Our Lifestyle Blog as We Create a Homestead in Northern Ontario
My solar pump is still going (strong? Well, perhaps not strong…) and keeping the pond aerated enough for the goldfish to have flourished, after a fashion. I’m going to call them koi. I think they are not officially koi, but this is an unorganized township, and I can call them whatever I want (except for … Read more
With Kenny and I both deciding to take a break from Judo, I still wanted to continue our training. As such, we had cleaned out the larger yurt to allow for potential purchasers to view it, and I decided to use it as a good training space for us. We have been trying to get … Read more
I’m not sure if I’m just weird, or perhaps there are others out there like me, but I hate putting holes in my walls unless I really, really have to. Maybe it goes back to my days as the proud and nervous owner of a sailboat, where “through-hulls” were to be avoided wherever possible, as … Read more
You become pragmatic about things when you’re trying to simplify or live in a small footprint. Now that the weather is consistently twenty below or colder, drying clothes outside is no longer really an option. I moved our standup rack inside and we have been making do with that, but it’s sitting in the middle … Read more
A day or two ago I got the telephone call letting me know that our kitchen cabinets (courtesy Ikea) had arrived in Thunder Bay. I arranged to take delivery this Friday when I am scheduled to be close to the city anyway, and then figured that I needed to keep up my pace on getting … Read more
While I still haven’t finished all the other projects that will lead up to us actually using the new well, I haven’t forgotten it either. After observing that some scum from my concrete patching and the clay soil still on the rock face was floating on top of what would soon be our drinking water, … Read more
It’s getting hot and humid occasionally here now that we approach Canada Day. I started to crave even the old bag solar shower I first used while we were still in the yurts. Then, as happens so often, I remembered that I had come up with a solution years ago already. Back when I worked … Read more
After a brief hiatus for the holiday season, we are now back at the homestead, and raring to continue our ongoing process of Kaizen. Some of the projects that are on our minds for the upcoming year are: Break ground on a workshop Return to gardening and hopefully make modest expansion there Improve (move?) the … Read more
Having a drain in the kitchen sink is another luxury that we’ve rapidly become accustomed to. For a few months, I simply had a bucket under the sink drain, and we tried to be mindful of how full it was at any given time before pulling the plug. I managed to score the envious task … Read more
It’s hard to define exactly why we are doing what we are doing. Our motivations and expectations can change from month to month and year to year. I’m not sure if this is true for everyone, but I suspect it is part of the human condition. As far as being in nature, and close to … Read more