Winter comes to North-Eastern Ontario

 We have been on the land for 6 months now. We are where we want to be but not where we thought we would be. Expected to  be working in our home over the winter. We are where we want to be, in the bush on our land, living life the way we choose.

For Remembrance Day we had snow. A decent amount of snow. Then we had a warm spell and a lot more wet than desired. Adjusting to the different climate from 800 km south has been interesting. Tricia had not seen snow on the ground before her birthday, November 19^th, in Southern Ontario. Rarely some blowing around in the air but never an accumulation. I was born and raised in Ottawa so am more used to winter weather but moved to Southern Ontario when I was 18 so can’t recall when it set in there.

Once we knew we were not going to have the shell of our home built this year and we turned our attention to preparing our shelter for the winter it was non-stop working. Procuring 10+ cords of cut wood and getting it here and stacked was a big job. Getting the woodstove refinished and hooked up in the trailer was a big job. Having an entry built over the stairs into the trailer was another big job. Thankfully a well-timed visit from our good friends from Muskoka, Dave our builder friend and his wife, Janine (a long-time friend of Tricia’s) made the stove and entry projects a breeze. As always we are thankful. Trying to get all the other projects done before the snowfall was daunting. We kept our heads down and chipped away at them. The skirting around the trailer was finished after the snow started. There just never seems to be time to get everything done and as the months roll on and we approach the shortest days of the year the loss of daylight is a big factor.

But it is all worth it to be here, 5 km to our closest resident neighbours. I stand on the roof of the trailer brushing the snow from our solar panel. It lives on the roof mounted to a neat tracker that I rigged up and connects directly to our GoalZero Yeti 400 power pack inside. From up there I get a different perspective, of our clearing, the forest around us, and of life itself. I hated my job and life in Southern Ontario. I was passionate in my disgust, despair and self-loathing. 6 months in and I can’t even really remember how bad it was. I listen to the Chickadees all around while I shovel some snow. Follow rabbit, fox, lynx and moose tracks through the snow… then shovel some more. I stand on the road at the end of our driveway on a moon-lit night, brighter than any night in Hamilton under streetlights. It’s in the -20’s and my breath billows up slowly above me the air still for once. I listen to the loud cracks and pops around me, the trees protesting the cold. The glowing moon so beautiful. So many stars.

 When I go inside it’s so warm and dry, the fire crackling away. And there is my partner in crime, my soul-mate, my lover, my friend. “How about making a coffee with Carolans Irish Cream” she says…

Life is GOOD!

                                                                                                                                                                   EH

---

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…

Two 50+ year olds pulling up stakes and moving 800+ kilometers north to the bush. No home to live in once there, only a rundown hunt cabin needing much TLC. A BIG deal. The move was June 1st but the roller coaster ride started before then and lasted for weeks, before and after.

The plan was to get here, get building and have an enclosed structure before snowfall so we could camp in the structure over winter and work on the inside. External forces kicked in. Road restrictions due to deep frost coming out of the road. No heavy equipment until July. Got the land cleared once the restrictions were lifted and then the rains came. And they never seemed to leave. Got the logs for the roof beams and found we would have to peel them ourselves. Our home builder friend in Muskoka couldn’t believe we couldn’t get peeled logs up here in the world of trees and wood. No road mix or aggregates here have enough clay in them for bag work (our walls will be made from earthbags) so we need to screen clay (either a sticky muck from rain or concrete hard if dried) to mix with sharp sand. And the rain… did I mention the rain?

So things have not gone according to plan and the timelines have shifted. We hope to get the foundation work done and cover that for winter. We are getting an insulated trailer to set up home in until the structure is completed. We will, as our motto says, do ‘whatever it takes’ to see this through.

 

As they say in ‘Game of Thrones’, “Winter is coming”. Focus has shifted to the preparations for the long winter ahead of us. It will be quite a change for us former Southern Ontario folk but we look forward to it. So I guess a lot of what has passed was ‘worst of times’ but it wasn’t bad, it just ‘was’. We rolled with it all.

Then there are the best of times…

I haven’t worked a J.O.B. since late May. That is WONDERFUL!! I hated my job and it was sucking the life out of me. We are living in the bush. Trees, bugs and critters everywhere. And we love it! Wild strawberries, raspberries and Saskatoon/June/Serviceberries growing on our property and along our road. Many different plants and birds to identify and learn about. And our dog, our big lug of a dog. He’s gorgeous and loveable and quite a character.

