Happy New Year!

 

My, my, another year speeding by and we are well into winter! Despite winters here being about 8 months long, it seems to go by far too fast for me and there is never quite enough time to get everything done that I hope to do before the summer business returns. We accomplished one thing I've been needing to do for a while now, get a new photo showing some of the changes to life in Fy Nyth to replace the old one of just me and the tiny house in it's old clearing that has been the thumbnail shot everywhere you find Fy Nyth for many years now. With the house in a new home and two of us in it, that needed an update. Thanks to one of my younger brothers being willing to snap a whole lot of photos for us in the falling snow on New Years day, we ended up with one I really liked and was able to use an editor program to turn it into the above painting look which I think is perfect for that.

Otherwise, there has just been the day to day stuff, feeding, watering, and caring for all our creatures, breaking ice, cooking and other housework, shoveling and blowing snow, and trying to grab a few moments

Feet, Shoes, & Work Around the Homestead - Xero Shoes Mesa Trail ii Review

Feet. Most of the time we don't think much about them, but if they didn't do their job, almost nothing I do all day would be possible. So they are pretty important. As you know, in the depth of winter I love my custom made fur boots and wear them every day. But in the warmer months, warmer being a general term around here since much of the summer we get freezes at night too, there are often times my feet need a little protection due to cold, sharp objects in the ground, or just not being tough enough to handle the abrasions of miles of hiking over the rocks in the mountains here. While I have no interest in a shoe that offers "support" or a cast like atmosphere that prevents my feet from operating as they were designed to do, there is a company I have liked for years, Xero Shoes. They make footwear that is just what I want. Some protection, much like a pair of

Summer Highlights

Summers here seem to always fly by before I know it. And somehow with the long daylight hours and everything that needs to be done before winter returns, I just don't get time to keep up with blog posts. But winter is rolling in once again, the daylight hours are getting short, and once again I have some free minutes before falling asleep to write. 

So, a brief recap of some of some highlights that have happened over the past months. One of the fun things was our Mrs. Quack laid a bunch of eggs but then decided she didn't care about sitting for more than one day. And one of our hens, Ember, looked at the abandoned duck eggs and decided they needed a mother. So she sat on them till they

Why Spending Almost $100,000 on a Tiny House was the Best Financial Decision of my Life

This is an article I first wrote several years ago for The Tiny House Magazine, which if you are not aware of, you might enjoy checking out! https://tinyhousemagazine.co/   Anyway, I thought it was time to share here with those of you who didn't see it when it was first published.

$99,702.00 is a lot of money. At least for me it was. More than I had ever had in one place at one time for sure! But that is what my tiny house cost. And looking back now after having lived here in my house for 7 years, it was a great decision for me. This is true for many aspects of my life, but the one I want to address today is the financial side of that. I have seen and heard a lot of discussion about "what a tiny house should cost." Or that the "whole point of a tiny house is to be cheap." Or "tiny houses on wheels are a dumb investment because they don't appreciate

Choosing Icelandic Chickens for Our Little Homestead and Raising from Day Old Cold Brooded Chicks

 

Along with everything else involved with moving and settling into a new place this summer, we added chickens to our little homestead. With the continued goal of creating a place where we are able to produce more of what we need on a regular basis from our own property. In preparation for this, last winter I did a lot of research and reading about what breeds would best for our situation. Like most thing, this meant I first had to figure out what my main goals were, so I could then determine what would fit with that. I wanted something that would:

Kittens Growing up on the Homestead

 

If you have seen any of the videos over the past months since August, you have probably seen one or both of these kittens already. Living in an area just far enough out of the woods to have a lot less predators than frequented the old location, and observing that several neighboring farm or ranch cats seem to be fairing well over time, it was time to have some kitties join our new little homestead. Because cats are neat, and it's nice to have a good rodent patrol crew on the job. It seems many of you enjoy seeing kitten photos, so here is a collection of some of my favorite shots since these little fur balls joined us. 

