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

What Happens When Your Money is Broken?

There are times that enjoying a more simple and decluttered life and being ready for things to go wrong can appear to be in conflict. At least if you think that a simple life means relying on getting everything you need at the last second from someone else. Which seems to be the impression some folks have of tiny house life. Though it is actually far from how I live. I get a lot of questions from folks who are concerned about my safety and security given that I live in a rural area and access to some things would be slower due to greater distances. While I know they are genuinely concerned for me, I think many of these fears come from not being familiar with the things that are actually

Winter Snowfall

The snow is steadily deepening around here. And Burley and I are enjoying watching every flake fall! We've been having fun snowshoeing through the woods among other things. Now that it is deep enough to not catch the snowshoes on every little bit of unburied brush and twig. For those of you who enjoy watching snowfall without having to shovel it, here's

How Much Produce did the Tiny House Garden Grow?

Now that I have a bit more time to catch up on some things thanks to winter slowing my life down, at least compared to summer, I wanted to check in on how the garden actually produced this year. Does the work it takes to grow fresh food here produce something useful? How much food did I get? This year I did something I've never taken the time to do before and weighed all the various things the garden grew as I harvested them so I would know the total poundage of food produced through the year. What would you guess that total ended up being?

Looking for a Gift?

Unlike the last one, a really quick post. Just in case you need a gift for someone who is not in need of something actually essential to life 😀, did you know you can buy your own photo prints and canvases of wildlife, landscapes, or even my tiny house? I hate to get all salesy, but then people say "Hey! You should sell some of your photos!" So I guess not everyone knows that I do just that. And did you know that scientists have found that even just looking at nature scenes lowers your stress levels, heart rate, and more? If that sounds interesting, I would love if you come on over and check out some of my work!

https://arielcelestephotography.zenfolio.com/ 

 

English Shepherd as a Homestead Dog

It is very hard to imagine my life without Burley in it now. When he joined my home at 11 weeks old, he fit in right from the start. I'd had a very close doggy companion years ago, as well as showing and breeding several Labradors. But after my last one passed, life circumstances related to work and housing did not permit having a dog in my life for years. Finally my situation changed, thanks in no small part to the move to my tiny house, to allow that possibility

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a quick "Hi" and best wishes to all you and yours today! I hope you have many things to be thankful for as I know I do. This is also the anniversary of when I moved into my tiny house. Thanksgiving day in 2014 was the first night I spent sleeping here. Now headed into my 7th year here, I have some thoughts.

Tiny House Cooking - Split Pea Soup

With the snow coming down out there, it's good weather for a nice hearty soup! Like most soups, you can pretty much toss anything you like in a pot together and it will probably be tasty. But this is a version of split pea soup that I enjoy. And it is a good way to use a bunch of root veggies that I have stored from when I cleaned everything out of the garden before it froze solid. First, what you can see in the above photo is

Beartooth Backpacking

Another flash back to a summer backpacking trip. This one took place near the end of July and was with my good friend Julie. It was extra fun for me because it was my first trip into a whole new mountain range that I've never visited before, the Beartooths. Julie has packed there before with her sons, but we went to some areas that were new to

Winter Arriving with a Bang!

It's only mid November, and while my area, as you probably know, is cold and snowy for much of the year, this one is currently getting off to a nice deep start! While I won't know what the whole winter will bring

Catching up from the Summer

All summer long I tend to be so busy that I rarely have time to write. But it's dumping snow outside, so I'm going to try to catch up on a bit of what I've been up to through the summer. Here's a look at the second backpacking trip of my

Early July Tiny House Garden

So far this year the garden has been thriving overall. Which is wonderful since gardening is one of my favorite things to do. As is eating wonderful fresh foods. 😊 While the weather has been pretty cool (here high in the mountains, that means around freezing) for most of the spring and early summer, the frost covers have continued to do their job well. I probably covered the garden 85% of the nights, as well as some days, from planting in early May till

Spring Backpacking and other Walks in the Woods

While there's still a lot of snow in the mountains above our house, we've been able to do some backpacking and hiking, two of my favorite activities. And one of my one younger brothers came to visit for a bit. Among other things like work projects, long conversations, and enjoying good homemade meals, we went on a two

Mini Documentary about Fy Nyth

Hey there! Just a quick note. Check out this little look at life around my house put together by Exploring Alternatives. I think they did a really nice job! Find their mini documentary about life here at Fy Nyth at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFI5m0n4G0Y&feature=youtu.be

The Best Brownies Ever (And they're healthy!)

Do you like brownies? Especially rich soft almost fudge like brownies? Then this is the recipe for you! You know how most of the time when you see something labeled "gluten free," "dairy free," "vegan," etc you can often assume it's kind of a shadow of the normal version. Less wonderful but maybe edible? At least that's often been my experience. These are not like that. They are better than any other brownie I've ever had!  And everyone

Random Spring Stuff around the Tiny House

Just a few quick glimpses into some spring chores over the past little bit. Though it's rapidly turning into summer around here! Before most of the spring things can really start, I'm usually itching to get going on stuff, so it's a good time

Planting a Tiny House Garden with No Frost Free Summer

Planting a garden in a mountain corner of Wyoming where there is no official growing season... As in most areas have a "last frost date" and "first frost date" and in general (though not always!) you can pretty much count on plants growing with no frosts and freezes in between. If you don't know what your growing season is, you can put in your location in this handy little calculator - https://davesgarden.com/guides/freeze-frost-dates/index.php and it will tell you some general info. Like in my parent's area, they generally have a frost free growing season a little over 150 days long so they can plant things that take up to that many days to mature without freezing. But in my area, there's always a chance of frosts or freezes all summer. So really what I grow is kind of what many people would call a

Tiny House Garden - Is the Gopher Proofing Working?

The garden above is the one I started as soon as the snow melted my very first spring here in the tiny house. And after a lot of work to create it, mostly involving removing truckloads worth of rocks from the size of chicken eggs to dinosaur eggs (seriously, some weighed more than me! 💪), it thrived for several years. Those rocks all went into helping form the lane that leads to my house. Then that lovely garden was discovered by evil marauding little demons. Otherwise known as

First Time I've Ever Seen These From the Tiny House!

All the garden beds are finally bare of snow! Just barely. :) I had to share that little note just because it's exciting to me at this time of year.

 Anyway, you've probably seen a lot of different interesting wildlife around the tiny house here if you've followed life around here for any length of time. But the other day I glanced out the window and saw something I've never seen here in our clearing before! Not actually an uncommon creature. In fact much more common than many of the other things like wolves and mountain lions that have walked by. But in six years of living here,