And the people. What an unexpected bonus. In 2 ½ months we have met more people and made more friends than we EVER had living in Hamilton for 30+ years. People helping, people sharing, people lending, and people just being friendly and neighbourly. Small town Northern Ontario is awesome! We have also met numerous people doing the same as us. Moving to the country and trying to live as sustainably as they can. Whether from Southern Ontario (many) or other provinces, people are wanting to get back to basics and have lost faith in the ‘system’ being able to keep the status quo. Our hats off to you all.

We work together to overcome the obstacles that erupt before us like the frost boils in the dirt road in mid-June. We only get stronger and that strengthens our resolve… Whatever it takes…

EH

How quickly time flies

Keeping lists to keep track

It is hard to believe we have been here for a week. It has gone so quickly yet so very much has happened. We were reminded early by a dear friend at Sunflower Farms, thank you Michelle, to keep a list of done. This will be of help when there is so much in front of you. Simply take the time to look over all that has been accomplished to keep your head in a good space. 

We have followed her wise advice. It has kept a smile on our face while we overcome obstacles. From no cell or internet access on our property, to the ongoing rain the first couple of days, to a dead battery on the uhaul truck when it came time to return it to a delivery truck in the ditch, through sleepless nights of bugs. We have certainly had some interesting days. And through it all we have taken the time to look at where we are and what an incredible adventure we have ahead. 

We have not had the weather to allow the build to commence but we have been very busy trying to sort out a household of belongings  into "The Shed'. We have had a fun time searching for items dispite our best attempts to label our boxes. Setting up a house and workshop in our only building while working on making that building more livable has been an ongoing set of checks off the to do list with a few still left to do. Establishing routine means we are learning where to keep items as we continue to prepare ourselves, our building and the land for our new lifestyle. 

Today we put in a new window and Tono, our new dog, was delivered. It was a long day and as I write Tono is in the backseat of the truck snoozing. He is as exhausted as we are. 

Thank you to all you who have and all you who continue to encourage us as we embark on this adventure. It is your questions and comments that remind us that we have a people looking out for us while living off on our own not so little piece of heaven. 

Quantifying Hydro Use

The benefits of a Kill A Watt meter

This is our last blog post from Southern Ontario. Saturday we begin our trek North. :)

This is a hectic time for the Northern Dirtbags. Packing up our apartment, making arrangements for the moving truck, making final purchases, arranging for deliveries and the list goes on. But keeping the end in mind has kept us going.

Throughout this time we have been making note of our hydro use. We were especially concerned with how much hydro would be used in charging our various technological items - phone, tablets, gps, walkie talkies etc. This concern stems from the ability of a Goal Zero system, we recently purchased, to charge them. We purchased the system to allow for some hydro availabilty during the build. (We do have a gas powered generator to power tools that are required for the build) We found that we can use one of the 6 panels from the final house solar system to charge the Goal Zero battery. That is welcome as it means we do not need to purchase a small wattage, high cost panel for just the build.

When we checked the wattage of different appliances used quite regularly we learned, that beyond our tablets and phone, some appliances can be used throughout the build and others will only be used once the build is complete and the sun is shining. In case you are not aware anything that either heats or cools requires a lot of hydro/energy. Our Goal Zero Yeti has specs that say it can handle 300W continuous with peaks up to 600W. It has a 400 Watt hour capacity. We used a Kill A Watt meter, which you plug into the wall and then plug the appliance into the meter, to measure each time we used a different appliance. We now have a list with the wattage of many of our appliances.

Now we know that we can continue to use the bread maker to make bread dough, for the whole wheat rolls we love, and bake them in the small propane oven while we build. Although mixing bread is not extremely difficult anything that can give us more build time will definitely be utilized. We learned that our computer has a 24W draw. Not a system like those used by PC gamers, which will have a power supply of 450W or greater, but it does all we need our computer to do. Our 32" flat screen TV has a 95W draw which means that we could watch a movie in the evening so long as the sun will be shining the next day to recharge the Yeti. But really we are going to be too exhausted to watch anything longer than 10 minutes before we will nod off. ;) 

Even if you are not off grid you can benefit greatly from the use of a Kill A Watt meter. Being aware of the draw of hydro used by an appliance will give additional knowledge when making future purchases. Keeping your hydro use minimized will keep that bill down as the rates continue to increase for those powered by the grid. And for those considering going off grid you will have a good idea on the size of the solar system you will need.

