Northerly Nomad

  Death of my former self- the artist. It's a strange feeling- to mourn the loss of your own past-self, your former mode of existence. In my youth I was artistic in ways I just can't be anymore. I used to draw and sketch and paint. I was good at it. It was my preferred mode of expression. Why then, when I had to make a quick decision on what to ship to myself, did I choose to send the journals and the timeline day planner books- but not a single one of my sketchbooks? Not my art portfolio? None of my visual creations? It's been bothering me.. In the moment I had decided that the words on paper meant more to my memory than the images I had created. Now that nearly 2 years has passed, there's a part of me that regrets that decision. A part of me that can't help but mourn that loss. Now as I leaf through the pages of my day planners with the point form notes on various happenings I realize that the images that accompanied them may have been more important than I thoug...

  Living a nomadic lifestyle isn't really conducive to owning a lot of things. For most of my life, the majority of my possessions have been somewhere packed away while I wander around. Be it a storage locker, my mother's closet, a friend's basement or my dad's garage- it was kind of a wonder why I even bothered keeping a lot of it in the first place. When my mother passed I moved out west from Ontario, and most of what I owned was stored in my dad's garage for the first few years. Mostly memorabilia. He loaded up his truck and made the epic journey to come and visit- and bring said things and stuff. I was pretty excited to finally have everything I owned in the place that I was living. Even though that place was never guaranteed, it was the closest thing I'd ever had to calling a home. It was a tiny farm shack rental- that was often under threat of being repossessed or sold. Every 6 months or so I was looking for a new place. Or a patch of land to park a trail...

I don't think I chose a nomadic lifestyle as much as it chose me. I was used to moving around a lot from an early age. My mother struggled with her Mental Health and addiction, which in one way or another led to frequent change. I went to more schools than there were years to attend them. It was rare we ever had the chance to unpack. Unfamiliar places, unfinished spaces or in the back of the station wagon- there were a lot of unconventional living situations. I didn't know any different at the time. By the time I was in high school, my mother and I could no longer coexist. But I stayed with her on paper to not get swept up in the system. I would camp somewhere close by so I could keep an eye on her. In a park, by the beach, in the shadows, out of reach. I'd sneak into friend's sheds or basements in the winter months on rotation. Eventually I spent my summers away and came back to the city for winter. Hibernate and work and save for the next season outside. I couldn...

  I'm a big fan of a good pack. This was my second time purchasing a good name brand pack, so I knew more what I was looking for this time around. It has everything I insist on having in a backpack.. bottle pockets, a built in rain tarp, and a mesh open air backboard. This backpack set the standard for me, and influenced a later purchase of a bigger one. It may even be... my favourite! That being said, this pack is considered 'small'. It's 35 liters fully extended, and 30 liters compressed. It has a compression zipper built in around the bottom half that will pull the bag closer to your body when it isn't completely full, making lighter loads more comfortable to carry without the pack sagging down. It also has a zipper access to the bottom of the main pocket, a zip-up divider for the main compartment- and a whole separate front compartment with little mesh elasticized pockets to organize tools, gadgets and other small necessities. There is a small zip-up pocket on ...

  I guess it's been on my mind a lot lately. At least for the last decade or so.. the 'blackout' was already ten years ago. Summer of 2003 most of the northeast and some of the midwest experienced a widespread power outage. Some places were without power into the evening, other places such as the old forgotten neighbourhood I lived in went three or more days in darkness before the power was restored. My recurring dreams tell tales of a powerless society, I often catch short glimpses into a world where we no longer have access to this much sought after and often taken for granted utility. I always wonder where I'm going to be when it happens, who I'll be with, what I'd have access to in that moment.. every time the power goes out for no weather related reasons I wonder is this it? ...now what? Lets go back to 2003 for a minute. I remember it like it was yesterday, I was 18.. it was my first year on the job in the company i'm [back] at now. I worked in the ph...

  I have always naturally been interested in living a minimal lifestyle. Now that I'm housed it has become more of a challenge, one that I feel is time to get serious about right away. These things especially come to mind this time of year, when people feel the need to go out and spend money on things to give one another that we may or may not even need. Personally I have never really been huge on the idea, I'd rather spend time than money on the people that I love. The smiles and memories long outlast plastic gadgets and trendy do-dads and toys. You would think that a person who has spent a considerable amount of time living out of a rucksack may not own a lot of things, but in my case it seems this rolling stone did pick up an abundance of moss along the way. I had become so resourceful in the craft of living sans address that I had several different places to store my things and lost track of what I had already owned. Finally in the last move, all ...

