July on the Mountain
Marking another year
Two years ago this property was bare. Nothing but the remnants of an old outhouse at the very top. The area that I call my yard was a grassy field, full of shrubs. The was no outhouse, no water to speak of, no sea cans. We slept in a 10-foot utility trailer as we began to build.
Realizing that it was two years ago is pretty wild. It feels like it was both forever ago and no time at all. It has been one of the biggest challenges of my life. Looking around and seeing what we’ve made is a bit overwhelming. Though there is lots to still do I have a real feeling of accomplishment for how far we’ve come.
The first thing that we built was the shed. Though pre-fabricated it was actually pretty difficult and required some drilling. It was already really hot out, and it turned out to be quite the task. When it was done we were able to hide from the elements. We didn’t level the ground so the whole thing sits on a slope to this day.
Spending all of my time on uneven ground was a shock to my body. It wasn’t obvious until I’d go to town. The flat ground felt foreign, my knees and hips re-adjusting with every step as I walked into a store. It felt like all of my little stabilizer muscles were getting stronger, which though painful - felt good.
The road to the property was rough and tree’d in. To have shipping containers delivered we needed to clear the road. Still, with so many twists and turns, shorter 20-foot containers were the only option. We also had to fix some sharp dips and washouts, which we did by hand. What we thought would take a couple of days actually took a week of chainsawing and pick-axing.
After that came the chicken coop and outhouse. Clearing brush was a priority and making space to do things without fear of ticks. To this day, tiny stumps from bushes that I cut down find a way to trip me up. That first year was like walking like Jack Sparrow, constantly being tripped by hard-to-see sticks and stumbling around.
One morning in September I woke up in the utility trailer - COLD. I stepped outside to discover frost on the ground. The reality that winter would be coming fast hit me like a ton of bricks. It was time to start framing in the shipping container and insulating. Getting the wood stove in and ready for use.
The front door is the last thing made from store-bought lumber. A few weeks after it was made we got the mill and haven’t bought a single board since. The mill was shipped to Curt’s parent's house, where we took a couple of days to assemble it before pulling it up the mountain. I’d say that it’s paid for itself already - between the actual cost of lumber and the cost of fuel to get it here.
This July feels markedly different than the first.
Things aren’t such a struggle and are now much more FUN. We’ve built the things that make it livable - shower, outhouse, comfortable space to hang out. We’ll keep building and adding to the property but it will never be ‘normal’. There will likely always be an outhouse - though I may build a flushing-type toilet for guests.
The bigger change has been adjusting to this lifestyle. The novelty of getting out of bed in freezing temperatures has worn off, however it doesn’t feel like a chore either. Feeling the cold bite my toes and knowing that the pain they’re feeling means they’re alive. Making pour-over coffee and enjoying the time spent, not missing the automated coffee pot of days-gone-past. Realizing how little we actually need.
This July was beautiful. We spent a day at a nearby pond where I watched the wildlife. There aren’t many bodies of water here so it felt like a little oasis. I grew up in a marshland in Ontario, and this place felt very familiar. Red-winged blackbirds singing their tell-tale song, and geese making all kinds of noise among the bulrushes on the left.
An explosion of bunnies! All shapes, colours and sizes. Now I can begin to selectively breed traits that I like and make my own mega-bunny. Rabbits are fun that way. Things happen fast, and keeping track of the lineages requires a spreadsheet. Also, one of the sows also had two piglets! It’s feeling more and more like a little farm.
I built another rabbit tractor, a solar dehydrator/oven, a few small cages, and with some spruce offcuts - a bread box! I’d been wanting one for a while - now I have somewhere to keep my homemade bread. The rabbit tractors are stuffed full of little bunnies and the solar dehydrator/oven can fry an egg! It’s good to be finding success in projects after such a long winter.
We devised a plan for how to develop the spring and get water moving uphill to our house using solar power. Going into August, the parts are on the way and I can hardly wait to share if it’ll work!
A gentle reminder that ‘Amy Jay’ is the only Amy Jay. Anyone by any other name is not me - and is using my writings to impersonate me. To my friends, don’t worry about it. To anyone that’s been sent this way by the fraud, feel free to leave a comment below, I’m friendly :)
Amy…love reading your stories, I am so impressed what you both have accomplished. I don’t think we could do what you both have been doing. You must write a book or some body can produce a movie a documentary. Very interesting and love seeing the pictures. It sounds like you both are getting quite comfortable and will have to get ready for winter. Please continue writing your stories .
Love your writings.