Velcro, named for her desire to stick to people no matter what you are doing, joined us first back in the summer. She's the fluffy kitty and loves people more than any cat I have ever met. If you are sitting for even a second she will appear and

Wow a Lot Has Happened!

Whew! This summer was a whirlwind of busyness and too many projects. And now fall has come and gone and we're already into winter and the new year. So I hope you are all having a wonderful

Lessons Learned While Shopping for a Tiny House/Homestead Property

So, as you probably are aware, the journey for Fy Nyth to find a permanent home, since I've always known my current location was temporary, has gone on for many years. After several years, finding a lovely property and then having a big issue arise with the attempt instal a toxic smelter directly upwind of that property as I discussed in the video in the last blog post. After waiting for several years hoping to find a resolution to that situation, I decided my time and effort was better spent else ware. I still wish everyone in that area the best with overcoming their own corrupt local officials. So the search continued, Clay and I purchased a place together, and now the tiny house is now going to be moving to that new home with in a week or so if the weather cooperates.

Big News from the Tiny House

A short post today. I have some pretty exciting news to bring you today from the tiny house! First a project I've been working on for a while for someone else and am now excited to have available for you all to see. And then some more personal plans. Hear all the details right from me

Watch the Grizzly Family Near My Tiny House

Those bears I talked about visiting my house last fall? Here you can watch Grizzly 399 with her whole family! Again, this footage was all from late last year. Yes, bears do hibernate in the winter but this family did not go to bed till early January so there was lots of snow on the ground before that happened. In the week and a half or so they spent near my house, I was able to record a lot of them just doing their bear things. Napping, playing, berry picking, chasing moose out of their nap spots, and more. 

Living in a Tiny House in the Woods with Big Predators

As you probably know, I live in a little clearing in the woods. On the side of a mountain. In an area with a whole lot of wildlife large and small as you have probably gathered from the many photos I have shared over the years. Like in the above shot, there are five grizzly bears at once! This has lead to a lot of questions from folks over the years about how do I deal with living near large things that could potentially kill or eat me? So, I finally sat down for a long discussion of my thoughts

The Tiny House Magazine, Issue 100!

I have a very special deal to share with you all today! Are you familiar with The Tiny House Magazine? You should be. They've been sharing a huge variety of stories from the tiny house world for years now. In fact for so many years, that this month is issue 100! Once again you will find an article from me in there. Covering some details of one aspect of my tiny house journey that I had not yet written about anywhere else yet to this extent. You will have to go read the issue to find out what I am talking about though. 😀

And thanks to a very generous offer the editors have allowed me to share, you can get a copy for no charge

Spring Coming to the Tiny House in the Mountains

As recently as March 27, this is what the clearing looked like around our house. A lot of snow had melted, but there was still a whole lot there as well. But since then, it's rapidly been going! Overall the winter has been colder than normal, but we only got about 85% of the average snowfall. So lower than normal snow totals, but with lots of colder than normal days total. But now it's warming up some and frozen crystals are turning into liquid. A couple days ago the creek right below the house started to flow water on top of all the ice layers. I haven't been able to see or hear the creek since fall when it first iced over and that ice just got thicker and thicker. But as some snow melt started to make it's way out of the mountains, it had to flow on top of

Keeping Bird Feeders away from Bears, Squirrels, and the Benefits of Little Birds as Co-Workers

Little birds. Over the years I have found them to be very valuable partners in my life! This started by accident when my good friend Moose (We got to know each other through our common interests in tiny houses and photography. Check out his work here!) gave me a bird feeder he was no longer  using. I had never really thought about feeding birds at all before that. But with the feeder sitting here, I thought why not hang it up with some seeds? There was obviously already little birds around here. I do live in the woods surrounded by trees, bushes, and plenty of good bird perches and hidden nesting spots, but most of the time I didn't see them very up close as they flitted about their business. It took a few weeks for some birds