  I promised myself I'd write more about my past, I don't see it at all as something to be ashamed of, but something to celebrate in many ways. First off, I survived.. and some would say that some of those years were the best years of my life. Living outside was once my preferred lifestyle. At first I had little choice in the matter, but once I got used to it, it wasn't easy to go back to being housed. I am still reminded in my everyday life what it was like to be on the outside, and I cherish those moments.. for those are the moments that people seek to achieve and have a hard time doing so, living 'in the now'.. being 'present'. It's one of those things that people in this rush and go society barely know, but out there.. every hour of every day is made up of moments. It's hard not to be present when every thing you do and every choice you make has an impact on the reality of your survival. I still have my cart, the one I used to load up from my st...

  Working seasonally in a customer service environment, I tend to meet a lot of interesting people. Some of them love to tell their story. So today I'm doing my inventory thing in the razor aisle, and this woman comes up to me to ask me where to find something. After I tell her where to go, she picks up a shaver and starts to tell me a story about her young son. She explains how she's trying to get him to take better care of his personal hygiene, and so chooses to purchase him the most trendy smells and gels and products to use. But the one thing he doesn't like to do is shave his face. She tells me that she insisted he scrapes that scraggly little beard off of his face, and leans in to say to me jokingly, "wouldn't want him looking like one of those homeless bums on the street". Heh. Nope, wouldn't want that I said. I wasn't sure how to feel at first, but I'm guessing my tone suggested I may have been a little annoyed by her comment. The first r...

  Well it's been a long time since I've written about a product I enjoy, and I promised my readers on the homeless how-to many moons ago that I'd write more about my favourite gear... so here it is. I've been through a few packs, many pairs of footwear, tried a couple different shelters and stoves, but the one original piece of gear that I still have and use since the beginning of my backpacking years is my Therm-a-Rest Ridgerest sleep mat. I made the purchase in early 2008, and took it for a test drive on a somewhat mild night in mid-winter. The main purpose of such a product is to keep your body warmth from being stolen by the cold ground, and it does this superbly. When I bought the mat, it came in three different sizes. I believe I bought the medium one [3/4 length] as the small was a little too short, and the large was more mat than I needed. At first the roll was rather bulky, but after a few weeks of nightly use, I was able to roll it more tightly to fit better ...

  I was pacing back and forth out front of the laundromat today, the wind had picked up and the billowing dark clouds carried in sure signs of winter's approach. I could feel myself shiver and clench my teeth a little.. damn, I've gotten soft I thought. It's been a good few years since I was 'homeless' or spent any good amount of time outside on purpose. I felt weak in that moment thinking, I'm not sure I'd be able to handle it again. But then again.. back in those days the thought of being a domesticated creature racked me. I could have never seen myself pursuing a 'career' of any sort, or having the desire to settle, be contained by four walls, own anything or marry.. my how i've changed. or have I? Every once in a while i'm overtaken by anxiety.. i think to myself, what in the hell have I gotten myself into? I rent a basement apartment, I work full time, I have this stuff and did those things that I now have to pay for.. I'm locked i...

  I am.. finally free to drop everything.. my camera, my sweater, my shoes, my ego.. and sit seaside with the sun on my face breathe in.. the fresh ocean air fills me up and surrounds me as I exhale I feel myself expand into the space around me and up over rocks and down the cliff to the water I am no longer separated from the sea, the sky, the ground beneath me.. from you. I am once again free of all the worries of the city life, rushing to get to work on time, come home and pay the rent the lord of this land wants no money only presence. my eyes open when a sudden wave crashes a little closer than expected baptized by the sea and I do feel cleansed.. it's all too beautiful to describe with words or capture in photographs but still I try. love to the Maritimes..

  I used to hate on the idea of living in a basement.. just seems like a bad idea is all. Mostly paranoid about water really, but so far even my first leaky mishap was well worth the benefits that come with living underground. The first big rain we had leaked into our kitchen... totally my fault, I was gardening and forgot to replace the piping that carries the water away from the foundation.. woke up with a slick of water on the floor. After learning that lesson quickly, it's back to chillin'. After years of renting rooms and tenting seasonally, it's nice to have a space to call 'home'. Number one benefit of living sub-terra.. the temperature! When it's too cold, that's an easy fix. Space heaters and blankets work wonders. But when it's creeping up over a hundred degrees outside, it's easy to stay cool as a  cucumber  down here no AC required. I say as I sip on my cucumber apple lemonade, fresh from the juicer... Delicious and refreshing, perfect fo...

