Winter's Firewood Prep Etc.

Winter is well on it's way here. The snow isn't deep yet, but the temps plummeted weeks ago. Burley and I as always, are cozy in the house. And the way we stay cozy, is with the little mini wood stove.

Working on the couch with a cuddly dog is a wonderful part of cold weather!

My firewood always starts with lengths like this collected from standing dead trees or ones that have  recently toppled onto a lane somewhere around the property I live on. 

And not related to my firewood at all, a friend and I spent an afternoon the other day working to provide firewood for an elderly couple we know in the area. They are kind of like my adopted grandparents, and being close to their 80's, gathering their own is getting difficult for them. But working with friends to do things like this is so much fun! I know some folks think living off grid or in a remote area means you have no human connections, but I think there tends to be even more as you actually know your neighbors (in the mountains this can mean you live within an hour of each other) and help each other out. So that was a fun project! 

Back to my wood. Once I get those logs to my house, they need to turn into rounds. Which you can see me working on below.

And then of course it needs to be split so that it fits inside my little wood stove.

And sometimes I split wood while talking to the camera. The rest of the time I listen to books while splitting wood which is one of my favorite chores. 

And then the finished wood all goes into my wood bin. Lots of folks suggest that I pile it all right beside the house. See why it's all stored where it is.

And with all of that, we stay warm and cozy here through the long 8+ months of winter! I really enjoy the whole process of collecting to splitting my wood. The physical activity, the relaxing aspects of projects that give you a visible result quickly, and of course, all the napping in front of a toasty fire. :) 

Canning Summer Bounty

This summer and fall I was able to preserve a lot of wonderful food for enjoyment through the next year. Canning is one of the ways I store bounty for later enjoyment, and I love looking at rows of beautifully colored canned foods on my pantry shelves! Growing and eating various and sometimes unusual colors is so much fun. The above photo is all carrots I grew. 

I've received quite a few questions about various aspects of canning, how to, safety, things that it is possible to can, etc. So even though I've mentioned various aspects in different videos on canning particular foods, I did one long video just dedicated to canning questions for anyone wondering or new to the process.

And then I canned multiple colors of pickled carrots I grew. 

And spaghetti sauce I made, with tomatoes from the neighboring state since they don't grow in my area with all the cold. 

And peaches. From two states away, as that's the closest spot they will grow.

And sweet pickles. We had such a cold winter that lasted into the end of June that most of my cucumbers plants, even under their frost covers seemed to be a bit stunted and never really grew out of it. So I only was able to harvest about 4 of my own cucumbers this year. So often that's something I can grow, but not so much this year.

Have you ever canned food?

Summer Backpacking Trip to the Wind River Range

 

One of the fun things I did this summer was a 5 day backpacking trip with Burley and a good friend Beth in the Wind River Range. Of all the many backpacking trips I've done over the years, I think this one was my overall favorite. 

So here's a few photos from some of the wonderful scenes we were able to walk through!

And... I put together a five video series covering each day of our trip so you can enjoy a little fraction of the beauty we experienced. Though nothing is the same as being there in person to experience everything. Though this trip happened in August, I'm just now getting all the footage and photos together. 

The whole trip was a wonderful time and I'm so thankful to have a good friend and good dog to adventure with. 

I hope you all enjoy a walk in nature somewhere yourself!

Attempting to pick Blogging back up....

 

Hello all. It's been a while. My life (this is scary to say publicly) looks as if it might have a bit more free time in the next little bit. So... I'm going to try to catch up on some blogging here! It's crazy how much interest you all have in my tiny house life that even with well over 200 blog posts here and 500+ videos on the channel, I still get more questions all the time. 

So to pick back up here. Burley has grown up a lot in the past year! And turned into an absolutely wonderful companion. The above photo is my tired puppy crashed in front of the wood stove. After a hike in the woods and a little frisbee gun chasing. This guy plays hard and crashes hard. Watch one of his favorite ways to get tired out. :)

And some baking powder drop biscuits that were enjoyed for dinner, among other things. Made with freshly hand ground enkorn wheat, grass fed butter, baking powder, salt, and a little coconut milk. I absolutely love the rich nutty flavor of this flour and could easily over eat these till I'm sick. They are so good! 

I hope you are all enjoying your companions and food as much as I am! 

Welcome to 2019!

Hello all! It's been a while since I've had time to write here. If you have just landed here for the first time, welcome! If you scroll back through posts, you will find most of the history of the first three years or so of life off grid in my tiny house here. And I am still very much happily living here, in my fifth year now! 

But more of my time these days is going to videos rather than blog posts about life here. Since, a bit sadly to me, most folks seem to prefer to watch rather than read. So head on over to http://youtube.com/fynyth for most of the latest updates. There's usually a new video every few days. Or find me on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook/Minds/Gab/Steemit/GooglePlus as Fy Nyth if you'd like to follow posts there. 

We're having a pretty average winter so far. Which means it's looking pretty white around here as the new year begins. 

Over time, there has been a few changes to the interior such a whitewash on the walls and the addition of upper kitchen cabinets.

Summer was full of lots of adventures with friends and family including an 80+ mile backpacking trip in the Sawtooth range with a good friend. 

I continued to garden and grow as much food as possible here in the very short summer.

Plants, flowers, food, and growing things remain some of my favorite things to spend time with. 

One morning there was a just after sunrise rainbow over the house!

My life here has been joined by Burley, a beautiful young English Shepherd who has rapidly become a wonderful companion. 

All aspects of life off grid continue as well. I'm settled in with a good supply of firewood for the year.

And like I said, for all the detailed updates on all those things over the past months, head on over to http://youtube.com/fynyth where there are currently almost 400 videos detailing most aspects of off grid life here in my tiny house along with just some fun and adventures. Thanks for following along!

Snow & A Big Furry Visitor

Did I tell you how much I like winter nights at my house? I mean summer nights are fine and all, but not nearly so bright as winter. And on that note, we have had a lot more snow arrive recently!

After that last snowstorm wrapped up and rolled on out, we awoke to a stunning sunny (still cold) bluebird day! And a big visitor came strolling through the woods. 

Moose do come by quite regularly, though with the very low snow for much of the year, I've seen less of them here than normal recently. They have been able to travel wherever they want without feeling a need to stick to plowed and shoveled pathways as they tend to do if the snow is really deep. 

Since this video though, another different moose came through as well. I either saw another moose twice or two different moose, and then the same mother and baby came back one evening when I was at a friends. When I came home, I found their fresh tracks right up to the porch! Like most creatures, they like to come by when I'm sleeping, not looking, or not home. :)

The view of my place down through the trees from the hill above my house.

One of the chatty little squirrels perched right outside my window. 

Grizzly does love bounding through the deep powdery snow. At least I assume she does from the look on her face and the wagging tail!

And lastly, a few more beautiful snowy bighorn sheep.