is done it will be moved to its location at the rear of my land. In order to park the house back there he will have to do some land prep, which is to say that he will need to trim back the shrubs along the tractor path. They have grown back in since 2010 when we last cleared this route. He will also have to put in a couple of loads of gravel and will get my cousin Kenny to smooth this in. This will cost him between $600 and $1000 which is a reasonable amount of rent for him to pay for the year and the benefit to me is that it will be easier to get in there if there is a fallen tree or simply to walk back to the rear of the acreage.
The natural location for him to place his house is to go where Great Giant Clyde fell and was removed over winter. The naturally made hole in the canopy is ideal because this will allow him to collect sun for his solar system. I am happy to know that absolutely no tree will need to be removed in order to provide Guillaume with a little space to call his own. His location will be about 1/6th of a kilometre to my own house but we will be divided by the thick prickly pear line so we will both enjoy 100% privacy in our homes. The other benefit is that he is open to allowing me to share all the steps he makes in the building of his home, so this will provide me with a lot of fodder for my writing.
In short, we are great friends and soon we will be great neighbours as well.
I would like to take this time to say goodbye to Clyde and thank him for creating space for Guillaume.
Tiny House Ontario 
Thank you for your very entertaining posts about living the “good life” in tiny style…I enjoy reading them a lot and hope to one day very soon join you all in a “like adventure”. At this point…finding a place to locate a tiny house seems to be my biggest hurdle. I am looking for a location somewhere near Southwestern Ontario. If anyone has any further information that could help me out…I would appreciate hearing from you. Sincerely, Bloo
Hi Bloo,Last winter someone on my Facebook site said that their sister built a tiny house and was living in this in Dundas Ontario, but the city came and kicked her out. Apparently she is storing the house, but I have not seen it posted on kijiji. Anyway, I share this because it is very important that you do find somewhere that you can live either legally or slip through a loop hole as I have with THO. Unfortunately, I don’t know of any areas in Southern Ontario that are allowing them. There was a recent article about people in Guelph that are taking this route and there is the tiny house that is for sale in Southern Ontario, whose link I posted in the most recent post on Canadian Tiny Housers. These are the only two clues I know. I wonder if the house that is for sale… if you purchased this, perhaps you could make arrangements with the place that already houses them?
Anyway, as I learn more I will continue to update, and in the interim I wish you luck on your dreams!
xo L
Never a dull moment in your quiet exciting life
I have followed you for quite a while via the Tiny House main site and always enjoy your items. I am sorry that your health has presented you with major constraints lately and do hope that after your surgery you will be feeling much better.
Beautiful elderly tree bows down and steps aside for friend. That you appreciate your lost friend even while being happy for what it’s loss gave to your friend is very moving.
Thank you! It is sad to see old Clyde go. I imagine he was several hundred years in age. I am sure that the acreage is covered by his children.
We have our garden and solar placed up in the hollow from another big one that was already dead before I bought the land so clearings are most appreciated.
It is interesting to try to keep the area clear. The sun invites new growth so thousands of raspberry canes filled the area las year. There is a fine balancing act with wild land.
I do look forward to sharing the land with Guillaume. He is good company and one who always loans his hands and mind to tasks. What will be interesting is that both of us are quite singleminded in our route to the end and we are often divergent about how to get there. HAHA!
I see that you are also on a tiny house building adventure. Perhaps you would be interested in having me share something about your build with the tiny house community?
If you are, I will email some questions to you at the address that you provided here.
With very kind regards, I send you healing for your wound from your horse kick.
Laura
Wow Laura, that is so kind of you. 🙂 I’d love to share my experiences with more people, if any are interested. Building Oliver’s Nest, buying my wilderness land, preparing to live a low-key and competent life, all from the perspective of a single woman with a diagnosed mental illness ~ maybe it will give other people hope for their own dreams. I don’t know though. I’m think most people are afraid of “crazy folk”. Heh.
I hear you about the undergrowth taking over! Here in the Pacific Northwest, though, it’s blackberries instead of raspberries. Wanna trade? 😀
Parker
Sounds exciting… He will enjoy the woods even more.
Awww…good bye, Clyde. I’m glad we got some pictures of him. With sad news is the balance of great news. I’m glad to hear that Guillaume will take over for Clyde! It makes perfect sense.