Five years ago todayish.. I stepped off a bus out in the canadian prairies and stuck out my thumb. I didn't have a plan, any idea where i'd end up, or any home to go back to. Just a tent, a rucksack and a little company. I walked away from a full time job, a nicely furnished apartment.. a sane, regular life that I had become bored of. I felt useless, stuck.. like I could do better for myself. so I cashed out my stocks, sold all my stuff and took off to find where I belong. And I took my time doing it. Time was all I had really, and enough loot to float by for a while. I didn't bother with a phone. Back then there wasn't plans like there are today, and a calling card was enough for when I came across a telephone. Random use of computers at libraries and internet cafes was my connection to the world. Each day was slow and steady. Every moment counted, everything was so brand new. I was wide open for whatever the wide open country would bring to me. Eventually, it brough...

The Primus ETApower camp stove is a highly efficient piece of equipment. I'd have to say, of all the gear purchases I've made over the years, this has got to be one of my favourites. This stove comes with a 2.1L pot, which is large to carry around for just one person, but makes a perfect pot and stove for two to four. the lid doubles as a fry pan! I used a dollar store plastic spatula from which I cut the handle, and it fit nicely inside the pot to store. In fact, the entire stove, pot, lid, windscreen and pot gripper all fit nicely inside the insulated zip-up case that it comes with.. very handy for taking the hot pot right off the stove to carry into the tent on a cool rainy day. My partner and I took this stove on a two month backpacking trip across Western Canada. We purchased two of the large fuel cans.. which was completely unneccessary! The fuel cans last forever. We used the stove on average 2 times a day, we both needed moring coffee and at ...

  I bought this MSR filter back in 2008, I've taken it on several multiple month long journeys- and many day hikes and treks in between, and it still does it's job well. It's simple, as long as you follow the instructions correctly. The filter itself is ceramic, it comes with a scouring pad to clean it, and a measuring device so that you can tell when the filter needs to be changed. Be sure to let the filter dry out between uses by leaving the lid off and hanging it in it's mesh bag for a while before you pack up. I like to strap it to the outside of one of our packs, careful to make sure it isn't swinging. The pump is hard plastic, with a rubber hose that hangs down into the water. The end is capped with a large particle filter piece to keep sand and grit out. A 1liter water bottle screws on to the bottom of the filter, but it's not a necessity to make the thing work. It's hard work pumpin' that water, but considering how fast you can sip some pure cl...

After months of calling a tent, random backyards and couches my home, I'm starting to get used to having a room of my own. Since high school I've spent short and long periods of my life 'houseless', so getting settled has taken some time. I can't believe it's been a month already, October has flown by. I'm finally starting to get myself organized.. I have the time and space now to be productive and work on many ongoing projects. Having internet access in my home is all too convenient, I've finally had the chance to work on my blogs, like my pride creation, The Homeless How-To. I'm renting the master bedroom upstairs in a friend's townhouse. The room has plenty of space to live comfortably, and a bed! It's been a couple years since I last slept in an actual bed, it's kinda nice. It's also nice to have all of my belongings out of storage and all in one place. Some of the clothes I have I hadn't seen in years. The simple things are ...

Back in '08, I may have made the best 350 dollar investment of my life. Knowing that my partner and I would be embarking on a multi-season backpacking adventure, we intended to be well geared not knowing exactly what to expect. When I saw the Eureka! Susten XPII there was no doubt it was exactly what we needed. The interior panels are mostly mesh, and the fly has full coverage. With this combination any level of ventilation or waterproofing can be achieved with a few minor adjustments. There's also pop up vents built into the fly that can be left open to prevent condensation, or closed right down flat to trap the warmth. The dual wall design helps greatly to keep condensation from collecting inside the tent. I have only been 'rained on' once, by fault of my own when I forgot to open the fly vents. The inner tent windows unzip from the top, which also gives another space for airflow. The day I bought the tent we insisted on taking it for a test run. It was a strangely ...