How I Prepare for the Unexpected, Winter (And Year Round!) Vehicle Supplies,

I was driving home after dark one winter night having just finished cleaning a home that is one of my regular jobs. The drive takes me along a road that is only 5 miles or so from a small town at one point, but due to the mountain shapes, there is no cell service for a couple mile stretch. It's a winding road with lots of hard corners. Anyway, I came around one of those cell phone service lacking corners and there was not one, but two cars who had been traveling toward me on the opposite side of the road, totally buried in the snow bank on my side of the road. Like many smaller country roads, there's not really a shoulder, so this means they are both nose down over the few foot drop off. Resting the front corner of their cars against a barbed wire fence, and nearly into a little creek that flows along that road edge. Obviously both drivers had spun out on the same slippery patch and I don't know how they had avoided hitting each other. One of these cars was a pretty new Audi with a middle aged couple inside. They were just sitting inside looking totally helpless. Doing nothing. The second stuck rig was a little larger SUV, also pretty new with a single male driver. He was outside, attempting

Orphaned Moose Visitor to the Tiny House

 

There are a lot of moose that live in my immediate area. And I see them quite frequently. I spotted 4 different moose today alone. Either from my house or while shoveling snow on a few neighboring properties. But this little girl pictured above is a little special in my heart. She is an orphan and first came by the house without her mama about two weeks ago. While she's little for a moose, she's obviously still quite a large animal. And just in case you have never been around moose, while I find them fascinating like all wild things, they can be very dangerous

Burley Loving Life in the Snow

As you know if you have been following life here in Fy Nyth for any length of time, Burley adores the snow! He loves winter, and I think must believe that summer is this odd little time of year when his wonderful snow melts temporarily. If you have seen some of our backpacking trips in the summer, you probably remember him searching out any snow patches left high in the mountains and racing right to them to roll in and do belly slides on. But right now he doesn't have to search at all to find snow. We are just wrapping up the second snowiest

Make Your Own Vanilla Extract & Save! Tiny House Cooking

If you cook, especially bake, much at all. Or have ever made a simple batch of cookies one time, you have probably used a recipe that called for vanilla extract at some point. And if you want the real stuff, you probably noticed, it is expensive! There is a reason. Real vanilla extract is made from a vanilla bean which grows from an orchid. And orchids are a bit touchy, slow growing, and only produce so many vanilla beans. They also don't grow in cold places like the Wyoming mountains though they are quite lovely if you care to go look up some photos of the plant. Anyway, much of the "vanilla extract" sold in the world today, up to 99% by some estimates, is artificial. There is a reason it is so popular, mostly the price. While real vanilla beans contain at least 250 flavor and scent compounds that seem to almost universally delight the human senses, those compounds also seem to enhance our enjoyment of other flavors in our foods. Artificial vanilla on the other hand, mostly focuses on imitating a single one of those compounds, vanillin. And does not come from a vanilla bean at all, but is synthesized in a factory from wood pulp or wood-tar creosote. Sounds tasty, right?

Baby Moose Panic

As the snow continues to deepen, more and more wildlife start to use the cleared and shoveled pathways all over the area because it makes it so much easier for them to travel. So more things travel up or down my lane and past my house. So here is some more captures from the game camera yesterday. Pardon the photo quality, game cameras do not have the resolution of my cameras I normally use. But they do capture things like this which is neat! Burley and I were out shoveling snow at a different house at the time, but when we'd got up in the morning, I saw this family was napping in the edge of the woods behind the house. Anyway, here's what happened while we were out. First mama moose strolled by

Ordering Seeds for the Tiny House Garden

The snow drifts are just deepening around here. But spring will arrive eventually. Even here where I probably won't see the ground for 4-5 months yet. Though it's going to show up a lot sooner for almost all of you! Do you have the seeds you need for this year for whatever you are planning to grow? Tiny green things will soon be ready to start popping out of the ground for many of you. Even if you only have a deck, balcony, or window sill, you can