Environmentalism

Growing – Maybe

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Laura

It is now six months since I started the Tiny House Ontario Blog. It is almost a year since the Tiny House was built enough to move things and myself into.

This year we got some soil from one of the local farm boys. He delivered beautiful soil to me, far more than I needed for $40. The best thing is that it is REAL soil not sifted dead crap that you buy from the companies who bring their interpretation of soil. Dead dirt.

The soil has lovely clay deposits in it which I took out and will make a clay oven from ( I now have half of what I need). It also had some wonderful round granite rocks which are left overs from the ice age going over the Canadian Shield, these will be beautiful orange accents, for the stone fence, I also had four full wheel barrels of extra soil which I put beside my humanure/compost unit and this will be used to cover the organics. I am grateful to the farmer and to the young man for sharing with me.

There was a good half day of digging and I am grateful that I have a husband who took care of this for me. I am still quite winded from losing my grandmother, so it was nice to have him take care of the hard work. He dug and I threw out the beautiful stones and clay, then raked and planted the garden.

We went to Sand’s Produce and picked up a few tomato and pepper plants from the Sands family business and planted them too.

The next morning we found that some little critter stole every single one of the zucchini and squash seeds as well as having dug up the bean seeds. Today since it is raining, I put a few more in the ground and will put wire mesh over the seeds.

I am not sure if we can produce any food in a garden, in a small clearing, in the middle of a forest. I guess it is fully depending on the cooperation of the other creatures who make this their home as well.

Categories: Environmentalism, Food, Forest, Nature, Off Grid, Tiny House Ontario | 1 Comment

A Different Angle

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Laura

I took a photo of Tiny House Ontario that I find so absolutely initially terrible looking that I almost don’t want to show you.

Still… it is too weird and funky to keep to myself. And if you look past the TYPAR covering, you might see this photo as interesting, as I do.

The light filtering through the trees is gorgeous and also my sweet husband is the shadow in the cloth porch.

Life is worth living here.

Still, I hope we can get Tiny House Ontario sided this year. A new white food grade barrel will go up this weekend on the WC roof to meet the hose (you might see it) there.

Onward, we move. One foot in front of the other.

Categories: Cloth Porch, Environmentalism, Forest, Magical, Off Grid, Tiny House Ontario | 1 Comment

Baking Soda and Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Laura

I changed my hygiene practices a while ago. I stopped using all soap, shampoo and scented products and started using baking soda and apple cider vinegar for all of my personal washing.

Essentially one just mixes the soda with a little water and rubs it on hair or skin, and just like with cleaning your sink or taking away stink from your fridge you are both clean and deodorized… rinse.

Then a couple of tablespoons of (organic: I use Braggs) apple cider vinegar in a couple of cups of water and rinse yourself (hair and body) with this again.

I put about two drops of olive oil on my hands rub it in well and then put my fingers through my hair for conditioning. I have quite curly hair, so this helps it to look smooth and so little is used that it is not heavy. A little bit of olive oil (a couple of drops) also moisturizes the face and works on the body too. For me, it is the best product I ever used!

Interesting is that I no longer have any itch or rash anywhere on my body. As a person who has suffered my entire life with dermatitis, it is shocking that this worked where the hundreds of products and thousands of dollars spent, including visits to dermatologists (free in Canada but not to the tax payer) never did work. Some did for a while, but I never had permanent relief like I have now.

At Tiny House Ontario, I have still not started catching my rain water on the WC roof so the shower is not yet in order, so I sponge bath.

Here is the cloth porch again in use. This time as a bathtub. 😀

Categories: Environmentalism, Nature, Simple living, Tiny House Ontario | 3 Comments

A Little Flooring

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Laura

This is the entry way at Tiny House Ontario. When I built the stairs with my husband last year I was in a terrible hurry, so I built a square box out of plywood and never bothered getting back to it. Too many other things needed doing!

This year my husband and I removed it, custom fitted it from the door to the stairs and we got some flooring from Gananoque Home Hardware to put in there. Nothing fancy! .49 cents a sheet – 8 sheets cost $4. plus tax. The trim was $20… so the foyer was redone in an hour or two and cost about $25. It wipes up easily too which is great. While I hate to produce garbage, I don’t think of this as my forever floor, rather as something to protect the 5/8ths of plywood and the 2×10 base.. Still, even though it is not my forever floor, I would be happy if it lasted until all the landscaping and so forth is done.

I do have a plan for good floors to go in. Matter of fact, I plan to use that big hickory tree that is dying at the front of my land as the floor for Tiny House Ontario, but I don’t want to mill this until it is totally dead. I expect that the big hickory will do the whole house, easily, but I don’t want to put it in until the very last because I don’t want it to be damaged by the coming and going of construction.

The grubby cement floor and bamboo mat will have to do us this year, in the rest of the house. Perhaps longer, since I want to hand hew those boards after they are quarter sawn at the local mill.

Anyone ever hand hew a hickory floor?

Categories: Environmentalism, Erazim Kohák, Materialism, Simple living, Tiny House Ontario | Leave a comment