Turning Two

July 1st marked the two year anniversary of when we moved onto the land on which we planted the small seed of Empty Mountain. So this post is a looking back at how far we’ve come from where we started.

Interestingly, and fortuitously, we came up with the name Empty Mountain well before knowing where we’d land. And where we landed was in a canyon headed by a mountain called Bald Hill. While one would have to be paying attention to such things, it doesn’t take an especially keen eye when passing through to take note of the fact that Bald Hill is uniquely and noticeably absent of trees. It stands out from its next of kin. It is, as the name reports, bald. So while the name Empty Mountain was chosen for other Buddhisty reasons and not in relation to any physical attributes of the land on which we reside, since at the time we had no idea of where we would be located, it was quite an auspicious sign to find land we could afford and that met some of our basic criteria in a place where there is literally an empty mountain standing sentinel to the arched entryway of our gravel road. And yes, as an extra awesome bonus of where we are, we have what remains of a cool old concrete train bridge, circa 1914, that we have the pleasure of passing through every time we - and others - come and go.

When we moved onto the land, there were no structures or services to greet us. So when I say “we bought land,” I really mean it. After signing the necessary papers to make the land purchase official, we drove directly to our new home in the woods and started living. We had the foresight to purchase a used Chevy conversion van back before we sold our house in Missoula, so we’d have something to live out of for a while. Without it, I’m not sure what the heck we would’ve done.

We had invested so much time and energy simply in the hunt and search for land that once we finally made the purchase and rolled up in our van to start our new life in the woods, we were faced quickly with the question: So, now what? While we knew intellectually what we were in for, and it was a conscious decision to purchase land with zero services on site - not even cell signal - it was, of course, a whole other thing to be confronted with the reality of how to live off-grid and without running water. We had made a huge life-change move and, once the papers were signed, we were tasked with the full-time occupation of figuring out how to live our new life.

While we lacked certain knowledge about how to live off-grid in the woods, education is always something we can acquire (thank you YouTube university!). In the absence of knowing what the heck we were doing on certain practical levels, I think what we had going for us was the willingness & drive to live a different way of life. Our desire to live differently; to live more simply; to live with less bills and un-tether from the machine of do-more-buy-more-work-yourself-to-death was strong. And not only did we want to live differently for ourselves, but we were also motivated and inspired to be a place of refuge, a place of practice community and support, for others on the path.

In the long process of looking for land, we would’ve been perfectly happy with a property that came equipped with electricity on site. And who would balk at having flowing water or an established well in place? We even saw a few parcels that came with houses on them (though in some cases I would use the word “house” rather loosely). In other words, we had no particular passion for living as rustically as we are. Though I am happy to report, now that we’re two years in, I’m super glad we landed where we did. There are a number of things I dearly appreciate in living as we do that I never would have anticipated so thoroughly enjoying. For example, who knew how satisfying it would be to collect and harvest rain water to use for all of our washing up needs?! Not me, that’s for sure. And no one could’ve convinced me ahead of time either. As is the case with so many things in life, one must directly experience certain things for them self, in order to understand.

Given that Mike has done most of the work of building our small cabin on his own - and especially given the fact that he was teaching himself how to mill a majority of the lumber we used from trees on site whilst building - we’ve come a long way in two years time. We’ve been in a steady state of building, adding improvements, and doing upgrades to our systems. And on the scale of rustic living, ranging from 1-10, I’d say we’ve moved from a tumultuous 7 to an even-keeled 4 or 5.

And not only have we spent these last two years figuring out a whole new way of living, but we’ve managed to host a few community gatherings and program events along the way too. From July 1 of 2022 to July 1 of 2024, we’ve organized and hosted 4 days of mindfulness (with our 5th one coming up on July 14), 1 camping retreat weekend, 1 community work day, and 1 potluck/campfire.

To wrap up, I want to elevate & highlight how much incredible support we’ve been generously given by our friends and family over the last two years. We are so very lucky and fortunate to have so many folks who’ve helped to support us, and continue to help support us. We are sincerely grateful for everyone who donated to our fundraising campaign last spring so we could purchase a portable saw mill; everyone who donated household goods and building materials; everyone who has come out to visit or attend a gathering we’ve hosted; everyone who has been following along with us online; and everyone who has sent their love, encouraging words, and offered us emotional support. And thank you, thank you to our dear friends who let us use their shower when our solar bag set up was too cold for comfortable use. Though now we have a super chic shower house, replete with hot water on-demand fueled by a propane tank - our most recent EM upgrade. Before moving off-grid into the woods, I took the presence of showers for granted. But, thankfully, not any more.

I’ve been keeping track. We’ve had over 35 people offer financial donations and 14 people donate a collection of materials & goods. We’ve also been gifted the most precious thing people have to give: their time, physical presence, and energy. It is an honor and a privilege that we do not take lightly to have had so many people entrust us with their hard-earned money and their kind-hearted generosity.

We would like to offer a special thank you to the following people who have given us support, in a variety of ways:

Robert & Kim Daniels
Chance & Brittanie Burrows
Charles & Laura Dunn
Rowan Conrad
Nikolay Amirov
Aaron Gingerelli
Bill Earhart
Jeremy Smith
Matt Myers
Hannah Carlson
Mike Cookson
Shirley Dore
Dennis Dunn
Kelly Borberg & Bruce Fields
Amy Friedman
Wendy Paulsen
Jenn Troutman
Susan Waters
Suzanne Hendrich
Brian Christianson

Slowly, slowly we are building up infrastructure here at Empty Mountain. After we get the interior of our cabin done, next up: small huts for folks to stay in; a multi-purpose community use building; and maybe even a writing hut for Nicole/music-making studio for Mike. We’re doing what we can, and practicing to enjoy ourselves along the way. And who knows where we’ll be in two more years. What I do know is this: we’ll get there one small step at a time.