The kennel is off the grid, no power, no water, no well. I make it work by collecting rain water and heating with wood during the cold months. A small solar panel charges a deep cycle battery which can power a laptop, charge our phone, and play the radio. Life is simple but lots of work.

I’ve added a generator for dog house building projects and charging items too big for my solar powered system.

Harvesting, hauling, splitting, and stacking fire wood is a year round job. You have to think two years ahead to make sure your wood is dry and seasoned so you can never cut too much but can cut too little! I found that out the hard way my first year living off the grid.

Off the Grid Articles

Part 1 – Firewood

How to Remove Stumps with Fire

Off the Grid Videos

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I swear I spend more time grooming trails than I do running dogs!
Our two – 275 gallon rain barrels ready to install one on the house gutter and one on the shed gutter
Deer ticks and wood ticks are everywhere up here. More than half of our dogs have had lymes disease it’s not fun to deal with.
A Wolf Spider in the outhouse
Our Can-Am grooming machine aka commercial vehicle
Harvesting firewood
Painted Turtle
Fresh wolf tracks in the mud. A large animal with a walking stride longer than three feet.
We live on a logging road in the St. Louis Co. Forest Management area. This is a timber sale headed to the Sappi paper mill in Cloquet.
Hand splitting firewood is a spring, summer, and fall project.
Snowmobile repairs in the dark. The means for knowledgeable and timely repairs is a must.
Rachel chopping a 50# frozen block of meat for the dogs.
Toivo and a Moose Antler
Chipmunk below the bird feeder.
Woodcock Eggs
Toivo brings home lots of carcasses and animal parts that he finds in the woods. This nice whitetail rack is one of his finds.
We have a variety of forest birds that come to visit our feeder.
New a-frames for dog houses
A young red squirrel in the middle of the kennel, the dogs really love that!
Moose Poop
Filling up the wood shed with a mix of pople, maple, birch, and ash
Heating with wood in the winter keeps the cabin nice and warm! It feels good after being outside most of the day to come in an thaw out.
Quartering logs for a new puppy kennel
Chickadees helping with the dishes. These little guys really love meat leftovers!
Found this little guy while out for a little hike in the woods..
Seems fitting 🙂
Having some fun in the driveway!
Custom made door on the new puppy kennel
Tree frog