2015 Top Ten Float Cabin Living Posts

Come along on a tour 

of the best float cabin living posts from 2015.  

It's been a very good year.

Coastal BC Plants: Black Huckleberry

Black Huckleberry - I participate in a meme called ABC Wednesdays. Since 2014, I've been sharing pictures and information about the plants and animals of Coastal British Columbia. The most popular post was the Black Huckleberry that grows in our high country. The blueberry like fruits are good fresh, canned, in jams, or pies. Yum!

Goat Island on the left near the Goat River.

Circumnavigating Goat Island - Our float cabin is on Powell Lake and Goat Island is our front porch view. It's a large island with a mountainous interior and lots of logging roads to explore. When ice age glaciers came through, Goat Island's peaks were above the grinding mass. And yes, there are wild mountain goats on the granite cliffs.

Our float cabin home at Hole in the Wall.

Small Cabin Living - Our float home is 675 square feet on a 40x40 cedar log foundation. We bought it in 2001 from the builder, John. He's now our good friend and mentor for off-the-grid living. In this category my most popular post is always Float Cabins for Sale where I share properties that are for sale, rent, or lease on Powell Lake.

Rain bubbles in our natural swimming pool.

Mother Nature Blowing Bubbles and Windstorm Waterspouts tied in the weather category. Growing up in Los Angeles, I didn't experience  many weather phenomena. Now we have a weather station of our own to measure temperature, wind, rain, sunlight, and lake levels. Logs let us follow year-to-year changes.

My upper garden created from compost.

From Compost to Garden - I've gardened at the cabin since 2002. My float garden has raised beds on a cedar log raft. I garden in pots on the deck, especially for potatoes. My cliffside garden is a plot I've created using compost from my kitchen and garden clippings and its watered with a rain barrel collection system.

Garden Fresh Salsa.

Cabin Cooking: Garden Fresh Salsa - I like to share recipes from the cabin, especially ones that include garden produce, and I've learned lots about canning and preserving. We remodeled our kitchen and upgraded the propane stove and refrigerator in 2012, but I still enjoy simple cooking on my woodstove during winter months.

Wayne cleaning the outside chimney pipe.

Removing Creosote from a Woodstove Chimney - A woodstove lets us live in our cabin year-round, and a rotating chimney cap keeps the smoke out. Wood floats in for us to cut and store. Our Kozi stove has a glass window. There's nothing better than watching the flames, and soaking up the warmth.

Cabin battery bank in its storage box.

Voltage, Amps, and Watts - We live off the grid, but still need power. Solar, wind, and even our woodstove give us electricity. A generator helps out during winter. Propane runs our lights, stove, and refrigerator. Our off-the-grid lifestyle requires very little power. Battery booster packs and DC lights help on winter nights.

Cabin remains in the Olsen Valley.

More Treasure Hunting in the Bush - We got a barge to carry our two quads around Powell Lake so we can explore the many logging roads and trails. There are so many things and treasures to discover. Wayne wrote a book that came out this year about some of our adventures Powell Lake quad entitled Beyond the Main.

Reading in fundamental.

"Gumboot Girls" by Jane Wilde - Living off the grid gives us plenty of time for reading and writing. I like books about our region and people who live off the grid like we do.

I'll close with a shameless plug for Wayne's Coastal BC Stories series. He's written twelve books in the series about our Powell River region and Powell Lake home. Get Up the Lake for free for you Kindle or e-book.

Thanks for taking the 2015 tour. Stop back by in 2016 for more posts about our float cabin home and off the grid living. - Margy