To be continued from Cochrane. :-D

Alternative Building, Alternative Health

It's not a stretch...

As our journey unfolds and as you continue to read our blog you will see a common thread develop. We believe in alternatives. We are not so much in tune with mainstream. Whether it is our thoughts on building or on energy or on food production or on food purchasing or on health. We have alternative views in all of these areas.

There are so many conscious choices we have made and continue to make. We chose a dirtbag building with passive solar heating, wood stove cooking and solar power for our new home. We choose to support local farmers whenever possible and eat seasonally. We choose to buy locally in general with great thought given to the local economy. All are choices we make for the well-being of ourselves and our planet.

Many of our readers feel much the same and we hope that our journey may inspire you to keep on this path or, if you are not quite there yet, at least give you food for thought.

It is not a stretch to alternative health when you have this frame of mind. We choose to be proactive with our health. Eating good quality toxin free food, choosing safe non-toxic personal care products, choosing the highest quality essential oils for our wellness and supporting the general health of our bodies with alternative healthcare modalities such as chiropractic, massage, acupuncture, yoga and reiki. We will, in future posts, delve into these ideas in more detail but we want you to keep these in mind as you go along on your own journey.

If you have questions or ideas regarding alternative living we always encourage discussion. Tricia is a consultant for two companies that provide excellent products if you have interest in dumping the toxins in the lives of your family and yourself. Want more information? Send a message to NorthernDirtbags at gmail dot com or leave a comment that includes your email address so that we may respond.

Enjoy your journey, wherever you are along the way.

Ed's 1st post

Hello from the other half of the team.

I'm Ed and I'd say I'm the captain of this journey but that isn't so. Both Tricia and I are steering this so I'll just go with Engineering at this point.

I was having a hard time trying to decide what to write about, first post and all. So much going on right now and so much to do ahead, my head spins from all the info and thought racing around in there. Then I remember from our visit with Cam and Michelle Mather at SunFlower Farm, Cam asking me our “why?”

There are all the usual reasons, and they are many. I don't want to rant on about this stuff so I'll point you to relevant pages or videos.

First off the food thing...Do I have to spell out what I mean? I'll go with Food Inc. on that.

Second, climate change. 97% of the scientists AREN'T being bought off to lie in a plot to ruin the economy or whatever they would have you believe on the right.

Let's say pick from the top 5 climate change movies

Third, the driver of this train wreck, Capitalism. This is a whole other ballgame.
Let's go with Capitalism: A Love Story

I'll likely come back to flesh these out in the future and I hope I don't lose too many of you with what I might say. I'm just going to tell it as 'I' see it. If you don't agree, GREAT! Let's talk about it. We ALL need to discuss this world more. This is a global problem and it will take all the people of the world to solve it, not including Corporations.

Went out for a walk, I do that ALL the time. I think a lot when I go for a walk. It helps me sort out the pressing issues from the jumble of stuff in there. I got to thinking about my 'why?'.

When I was hurt about 13 years ago, and thought I might not walk again, things changed. When I could walk again, after all the physio and chiro, I would go walking in all types of weather, because I could. I realized then, in those years of limbo, that life truly marches on. After nearly losing the house on injured workers wages, getting training to re enter the work force and then getting into another job (Just Over Broke), I decided things had to change.

Since I was young I always thought that having land was the way to go. You can do things with it or on it to make a living. By 'making a living' I don't mean monetarily. You can grow stuff, raise stuff and build stuff. You don't NEED to deal with the economy. The corporate greed, big OIL, big AG and big PHARMA, don't be tied to it, any of it. Use as little of it as you can. Have a house that needs little energy to heat and heat it with wood. Free, all that's needed is a little sweat and time. Grow food on your land, lots of it. Raise chickens, goats, pigs, and rabbits. Can it, freeze it, dehydrate it, ferment it, salt it or smoke it.  Each differing food as it ripens and is ready to harvest starts a new carnival of activity and flavours. Live with the seasons. Live IN them. Experience each day as a new beginning. Each time of year having it's own personality of light, colour, sound, smell, touch, taste and memory. Be present for it all... each day... every day.

