Ontario

Violet Rickards

Posted on October 27, 2012 by Laura

Here is an article from the fall magazine of the National Farmers Union.  It is about my beloved grandmother Violet.  She is photographed here in a wheel chair not too long before she died, as I will always remember her, fighting for the farms and the land.

She would frequently write to the news paper and at the end of her letters say: “people are important”.  I know that she was important, and how fortunate I was to have won the grandma draw.  She remains a strong figure and presence in my daily life.   I miss the touch of her hand and her support.

Categories: Ontario, Sustainable living, View | 2 Comments

Who Wants This?

Posted on October 27, 2012 by Laura

I just started cooking supper now.  A fall vegetable and red lentil stew of my own creation.  The house smells really great as this simmers in the large pot on the stove.

It would be so much more satisfying to be in the forest to eat this meal.  It is 11 degrees in the Kingston area now.  A little bit cloudy and damp.  Imagine a long, well paced walk in a forest, while it is preparing for its long winter nap.  You can smell and see the changes that nature brought us in the past days.  A few chipmunks gather the last of their stash, the hornet nest preparing to sleep, birds call as they are flying over you going south.  You are just a little out of breath coming back after the hour, but you can smell the light spicy aroma as you approach the cozy Tiny House.  Keen to see how it looks, you all fresh and rosy cheeked peek into the pot and see this just as the open pot reveals a deeper scent of onions peanuts and peppers.  Mmmmmmm!

Food tastes so much better after a bit of time with the natural world.  Anyone else want to be doing just this?

Here is what is in my fall stew:

1/4 cup grape seed oil

3 chopped onions

Fry to brown then add

3 chopped red peppers

6 chopped tomatoes

1 chopped head broccoli

1 chopped head cauliflower

2 chopped big potatoes

4 smaller squashes (I used white ones but it does not matter)

3 small nappa cabbages

8 cups water

1 cup red lentils

1/4 cup TVP

1 cup natural peanut butter

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 tablespoon pepper

salt to taste (I used about 3/4 of a tablespoon)

2 tablespoons mixed herbs parsley, thyme and sage is what I had.

Once this is all soft and ready I took it off the heat and added a small can of coconut milk for the under flavour.

Categories: Environmentalism, Food, Forest, Nature, Off Grid, Ontario, Simple living, Tiny House Ontario, View | Tags: , | 6 Comments

Short, Yet Very Sweet

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Laura

One of my husband’s (two) best friends and his wife are visiting from Germany.  A few years ago I was not able to attend the wedding because of work reasons so Hj went alone.  Hj goes regularly home for business but I have not been to Germany in nearly 10 years.  Sadly, I have not seen M in a long, long time and I never met K until yesterday.  The time together was good.  They are bright and interesting people with lots of wonderful stories and ideas: it has been a real delight, but an ever too short visit.

While they are here for only a short window of time, we wanted them to see a couple of special spots around Hamilton, so here is what we did.

We drove around a bit of the waterfront, past the Dundurn Castle which is a National Historical Site, into the huge graveyard across the street (graveyards are very different there than here).  We stopped to see a couple of Hamilton’s waterfalls.  Then we took a short drive to visit Her Majesty’s Royal Chapel of the Mohawks which is another National Historic Site  and it is located not too far from here in Brantford.  We also visited the Woodland Cultural Centre which sits beside the notorious Mush Hole.   We stopped and had a bite to eat at a local Indian Buffet.  Then we split for a bit, K went to Yoga: M watched soccer: Hj and I attended services for the late great Lincoln Alexander who lived very near our house a few years ago and who died on October the 19th.

After this we all got together again here at our small house, where we chatted until a few minutes ago.

For Lincoln Alexander, I thought it fitting to add a few apt words which I believe the man lived by.  These words are from White Elk:

When you were born, you cried
and the world rejoiced.
Live your life
so that when you die,
the world cries and you rejoice.

Categories: Art, Friendship, Nature, Ontario, Open your eyes, View | Tags: | 2 Comments

One Tiny House Regret

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Laura
I love this! I strongly wish I would have done one of these under Tiny House Ontario. I would only have been able to go down four feet because of the stone under, but even so this would be loads of space for food storage.  I decided this summer after discovering that I have a dairy allergy that I don’t need a fridge after all – but this would have been so great to store all my garden produce even though I would have to stoop down there.
Sigh….
Do you have any regrets about your Tiny House build?
This is mid way through a stand alone cellar project which can be seen here.  Due to the fact that I did not have the foresight to build one under THO, one like this is also on my TO DO list.
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I am not sure why there is a problem with the link… you may need to cut and paste this in your window if it does not work for you.
Categories: Food, Off Grid, Ontario, Simple living, Sustainable living, Tiny House Ontario | 4 Comments

Small Houses in Old Neighbourhood

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Laura

I just brought some of my green tomatoes over to my friend Marilyn and while I was out, I went though the waterfront neighbourhood by the Hamilton Bay. The area is getting nicer all the time down that way!

The community did a lot of revitalization along the waterfront and this action by the community, really picked up the market and brought in some interesting new buyers.  It is now attracting  lots of artists, professionals and people who take pride in their homes.  Unfortunately a lot of these lovely little small homes have (or are having) additions put on them but there are still a number of cute and solid little small homes that just need a bit of TLC to be AWESOME homes again.

Here are photos of a few of the old small homes that have been polished up and that don’t have additions bigger than the original home on them.  Hamilton, Ontario gets a bad wrap because of the industry along the water front.  A lot of people, even those who live close don’t know what this city has to offer.  It is an interesting and pretty place not just because it is the waterfall capitol of the world either.

If you can’t find something to do or see here, then you are not looking very hard.

These are just lovely little old houses – within a few blocks from the waterfront, in Hamilton. Probably people raised 8 or 10 kids at a time in these houses… just 100 years ago.
Now, so many people think them too small for a couple. Not me… what about you?

Categories: Building code, Ontario, Open your eyes, Sustainable living, View | 3 Comments