Finding Community in the Age of Uncertainty & Enshittification
Originally presented by Steve Hardy on January 18, 2025 at the Virtual Tiny Home Show. This presentation was in part inspired by The Herd of Cats 10 years earlier.
The Stack: Looking at Tiny Home Communities as Whole Systems
In computing, a tech stack is a collection of independent components that work together to support the execution of software. For example, to develop a web application, the architect defines the stack as the target operating system, web server, database, programming language, and so on. In permaculture, the practice of stacking functions ensures that every element […]
Interview: The Future of Tiny House Community Living
Join Natalie Brake of Tiny House Listings Canada for a “deep dive” conversation with Big Calm cofounder Steve Hardy. Wide-ranging topics include nature, permaculture, edge space, zones, supply chains, prefab tiny houses, pocket neighbourhoods, Dunbars numbers, resilience, birding, community, and more!
The Essential Combination of Set and Setting (How to Preserve the Resale Value of your Tiny House on Wheels)
Tiny Houses on Wheels (THoWs) are odd creatures. They seldom move, yet are lumped into the recreational vehicle (RV) category. They are, increasingly, all-season residences yet they must connect to permanent houses or to basic campground pedestals for services. And they are often someone’s highly curated, minimalist nest yet they aren’t considered fixed property in […]
Project Update (Year-end 2022)
2022 ended much as it began – with a big dump of snow and a deep freeze. Tough reminders that homesteading and tiny house winterization aren’t easy. But in between the extremes this year, we enjoyed a quiet, steadily productive year at Big Calm. We ticked through a lot of core to-do’s – including: Selective […]
Project Update (Year-end 2021)
2021 wasn’t an easy year in which to build a project like Big Calm. Slow bureaucrats, busy contractors, wildfire evacuation (just as crews mobilized), supply chain hold-ups (from septic field sand and insulation to doors and appliances), and, oh yeah, that persistent pandemic thing. Despite all that, we’ve made good progress on the project. Here […]
The Pocket Getaway at Big Calm
We’re thrilled to welcome the first tiny house to Big Calm! Last month, a 25-foot Jaunt tiny house on wheels (THoW), a first-of-its-kind model by pro builder ZeroSquared of Calgary. And it sure does look pretty in its perch between the maple and cedars, opposite the garden! Move-in called for some muscle and finesse. Access […]
The Bigger Picture on Tiny Homesteads
When we first contemplated building a tiny home community in the Slocan Valley, we thought a lot about how it would impact, and ideally, benefit both the land and the larger community.
Big Calm in the Valley Voice
One of the things that drew us to the Slocan Valley was the local spirit and “real world” news conveyed every two weeks in the Valley Voice newspaper. It was a welcome reprieve from the 24/7 US political coverage and the social media doom-scrolling predominant in the rest of our media exposure. Each issue, every […]
Do What You Can
We presented to hundreds at the Global Tiny House Conference about “Macro Forces, Market Trends, and #WorkFromHomestead”.
