On Sunday, I posted a picture on Facebook of the apple canning I did this weekend. One reader thanked me for posting, because she was just telling someone, “A small home doesn’t mean you cannot can food or live a ‘normal’ life.” I like how she put normal in quotations. It’s true. Life in the tiny house is life, and from my perspective it feels pretty normal. Even though there are moments of frustration when I have to adjust my activities to this tiny space, exercising my creativity to find a solution brings unexpected rewards. Turning a bushel of local apples into twelve quarts of jarred applesauce last weekend challenged me. In summer, we do all of the...
Read MoreI’ve been asked this question more than once: What’s the hardest thing about living in the tiny house? The hardest thing about living in a tiny house is answering that question. It’s hard for many reasons, but for everything I come up with, I find the positive side. I’m grateful for the difficulties because they keep us growing as individuals and as a family. It’s still life, really, so it’s hard for me to separate out what is the tiny house and what would be life in any other house. Certain things get easier, certain things get harder, as with any change in lifestyle. One of the hardest things about our lifestyle is keeping the house tidy with kids...
Read MoreI am enjoying an online writing class with Tammy Strobel of RowdyKittens where I am reminded of how much courage it takes to click publish and share with the world. Thank you, Tammy and classmates! It’s been a year since I first clicked publish on TinyHouseFamily, and what a ride it has been. I remember posting about how I’d like to get someone to come over and take a video for me, so the camera wouldn’t be so shaky. I never thought it would be two cool guys straight off a plane from the Anderson show. Or that we’d fly to New York and share our tiny house on national television. All of this publicity has been exciting and fun, but when I read...
Read MoreI planted my garden from the far side toward the house without a plan. I figured the point was to get the seeds in the ground, so they’d grow. When Karl bakes bread without measuring anything, he calls himself a free-baker. I guess I’m a free-gardener. Now, it’s time to harvest the garlic, new potatoes and some of the onions. It looks tired on the far side of the garden, but in the earth is a bounty I’ve never harvested from my own garden. Last weekend, I dug up about five pounds of new potatoes to take to my grandma’s 84th birthday party, where I cooked the family meal for the first time. Today, I will dig up enough new potatoes to bake scalloped potatoes for...
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