This page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn on qualifying purchases. Please see our disclaimer for more information.
It’s hard to believe we’ve been living in our off-grid cabin for a year now!
It’s still unfinished and there is still much to do but we’ve made some good progress and (most days) really enjoy our new lifestyle.
Wood Stove Cooking
Something I’ve been working on over the winter is cooking on our wood stove. I’ve been very happy with the results of using the top of the stove and have made many wonderful things. I put a post together on this and you can read more here.
I wanted to try cooking bread inside the wood stove (in the firebox). My first attempt — not so good! Apparently my fire was a *little* too hot. This is the result of about 15 minutes in the oven. Ooops.
And here’s the inside. Goodness!
I’ve made several loaves since that first one with pretty good results. The key is to let the fire burn down and keep it low. This works quite well with our warmer March weather when we aren’t needing a fire all day. For cold winter days I’ll stick to cooking on top of the wood stove.
Projects
Since the first of the year, Joe’s been working on the downstairs bedrooms and some of the main living space. I’m so pleased to be able to show you the two bedrooms! Our little boys room is about 95% finished and the guest room is about 80%. I’m very happy with how they’ve turned out.
The picture above shows the bedrooms. The room on the left is our little guys room and the one on the right the guest room. C’s bedroom door was given to us by a neighbor (and cut to fit with the help of a different neighbor) and the guest room door was one we picked up at a ReStore in a nearby town for $11. We stained them to (somewhat) match.
I’m super excited about the walls also. Joe did the sheet rock and texturing and I love how it turned out.
The guest room is about 9 x 12. To save space we used sliding barn style doors. The door on the right is the one saw from the previous picture. The one on the left goes to the utility room (where our solar set up is). Both will be white from inside the room at some point in the near future. Our daughter came to visit over her spring break from college so we put construction of this room on hold and need to get back to it.
The sliders are 2 separate slider (ordered on eBay for $48 each) that Joe fixed to meet up in the middle. We have handles and latches to add to the doors.
Here’s the rest of the room. Not quite ready for another guest, since it’s being used to store materials for our next projects, but hopefully will be soon. The windows in this room catch the evening sun and have beautiful views of the mountains to our north and west.
And here’s our little guys room. It’s the same size as the guest room but includes a closet. We put a regular swing door on here due to poor planning on our part. Originally we wanted a sliding door but put plugs in the wrong place. The swinging door is great so I’m okay with our mistake.
This room gets a different mountain view. At one point we considered moving C’s room up to the loft area but he didn’t want to give up his mountain view. I can’t say I blame him! We positioned all of the main rooms to catch the same mountain (and the southern exposure).
I love this closet! Joe was working for someone last summer who offered him scrap wood for burning. Some of the scrap was old wooden siding. Joe used the siding to construct C’s closet. We added an organizer on the inside and will likely do a curtain across the front.
See that little white light on the dresser? This is our favorite solar light! It puts out a very nice, bright light and lasts for several hours. It’s the perfect desk lamp size and even has a USB port if you need to charge it in low solar conditions. Buy the light on Amazon.
This is another in-progress project. The loft (office, school room, guest room) is getting a bookshelf wall. It will be stained and this side (which faces the main living space) will be sheet rocked, textured and painted to match the living space walls.
With our wild winter weather coming to an end it’s like our indoor projects will wrap up and we’ll start on our outdoor stuff. On the agenda in the next few days is reworking our shed to be a goat birthing barn. We’re expecting baby goats around the 20th of April. 🙂
What’s been happening around your place?
Create your own artisan sourdough breads, cakes, and muffins, in this 154-page, 25-lesson sourdough eCookbook, adventure guide and learning community all in one from my affiliate partner, Traditional Cooking School — Sourdough A to Z.
Great wholesome meals don’t have to take all day or cost a lot of money. In my eBook Design a Dish I share my favorite methods for putting meals together fast and on budget.
Millie Copper (Homespun Oasis) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking amazon.com.