Enough for now. Be well.

ED...

Making your own tools

Putting a wonderful day to good use

We are learning that there are a few special tools required for our build. Tools that we can make ourselves. We made our own tampers and bag holders awhile back and that was fun. The newest handmade tool, although no proper name can be given, is to hold down the barbed wire between the rows of bags while working on the walls. It is basically a brick with a string attached and a clip to keep the string in place. 

We had a few bricks from the house which we took when we moved knowing these tools were to be made. We purchased 2000 feet of nylon twine and had wire clothes hangers that could be used to make the clips. With all this in hand we set out to make 30+ of these. 

First the hangers had to be cut. If you have ever tried to cut a hanger it's not all that difficult but in this  case each hanger had to be cut in three places. Starting out doing so with a hand held set of, not too sharp, wire cutters, 90 odd times, was not something to look forward to but we could fix that. You see we were doing this at our very good friend's house and he has a couple of massive garages that contain just about anything you are looking for and can makeshift anything. So we took a rather large set of bolt cutters put them in the vise and in less than 5 minutes had the wires cut. The twisting and bending of the wire into clips took quite a bit more time but the vise again was utilized. We had already cut the 2000 feet of twine into lengths that were double the width of his deck, our approximation of 50 feet, and were ready to start putting the pieces together.
 

We sat at the front of one of the garages in the full sunshine of a lovely Easter Sunday evening affixing the clips to the twine, using the knot used to tie fishing line to a hook, the twine was then wrapped around the brick and clipped so it all stays together until ready for use for the building of our walls. We had quite a production line going and actually the time passed quickly as the sun set. 

It was both an extremely pleasant and productive day.

Weekends away will become a thing of the past.

We'll enjoy them while we can.

We have been warned by many who have experienced a self sustaining lifestyle - you will not be able to just pick up and leave for days at a time. We have been educated. Animals require daily care and your 'friends' are not going to come over twice a day to milk your goats or feed your chickens. This is what we are being told and are in no position to be argumentative. But we don't have animals, yet. In fact we have not even begun our build so this past weekend we took off. A last ditch get away and an educational one to boot.

As we had mentioned on the Northern Dirtbags Facebook page we had arranged a consultation with Cam and Michelle Mather. If you have not yet checked out their blog,  we highly recommend you do so. There is a wealth of information available there at your fingertips and hopefully you will see the enormous educational opportunities offered by partaking in a consultation or one of the bi-annual workshops offered. If distance is an issue be sure to check out their books and DVDs.

The Mathers live about 3 1/2 hours away from our current location and the route to them takes us right through Toronto traffic. We've lived with that reality for most of our lives so we know, just leave early. That meant a 4:30 am alarm. An early start is a wonderful beginning to a day and this was no exception. We had good weather for the drive. 

Arriving at Sunflower Farm we were welcomed by Jasper, the wonder dog, and Cam, offered our choice of hot beverage and Michelle's homemade muffins. We chatted, Cam asked us a few questions and then took us outside to go through his solar system. Cam can explain his system in a language that is easily understood and always had a good response to our questions. We were shown their hot water system which as explained has been an evolution. The gardens also have evolved with the start of their CSA a few years ago which they now share with 40-50 members. We had a wonderful lunch provided and then chatted more about their journey as well as what we believe ours will look like. The gorgeous weather allowed us to go outside without coats and soak up the sunshine ever if there was still snow on the ground. We talked about such a variety of topics, from appliances through to raising chickens. The 15 years worth of experience means there are no stupid questions. The Mathers have gone through the learning curve and openly share that experience.

We ended the day after another 4 1/2 hour drive to Bala and the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen (if you were in Ontario on April 10th I am sure you remember the amazing shades of purple and pink). We spent a couple of days with dear friends that we do not get to see often enough. Ed was able to go over the plans with our friend who is a builder by trade. We left confident that we are building a sound structure. 

We may not again have this kind of freedom to come and go but we will have so much more joy in staying put. 

PS This blog post was delayed as we awaited the birth of our first grandchild. Welcome Daniel Robert James born during the lunar eclipse this morning to Kristina and James. All are doing well.

