Dynamic-ness
I’m tempted to start off this post by saying that living off-grid in the woods is a dynamic situation, in that it’s amazing how quickly things can shift & change, but then, that sorta implies that other lifestyles are not dynamic, which of course is nonsense. So perhaps it’s more accurate to say that living off-grid in the woods is a different kind of dynamic, the likes of which are new to me.
When living in town, while I would certainly spend time outdoors, I spent way more time indoors, which is kind of what in-town living centers on. Living as woodsy, simply, and remotely as we do, I now spend a lot of time outside, which both Mike & I are really enjoying. It makes for a very different style of life. Here in the springtime of western Montana, we can hit a 50-degree difference in temperature within a very short period of time. Last Saturday, it was around 90-degrees out. By Sunday night, we lit a fire in the woodstove to take the chill off.
With our closer relationship to the outdoors, and the absence of climate control beyond striking up the woodstove or opening the windows to get a cross breeze, we are affected more acutely by swings in temperature and the weather just in general. For me, while it’s been an adjustment for sure, I’ve been appreciating feeling more connected to the presence of nature in this way. In town, it was easy to bypass such things as quality time outside. Easy to spend a day going from inside one place to inside another place. Easy to go days never feeling an unpaved surface under my feet. Easy to not be aware of what phase the moon is in, or how the light changes on the mountains as the sun goes down.
I’m also a big believer & practitioner in what I call comfort-zone expansion work. I place value in not making myself too comfortable. I have the potential to be someone who could easily over manicure my space & surroundings to fit my very specific preferences. So I regard this new level of dynamic-ness to fit in well with my own personal growth-work.
An additional element that lends to our dynamic-ness (yes, I’ve made up this word and now I’m running with it), is that since we are still in the active process of setting up our systems of operation, we have a lot of temporary set ups we’re working with, which are somewhat labor-intensive. While we are continually in the slow progress of upgrading (see below about our most recent ones), there are a number of things we will look to improve on as time goes on, which will lighten our labor load.
For example, since the interior of our cabin still needs walls and floors, our kitchen set up is super basic. We’re using a plastic folding table and a 2-burner propane campstove. It works fine and all, but once the interior is finished, we’ll be able to make shelves and a stable counter top area for cooking and prep, which will be nice. We’ll also install a pump sink, which will drain outside in some fashion. Right now we do our dishes outside, using a wash basin and our bucket pump sink. I really enjoy doing our dishes outside when it’s not cold or raining, but when it is cold or raining, an indoor sink would sure be sweet!
Our most recent improvements/additions:
A new window! Mike installed a new window in our bed loft on Saturday. Prior to the window being installed, we were just surrounded by OSB and insulation batts in our loft (cuz no walls yet). Translation: it was pretty dark up there. Also, when we hit warmer temps outside, the loft was getting pretty roasted. Our plan was always to install a window, we just didn’t get there last build season. Now, not only do we have a wicked great view from our bed, but we can vent out the heat of summer and get a nice cross breeze by opening the windows on the main level of the cabin. AND we have natural light to brighten things up! Triple win!
A new stair system! On Sunday, Mike built a new stair case/ladder for us to get to our bed loft up top. The new build isn’t quite stairs OR a ladder, it’s sort of a hybrid. Maybe a stadder? Or a laddair? I’ll keep brainstorming. We had been using a standard A-frame house ladder. It worked well as an easy, short-term solution, but gosh is it awesome to have a well-designed custom-built stair system to improve our access to the loft. Not only are do the wooden stairs improve our safety, as our previous ladder was a bit on the short side, and a little sketchy in terms of our footing for getting on & off it, but they way improve the aesthetics of the cabin. And as someone who likes to make things look nice, this went a long way to making the cabin feel more homey. Mike even milled the lumber from a fell tree on site in which to craft it. I mean, need I say more?!
And on Tuesday, Mike, with the help of his dad, roofed our new outhouse.
Also this: Mike’s dad is visiting from North Dakota this week. He trailered with him a used ATV, a wooden bench swing, and an assortment of usable goods for us as gifts! So now we’ve got a lovely sitting place for folks to enjoy when they come to visit and an ATV to cart our sawmill around. We are truly fortunate to have such amazing and wonderfully supportive parents. All of our parents have been incredibly generous with us in our new land-ventures. We are so very grateful.
