Open your eyes

Preparing for Night

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Laura

This morning, the first talk I want to see is at 11:00. This gave me time to walk around this land before the drive to Kingston.  The nights are colder now; falling in the single digits, but under the blankets I am cozy while I read Teja Cole.  I slept well this past night, even so wake tired from the big thoughts that fill my mind.  The words of all these artists at once is overwhelming but worth it.  This freshness in air has forced the thinnest and most unprotected leaves to put on their brightly colored coats, the rest of them will not be far behind.

I walked over to my garden and was disappointed and surprised.  I suppose I should not be.  Powder mildew is taking over the squash plants.  I had never seen powder mildew in all my years on the farm in the giant gardens of the women who grew all the food for their family.  Now this mildew finds its way deep here, into the untouched forest to attack the plants.  I wonder from what biotechnology hell it pounced out, ready to kill what we we want to grow for ourselves.

The days are too cold now for the tomatoes to ripen, but there are a lot of vegetables and herbs still there.  These strong beauties are still a thriving food source, but I will have to cover them soon if I am to have the opportunity to enjoy them.

All through these woods, the small asters poke their small sunny purple faces up out of the forest floor.  It is a beautiful time.  As though nature is a fresh faced child being tucked in by mother nature for a winter’s night.

All reminders that I must prepare for the coldness that living brings.

Categories: Environmentalism, Food, Forest, Kingston, Nature, Off Grid, Ontario, Open your eyes, Sustainable living, Tiny House Ontario, View, Winter | Leave a comment

Laura at Night

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Laura

Arriving back at THO in the night after the Kingston Writer’s Fest evening events is nicer now because of the 12v lighting.  I have lights installed outside, and as long as I remember to turn them on, I can see to put my key in the door which is great.  Best thing though is that I can be sure that there are no wild animals right there on my heels looking for a freshly delivered organic meal.

There is a call for photos of people with their Tiny House so I thought after coming home from the conference that I was tidy enough that I might try an image.

Though they are not great for the purpose that I had intended, I like them.  The lighting being what it is caused some bending in the images and so, I share them with you because I think that they warm and fuzzy, which is the way I feel when I am there.

Categories: Art, Forest, Kingston, Off Grid, Ontario, Open your eyes, Tiny House Ontario, View | Leave a comment

House and Home

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Laura

It has been a couple of days since I last posted.  Basically, I have been at the Hamilton house working on my family tree stuff and fretting about the dental surgery that I will leave for shortly.  If all goes well I leave to go back to my beloved Tiny House Ontario tomorrow morning.

I think that this is what she will look like when I arrive only perhaps a little more fall like?

 

It is a funny thing because THO feels like home to me more than any other place I have ever lived, yet she is still so far from being finished.  Still, there are a lot of small jobs like eve troughs to the water barrels, covering the cloth porch,  flooring, stone patio needs laying, drive needs 5/8 stone on the drive and so on and so on.  This list of small but time consuming jobs will never end.  This is part of what I like so much about it.  I love projects.  Still there is HUGE/EXPENSIVE stuff too, that has to be done. THO has no heat, no kitchen appliances and only partially finished cabinets, no water running or otherwise, these take more time because of the cost.

I am nearing the second year of work on THO and bit by bit she becomes more complete, to be sure.  This year she got a lot of time and attention from me because I did not produce much in my creative life after my computer accident.  Still truthfully I did not spend as much time there as I wanted to.  Baby being broken twice, as well as visitors here in Hamilton, and a trip home for medical and another now for dental turned the 30 potential weeks of THO stay, into about 25 weeks there.  Missing 5 weeks of the year is a lot!  Next year I hope to do better.

 

Categories: Ontario, Open your eyes, Simple living, Stuff, Sustainable living, Tiny House Ontario, View | 2 Comments

The Disappearing House

Posted on September 21, 2012 by Laura

One thing is for sure, I am always writing about the forest at the THO blog.  Too, there are a lot of tree photos posted.  Still, when I take photos of THO, I always try to find the clearest image of the Tiny House and I post these.  Seeing this image which Colleen Murphy took, makes me realize that I have not done a very good job of explaining why the woods are so significant in my day to day life.

I think until you see this image, you might not have realized how totally integrated into these woods THO is.

Really, THO is just a tiny dot built into a tiny clearing.  Indeed, two weeks ago when I had the car, I picked up my neighbour and during the drive she told me there is a clearing because lightning struck there a few years ago.   Where this small fire cleared things is just where I built the house.  Lets hope lightning never strikes the same place twice.

There is only one more clearing in this forest.  It was created because there was a really massive maple there and she was dead, thus I had her cut so I could use the place that she had been holding for herself for hundreds of years.  This maple’s clearing is where my driveway ends, where stone is now dumped, and where both my solar panels and my garden sit.  I am thankful she made it and kept it so well.

The thing is, that if I did not have a driveway, then THO would just melt back into the forest.  She would disappear in the shadows.  And while the structure is strong and built to last, I am sure that without a driveway the forest would moss over THO and turn her into a hollow tree.

Without a driveway, I am convinced that THO would exist only virtually here in the readers dream.  She would simply be an electronic fairy tale.

Categories: Cloth Porch, Environmentalism, Erazim Kohák, Forest, Magical, Nature, Off Grid, Ontario, Open your eyes, Tiny House Ontario, View, Writing | Leave a comment

Repurposing with a Purpose

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Laura

When I redid the kitchen uppers I made the depth of them more than the little shelves that I had there before.  Because of this, the wonderful little spice rack that my cousin Vernie made for me when I was in my 20’s had to be taken down.  Still, I want to have as many of Vernie’s works in THO as I can fit there so I decided that I would repurpose it as a shelf for candles and pottery at the top of the stairs.  I won’t be needing the candles as frequently because of the new 12volt electric lights, but they are nice to burn from time to time because the bee’s wax smells so lovely.  Too, they are excellent to have on hand in case of emergency.

As a veg*an you might be asking yourself, if I have thought about the use of bees for my own purposes.  Truth is, I have and I am mixed about the subject of bees and have considered quite seriously putting in a few boxes for them.  I am not really a honey lover or even a candle fanatic, but I love the idea of the bees being there to help me with my garden.  Truth is that while I don’t eat any animal products, I am also guilty of killing spiders as well as mosquitos, biting insects as well as house flies and I have a leather jacket as well as leather footwear that I purchased before becoming vegan and I won’t throw them out so that they go to waste.  I hate waste and destruction of useful things, more than anything else.

On the subject of bees, I am happy to say that  I do have a lovely large paper wasp colony on my land right near the escarpment.  I don’t like to get too close to these awesome little pollinators because they do not take lightly to a threatened nest, but Colleen Murphy has a good camera and could take this photo from a good distance away.

The nest is far enough away that I don’t feel threatened for myself or for those who visit, but still, I have had a few of them in THO this year.  I am not afraid of them though, I just catch them carefully under a glass, slide in a piece of paper and then let them free outside.  They leave without problems so far, every time.

Categories: Materialism, Nature, Open your eyes, Re-Use, Simple living, Sustainable living, View | 3 Comments