Building Our Dirtbag Dream

The Learning Experience

The internet is an irreplaceable technological advancement. Through it we have been able to be in contact with other like-minded people and also find sources of information that, prior to the internet, would likely have been unavailable. Books, videos, how-to's all at our fingertips. While the ability to access a seemingly unlimited source of information has it's benefits, there are also drawbacks. Having so much information available can make for difficult decision making. One source says one thing, another source has different suggestions.  What does a person do? 

We spent many years researching options with the help of the internet. In our vision to build a self sustaining homestead we also looked at gardening as well as animal farming (both to be done on a very small scale) methods. We found books and blogs and read them, found videos, movies and television and watched them, and we found like-minded people and asked them questions. Each time that we added new information we would reassess our plans. Was there an option that worked better? Was there a less costly means to accomplish a task? What had others tried?

Today we're sharing some of the documentaries and tv series that we found over the years.

The godfather of North American sustainable building without a doubt is Mike Reynolds. His documentary Garbage Warrior is available online. It is from this documentary that most of our build ideas were initially formed.

And if you want to see that there are no limits to building an earthship check out the video of the one built for Dennis Weaver. The quality is not the best as it's from the 80's.

 

Some of the most interesting and inspiring tv shows were found on UK television.  

The farm series done on BBC which you can find online or through your local PBS station is wonderful for those who are planning to work with less technology. We found them both educational and entertaining.

Tales from Green Valley

Victorian Farm

Edwardian Farm

Wartime Farm

Tudor Monastery Farm

Another very educational show on farming is  A Farmer's Life For Me. This was a reality series where the winners were given a farm for a year. Great series if you can find it.

Also a couple of shows done by Kevin McCloud are terrific. Check out Kevin McCloud's Man Made Home as well as the series he been doing for years, Grand Designs. 

There have been a couple of seasons done of George Clarke's Amazing Spaces and there is some unbelievable work seen on those episodes. 

Recently we found another documentary series called Ben Fogle: New Lives In The Wild that made us feel a little less crazy. ;-)

Having a dream and pushing through all the obstacles has shown us what is truly possible. We hope that sharing will be the same inspiration for you.

Have you watched any of these shows? Share your reviews in the comments. 

Waiting for things to fall into place

It's all perspective

We first listed our house in May of 2011. We firmly believed that within a few months we would be up in Cochrane building our dream. As you may or may not know we had our house on the market for 21 months, listed with 5 different agents before we had an Agreement of Purchase and Sale via our For Sale By Owner kijiji ad. That deal closed on Friday. Now we are waiting for the weather to warm up slightly before we make our final move and begin the build.

How often have you heard we are exactly where we are suppose to be? Well,  it has been quite a ride these last few years and many times we wondered why were we  being held back, why were we going through so many agents without offers? It was frustrating to put it mildly. Then the offer was made with a close date of March 28th.

We were hoping for a closing date a couple of months later so that we could move directly to the property and get started. This offer meant we had to find a place to live for a couple of months. We took that in stride. Surely it was not going to be difficult to find someone to rent us a place for 2 months. That was the first surprise. Generally landlords are looking for long term tenants. We were very lucky to find a couple of guys who were willing to cut us some slack. To Adam B and Adam W, thank you for being so generous to strangers.

We decided, to make things slightly more appealing to a landlord, that we would rent for two weeks prior to the close date. Well that's what we thought was the why at least. As it turned out moving out of a house that you have been in for over 15 years is quite daunting. It was so very nice to have those two weeks to move in a little more gradually. If you have that option we would highly recommend taking it. 

We thought moving in March would be horrific. Once again things worked out in our favour. The Saturday that we chose to make the move we were able to do so with no coats. The next few days were bitterly cold. This long winter gave us a beautiful moving day and for that we must say thank you. 

As we begin to go through our packed boxes again, to lessen the load even more, we are once again surprised by exactly how this ride is moving along. An extra walk through of our stuff has made for donations to help others. We are always grateful for that chance.   

             

The timing of the close began as being considered another obstacle. We look back and see with gratitude how wonderfully everything turned out. 

Now we have two months to put all our ducks in a row. Building a home with no experience is not the life path chosen by many but we pride ourselves on going slightly off the beaten path in most life choices. It makes for a journey with a view that is seldom seen and one that is extremely exciting.

