Tiny House Ontario

Land Claim

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Laura

I wonder if we all moved off of Turtle Island how long it would take for nature to swallow up all signs of human life?

I think it would not take very long, at all, for all signs of Tiny House Ontario to totally disappear.

The driveway, is just a little over a year old.  It was a lot of work to get it in but even so, in just a year nature already fights back against settlement.  HJ and I spent an hour yesterday recovering the West edge of the driveway back from the forest because Mother Nature is trying to reclaim it from us.  This is the third time that we have had to do the job in the calendar year.  It is not a horrible job, but had to be done because driving in in a car was somewhat like going through a car wash; there was always something rubbing up against the vehicle.  Admittedly, Baby does not do much to keep it back and I suppose if we were driving in and out more with a large vehicle that the drive would be more permanent. Even so, back to the wondering of how long it would take for all signs of us to disappear?

Categories: Environmentalism, Forest, Nature, Off Grid, Ontario, Tiny House Ontario | Leave a comment

Gaining Comforts

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Laura

Tiny House Ontario has become a lot more comfortable this year.  A little bit of rearranging, turning the cupboard door, the W/C (non addition) through the side window have all made things feel a bit bigger and easier to access.  It all helps to make the space feel better even though it is not yet completed.

Here is what it looks like now.

Due to the fact that we pay as we go with her, THO is very much a project that is still underway.  The major ones to do here are (in order of operation) the flooring ($1500 and time), the kitchen (drawers, 12 volt fridge and 2 burner cooker – $2000), the furnace ($1500), the well (plus solar and hand pumps -$7000).  None will be done this year unless we fall into a little bit of money and if this happens the furnace will jump que so that we can use THO more comfortably and with more safety this winter.

Categories: Money, Off Grid, Ontario, Simple living, Tiny house, Tiny House Ontario | 2 Comments

Gardening 101

Posted on June 3, 2012 by Laura

Here Papa Wolf is teaching Little Bad Wolf to garden.  The garden is 100 square feet, the interior of THO is 97… 😀  Can you find the Imp?

Categories: Dogs, Food, Friendship, Off Grid, Tiny House Ontario | Leave a comment

Baby Got Back!

Posted on June 3, 2012 by Laura

I got Baby back.  Turns out that I had both a blocked carb and a bad stator.  I don’t know what a carb is – unless it is the thing that comes in pasta and bread.  I also do not know what a stator is.  Apparently if your stator is bad then your bike will randomly turn off and misbehave.  It becomes erratic in reliability – behaving a bit like a person with an uncontrolled mental illness.

It is also difficult to diagnose.  The bike mechanic was very frustrated!

The bill for fixing Baby’s carb, replacing her stator and also fixing her kickstand (just a little spring) was just over $400.

The only part which I know the function of, is the kick stand.  I would like to take a basic bike mechanics course, but don’t know if courses like this are available any more.

Nice to have my wheels on the road again!

Categories: Off Grid, Tiny House Ontario | Leave a comment

Keep on Rockin’ at Tiny House

Posted on June 2, 2012 by Laura

It stopped raining this afternoon so HJ and I decided to do a little outside work instead of building the little W/C units.  We started to close in the base of the W/C so that it can be used to hide items that we want to hang onto, such as bits of pipe.

While we worked in that area we also decided to put in a few of the large rocks that we collected into place so that we have stairs leading East from the front of the Tiny House instead of a slope.

Since I was handling some rocks, I also put a few more rocks at the West side of the house and Cloth Porch.  I really love the flat stones because I can run outside with my bare feet to tend to the dogs or the BBQ.  The flat stones make it a little bit more convenient and therefore comfortable.  It is really hard work to dig them up and to get them level, but I think it is worth the effort.

I imagine that this will not be my last update on rockin’ because I imagine that we need to find and put in another 200 or so before the plans are fully realized.

 

 

Categories: Off Grid, Tiny House Ontario | Leave a comment