Introducing the Cabin

Well it’s official.  Like my Father and his Father before him, I live in South Dakota.  However, instead of living in a city or a small town, I am living in the country.  My home is a two bedroom cabin that sits on a 160 acre parcel of land.  90 of these acres is agricultural land which yields corn and soybeans (this year is corn).  The other 70 acres is restored prairie land and a shelterbelt consisting of cottonwood, elm, hackberry, box elder, ash, and plum thickets.  The front of the cabin faces south and looks over a tall sea of grass.  I am 10 miles away from the nearest town and go there once a week to access the internet, buy milk and eggs, and to get good enough cell service to talk to Claire.  Speaking of which, I’m sure some of you are wondering why she is not here with me.  For those of you who don’t know, Claire and I are getting married this September and weddings take a lot of planning.  Claire has agreed to stay with her parents until February 14th and help her Mom get as much done for the big day as possible.  I simply could not wait.  Nine days ago, on January 23^rd, my Dad drove me out to the cabin and two days later said goodbye and good luck. 

The Cabin

160 acre quarter

   

These three weeks alone would be incredibly difficult if I didn’t have one of my family’s dogs, Misty!  Misty is most likely a black Labrador, Husky mix with endless energy and a free spirit.  The home I grew up in has a four foot chain link fence surrounding the backyard.  Unless Misty is attached to a chain, she can jump that fence without a running start.  From there, she leaps around the suburban neighborhoods of Minneapolis until she is ready to come home (usually 4-6 hours).  Because of this, there was no doubt in my parent’s minds that she would be living with Claire and me at the cabin.  Here she can run, jump, and hunt all day if she pleases and on nice days she’s doesn’t come inside from breakfast to dinner.  She is 11 years old and has more energy than I do!  It feels good to have a loyal friend during this time of solitude. 

Misty on a walk

The cabin is not much different from an average American home.  There is a kitchen with a refrigerator, stove, and oven, two bedrooms, book shelves, a sofa, and a one car garage.  However, there are a few aspects that are different. 

Water

First, there is no running water.  There is a well about 100 feet from the cabin but the water is not entirely safe to drink.  When the cabin was first built, a water sample was sent to a lab and they identified high amounts of sulfides.  From my understanding, this isn’t particularly bad for you but if you’re not use to it you may experience diarrhea until your body adjusts.  Unfortunately, the results of this test have been lost, so I’m going to send another sample in soon just to be safe.  Until then, I am drinking water from town that I store in five gallon jugs.  I do use well water to shower (more on that later), wash dishes, and water plants.  The kitchen sink always has one jug of well water and one jug of drinking water. 

Me filling up a jug from the well

This is my sink set up.  On the left is drinking water and on the right is well water

Heat

Winters here are not quite as harsh as Minnesota winters in terms of temperature and snow, however, the ongoing wind makes it seem worse.  The cabin has electrical heating but also has a wood burning stove.  To save money, I keep the heat off and the fire stoked!  I keep the cabin at around 70 degrees during the day and around 60 degrees during the night.  It’s more work to heat the place this way but I enjoy knowing that my heat is coming from the trees on the land and my hard work.  Most of the wood remaining in the wood shed is either cottonwood or ash.  I use the bark from the cottonwood as a fire starter and the ash as the primary fuel. 

Showering

In a corner of the garage there is a curtain, a drain, and a shower head that hooks up to a hose.  This is my shower.  Because the cold temperatures could freeze the water in the hose, I’m not able to use the shower head quite yet.  For now, a five gallon bucket and a plastic bowl do just fine.  When Claire gets here, we’ll heat up water on the stove to make it a little more enjoyable for her but I’ve always enjoyed the shock of cold water so I just use water directly from the well.  I shower about once a week. 

The shower

Toilet

As you can see in the picture below, the outhouse is a short walk from the front door.  Of course, this walk always seems longer at 3:00 a.m. when the wind is blowing 30 mph.  Luckily, it has the option of electrical heat which I keep on low during the winter.

From the front door to the outhouse

Pole Shed

 On property, there is a pole shed that is home to a tractor which helps us manage the restored prairie.  This will be the place where Claire and I spend much of our time building our tiny home (more on this when Claire moves out).  

Pole Shed