Getting ready to move

A practice session helps

This process began a couple of years ago when we decided we were ready to list the house. There was a lot of purging done or so I thought. We packed up a storage locker full of items we were not ready to part with but realized we would not need in the near future. This was done in an effort to  declutter the house for showing purposes. We never expected the sale to take almost 2 years. That turned out to be a blessing  as we have realized that much of what we thought was important is now so much easier to part with after it has not been around for so long. We did have to make our build  plans smaller than we had originally thought so a go through of our 'stuff' is required to lessen its amount after the reduction in home size. It is still a daunting task to pack your whole life into boxes.

The fact that we are moving into an apartment for two months while we wait for the warmer weather does make things different.  As we prepare to move on Saturday we have found a very easy and inexpensive means to mark boxes. For us we have boxes that are not needed until the build is complete, we marked them red. Boxes that may be wanted before the build is complete but are not necessities are marked blue. Finally boxes that are required while we are building we marked green. We made sure to mark every side of the box so the mark is visible and it was easy to know what type of box it is regardless of how it was stacked. And what did we use? Bingo dabbers! You could use them to sort for each room if that is what you needed. Much better and cheaper than markers.  

This practice move is helpful but I would not suggest it as a preferred method. Moving an entire household three times in 7 months is not something I ever want to do again. Putting the building of a house in there is looking like crazy when it is in writing but this is going to happen and we are crazy enough to share it with all of you. Hope your comments can keep us inspired. :)

Sourcing Material for a Passive Solar Build

So You Want To Build In The Bush.

As we near the closing date of our house sale, March 28th, the reality of the build has really begun to sink in. Our circumstances (unheated living at a northern build site) means a two month apartment rental here in Hamilton before we head up to the property. That means in addition to packing up our household contents, while attempting to pare them down, we are trying to source out the build materials and the obstacles of our location are becoming clear.

Here is a partial list of materials/services for which we are trying to source out local connections and the associated hurdles. We must preface this by saying that when we first looked at our property we knew no one in the area. But, thankfully, we have made a few friends, and continue to make more through the wonder of social media, who have been extremely helpful in our search to find locally sourced items.

The first hurdle we have to overcome is that our road has weight restrictions for vehicles after the Spring thaw. That could be removed as late as July 1st. At this point we are not certain of exactly what materials that are to be delivered to our build will be delivered via a vehicle that is on the weight restriction list. Once we have that worked out we can begin to schedule deliveries.

The next hurdle is getting small items to the build site. We are on the lookout for a reasonably priced used 4x4 pickup to allow us to do our own small deliveries.

On site water delivery - As easy as that is down in Southern Ontario, in Cochrane there is only delivery for non-potable water. We may have a connection for potable drinking water now thanks to our new found social media friends.

Solar panels, batteries and other electrical - we have tried to connect with local installers but they seem most interested in grid tie-in. They do not appear to have an interest in selling small off grid systems. Looks like we may be much better off building our system from scratch ourselves. If you have any connections to suppliers of solar systems/parts please leave us a comment.

A few other considerations for the interior of our home. 

Bottles and cans - our plan is to use the local schools as a point of contact.
Appliances - we are planning on a wood cookstove, a freezer and a freedger (a term coined by Shane of Canadian Dirtbags for a chest freezer converted to a fridge).
Hot water - working out the details of a thermosyphon with our cookstove and an electric water heater tied into the battery system overflow.
Composting toilet - at this point we are looking at a build your own.
Plumbing - thankfully we have a plumber in the family.

Here are some general build tasks/materials we are still sourcing. 

Hiring someone to clear the building site 
Wood for frames

Finding someone who does spray foam insulation Insulating materials for under the structure 
Sand 
Bags for building 
Materials needed for inside the bags

In Cochrane proper, which has a population of 5,500 and is about 25km away, there is Castle Building Supplies and Canadian Tire. Many of our materials can be purchased through these vendors. Timmins is the closest large center being about 105 km away with a population of close to 45,000. There you can find what are known as 'big box' stores however we choose to stay away from these vendors whenever possible so will avoid purchases in Timmins if other local sources exist. Kapuskasing is another small town, at just over 8,000 people, that's about 120 km away. We have actually chosen to use the U-Haul drop off depot there, for our rental moving truck, over Timmins mostly due to the more pleasing drive.

