Empty Mountain

07/11/2026

New blog post:

As we move into our fifth year living off-grid and in the woods, I feel the quiet presence of the sangha of trees around us continue to sift and settle down deeper into my spirit, heart, breath, and bones. Two days ago after dinner, Mike and I took a walk up the canyon on our gravel road. The abse

07/10/2026

Butterfly on snowberry. A small and simple summer delight.

07/08/2026

We hope you can join us for our 4th annual camping retreat weekend August 14-16. We need a few more folks signed up to make it fly :)

For more info:

Since there is a fair amount of info to share about our 4th annual summer camping retreat here at Empty Mountain this coming August, I thought it might be a good idea to craft a blog post with all the details for those who might be interested in joining us. Here goes! August 14-16(Fri-Sun): Campin

07/06/2026

Morning chant:

Recorded on July 1 2026. In addition to highlighting on this channe...

07/06/2026

Mike's been milling up a bunch of wood so we can finish up the sauna building and also the guest hut we built last year. The boards are stacked with room for air to circulate around each one so they can dry a bit before we install them.

07/01/2026

Four years ago today, on July 1 2022, Mike and I moved into the woods and started Empty Mountain, which makes today our landiversary :) As a writer & poet, the best way I know to help celebrate is to have crafted this blog post:

July 1 of 2022 marks the official start of Empty Mountain and our new life in the woods, off-grid and without running water, which makes today our four year anniversary - or landiversary, if you don’t mind a portmanteau (yep, that’s a real word that no one uses and I just learned it; words that ...

06/29/2026

New video upload:

Recorded on June 26, 2026.

06/29/2026

After a few cool and rainy days here at Empty Mountain, there was chill enough to light a small fire in the wood stove this morning. During my session of sitting meditation it was heaven to my ears: a crackling fire & falling rain. Gratitude for water, warmth & shelter. Gratitude for the forest and the trees.

Since we recently upped our rain water storage capacity significantly, we're especially delighting in all of this wonderful rain. We now rely entirely on rain water to meet all of our needs, as we just started filtering the rain water we collect for cooking & drinking purposes. No longer are we hauling potable water from Missoula every week. As of this morning our new water cubes are for the first time all the way full - and overflowing! 550-gallons. We've gotten 1" of rain in the past 24-hours. The woods are drinking it in.

06/28/2026

Fresh blog post:

Here in the woods of Empty Mountain, we are living the slow(er) life. We are opting to live differently than the mainstream around us. We are choosing to live simply, more connected to our living systems and the land. To nature and the seasons. Rather than working a job to earn money to live, we are

06/25/2026

Mike's been milling up lumber to use for finishing up the sauna building and guest hut. Slow & steady, one board and one breath at a time.

And he had a great hand last week when our friend Jeremy came to visit to help him drag some logs from the woods to the mill. Thank you Jeremy!