As we have no building experience we are extremely grateful for all the guidance we have received and will continue to share our experiences as guidance to those of you inspired to consider what's possible

Passive Solar Off-Grid Building - So many options, so little time.

How we got to this point.

Our journey to our final choice of building structure has taken a few years. The first type of building we considered was an Earthship. That is the name given to a type of structure developed, in the 70's, by Mike Reynolds in Taos, New Mexico. The basics of an earthship are a building that is constructed using rammed earth filled tires as bricks, which are then parged to make the load baring walls. Interior walls are made using bottles and cans along with cement. This is why the movie explaining the journey of Earthships is call Garbage Warrior. You can watch the entire documentary on YouTube. The structure is also bermed on the north side as well as a major part of the east and west sides. The entire south face of the building is windows which allow for solar gain during the day. This heats up the interior thermal mass (all those earth filled tires) which then releases the heat throughout the cooler night. We researched this building option at length. Purchasing books, watching videos, even attending at a few earthships built in Ontario to see how it was done.

Why an Earthship? 

We gave serious consideration to this type of structure because many of the materials used for the build are recycled - tires, bottles and cans. That is important to us. We try to be good stewards of the planet. Additionally an earthship provides an efficient means of dealing with your grey water (the water from your kitchen and bathroom sinks). We did not want to incur the cost of a septic system. We believe that everyone should recycle their water, a precious commodity, as much as possible. It is important to get the most use of your water before it goes back to the ground. The Earthship design includes an interior grey water recycling planter system. This planter allows for growing food and in a colder climate that can be quite useful. It can be used for starting plants as well as lengthening the growing season, giving you free food. Built correctly and given time to acclimatize an earthship does not require additional heat, although cooking and fire for ambiance can provide additional warmth if desired.

Why not an Earthship? 

As a test Ed decided to pound a tire. After almost half an hour of hard work he looked rather done in.  Knowing this would need doing close to a thousand times for our home we thought this was better suited to the younger crowd not a couple in their 50's.

 








What other options are out there? 

Having decided against using tires for bricks we looked into other options. One that seemed doable was drystack block building. Our thinking was, at our age, we could handle hauling cinder blocks around more easily than tire pounding. There is more cost involved with this type of building over an earthship however many of the same design principles can be utilized as we would still be building a passive solar, off-grid structure. This site is where we found most of our information on this type of building.

Along the way we also found information on dirtbag building. This method of building uses 50 and 100 lb feed bags filled with a dirt mixture which is wetted, tamped and put down in rows, with barbed wired between them, to make walls. We felt this would be a little easier on the budget than drystack blocks. Once again videos, books and blogs were the best sources of information. A special inspiration and turning point was when we found the Canadian Dirtbags blog. By reading about the journey of this couple we felt we had found the perfect style of build for us. They have been extremely helpful. In fact without their expertise and experience we would have gone with our original design plans and never have been able to complete the build in the required time. You see Cochrane has a rather lengthy snow season that we need to work around. We now have a reasonably sized build planned, about 700 square feet, with the option to add on over the years. Thank you B&S!!

So here we are. Packing up, prepping for a summer of unknowns. Excited beyond words to begin this next stage.


Addendum

In case you think this earthship thing is just for hippies. We had a hard time convincing some of our friends that we weren't crazy. Some still think we are. Or if you believe that you have to do without to live this way. It is all about choice. Have a look at the build done by Dennis Weaver on YouTube

The evolution of "The Shed"

As I was considering pictures to include in the initial post of this blog the building that is on the property was on the short list. Once I began to think about posting I realized the evolution of this building was a post on it's own

Our first exterior look at the hunt cabin 

When we first went up to look at the property we had no idea there were structures anywhere on the 75 acres. Pulling up and seeing a building took us by complete surprise. On first glance this looked like the kind of cottage I grew up with - 4 walls, a roof, a couple of windows and a place to sleep. Nothing like what people consider a cottage today, more of a wooden tent. There was an interesting 'porch' on the front and stepping inside of that gave you a good indication of what it might look like on the inside. The door was not secured shut, in fact it was wide open. The rather large front window was broken. There was an old stove, old cans of paint that had exploded and assorted bits and pieces of just about everything sitting in that porch. Then we looked inside.

I cannot put into words what we saw in a way that can give you the visual that this video allows

At the time of this recording Ed and I both given in to this building being junk. As we saw it there was no way of making it liveable. We shut the place up as best we could and left the building as it had been.

Fast forward a year. By the time we travelled up the following April we found the porch had finally given in to the heavy snows of a Northern winter. It was trashed. Plain and simple.

Ed and I pulled down what was left standing of the porch. Once again closing it up as best we could and hoping for no further damage.




Thankfully we had the company of our dear Kristina along on our next trip in July. She was a great help. Having given thought to where we could store our possessions while doing the build, we began the enormous task of cleaning up the inside of the cabin. We had, what I deemed, our Hazmat suits - white, zip-up, full coveralls with hoods, goggles and filter masks. I knew to be careful because we had animal droppings to remove. Although Ed was still not convinced that we could make the place liveable he worked along side.

To fully appreciate this transformation you really must have watched the video above.

The three of us managed what Ed now calls 'an amazing job' and I would have to agree. We pulled enough plywood off from the bedroom dividing walls to allow us to close up the side door and cover over the 'bathroom'.  We screened the window opening after removing all the broken glass. Pulled all the furniture, broken dishes, old carpet and tile out of the building. It did look like a completely different place.





All finished inside we boarded up the front window and secured the front door in the hopes that no further damage would occur over the next winter. Thankfully that was the case as we returned the summer of 2013 and actually slept comfortably, on an air mattress placed on a bunk, in what has now been dubbed 'The Shed' since it will be used for storage after the build is complete.

March 2013

A Little Background

A man out standing in his field

As we, not so patiently, wait for June to make our move to the property and start our build I thought a little background info and pictures would be a great beginning.

Ed and I have dreamt of moving North and living off the land for many years. At one time we even considered heading to Muskoka as a stop over to our final destination. Even going as far as to apply for work which thankfully did not pan out. You get what you need when you need it and that job was not in our best interests. We travelled around checking out various properties from Muskoka to Haliburton to Timmins but never quite found the right spot. Our best method for searching turned out to be the internet. I would google "unorganized township land for sale" and see what was out there. Some were far out of our price range. Others were in areas we would not even consider living. There was no quick way to find these listings so we just kept looking... and looking... and looking.

There was a nice 200+ acre place (much more than we needed) that I looked at many times but it was far too expensive at over $100k. Then we started looking through Dignam listings online. We'd see some interesting properties in areas where we had looked previously and began to think maybe we were not going to be able to find land suitable for us in an unorganized township. Then one day I saw a Dignam listing. It was more than our required 10 acres but the price was reasonable. It didn't list as an unorganized township but the topo map was familiar. This piece was 75 acres right beside that $100k property which was listed as being in an unorganized township. Since this was definitely worth exploring further a call was placed to Dignam. They answered, nope, not in an unorganized township. That was still not sitting well, so a call in to the District of Cochrane gave us the answer we were looking for - land west of the Frederick House river is in an unorganized township. The sellers did not know what they had, which was lucky for us as unorganized land is gobbled up quickly.

We set out on our 10 hour trek to see if in fact this was the property of our dreams. I would like to say that we knew right away this was it but the fact is a long drive with no real map of our destination (Ed left that at home) set me up as a huge negative Nellie by the time we arrived at the property. The 13km drive in off highway 11 with the road turning from paved to gravel and narrowing so much that I did not believe a snowplow could possibly drive this road meant when we got to the destination I did not even want to get out of the car. We could not plow ourselves out of this place and I did not see any reason to look over the property at all. Ed, ever the optimist, believed what he had been told - they plow the road. So off he went. He looked it over and came back trying to get me onboard. We looked over the area heading down to the Frederick House river at the end of the road. It was gorgeous!

Our view of the Frederick House River

We spent enough time looking around that someone came down the road. Turned out to be dinner guests of the only other person who lived this far up the road. We stopped them and asked do they plow this road in the winter? The answer was affirmative. THAT was the best news! My negativity delayed us just long enough to get the answer we needed to hear. We returned home, I in a much better frame of mind and purchased the land. We returned to the property two weeks later and camped for a couple of days. We have been up a few times over the 2 years since that purchase but not for any longer than 4 days. Now as we prepare to leave at the end of May it is with the dream of possibilities and a palpable excitement for the journey.

We hope that documenting our trials and tribulations will help others to live their dream.