Michigan Forest Life - October 25, 2025

Greetings friends,

People have been curious about how pure my electricity-free lifestyle in the forest is. For instance, everyone knows that I write these Michigan Forest Life posts using a cellphone. Doesn’t that work because of electricity?

The easiest way to explain this is that ‘electricity-free’ is a hobby lifestyle for me, not a conviction. It is something that makes me feel closer to nature. It did not take long for me to realize that being connected to an electricity infrastructure in the forest was not necessary for the things of everyday life. I live comfortably without it.

Many people have stood outside of the Treehouse or Bunkee, scratching their heads and concocting ideas to add a solar electricity system. It could be done easily. But it is not something I want or need. It is fun to explore the possibilities of life without electricity, to make the tiny adaptations to life that worked 150 years ago and discover that they still work today; things like going to sleep when the sun goes down and waking when the sun comes up, and other little habits to maximize the use of natural light. I chose (antique) kerosene lamps as my primary illumination after dark (Photo 1).  I rarely use them in the summer when daylight lasts longer than I can stay awake.

But people are right to wonder. I do keep a flashlight in the Treehouse to use if I need to

find something in the dark, or if I decide to step outside during hours of darkness. Electricity. I must say that my Treehouse flashlight is used for less than a minute each week, often not used at all. I keep an LED lantern above the sink in the Treehouse. Electricity. It is a standby for short-term use, most often turned on for just long enough to find the box of wooden matches to light a kerosene lamp, or to light a fire in the woodstove. The lantern is powered by eight D-size batteries. I exchange the batteries twice each year. I really try to conserve those batteries.

The Bunkee has a flashlight and several LED lanterns to augment the kerosene lamps. Some Bunkee guests are not familiar with antique lamps and do not feel comfortable using them. For them it is a fire safety issue. In the Bunkee loft, where I do not want the hazard of a moving or refueling a kerosene lamp, the only non-natural light source is an LED lantern.

But there are two things in the Treehouse that require something different. The first is my cell phone. For that I keep a small standby powerpack in the Treehouse. The second is a CPAP machine needed to counteract sleep apnea. I use a special battery for this (Photo 2). Generally, with small changes in the configuration of the machine, the CPAP battery charge lasts for two 8-10 hour sleeps. I am fortunate that my farmer neighbors permit me to recharge the CPAP battery and the phone’s standby powerpack in the barn when I need to. I have worked it into my routine. Every two days I walk or drive to the farm. It is a bit less than 1.5 miles from the Treehouse. I plug in the chargers and return four hours later with powerpacks that are ready.

It is interesting to me. I am caught between the past and the present.  150 years ago,

when electricity-free life was the only way, sleep apnea was not a condition that was diagnosed. It was simply part of life, and people lived with it as a normal progression of life. Some people stopped breathing when they slept, but they always started breathing again, often with a tremendous startup snore. No one knew that frequent pauses in breathing during sleep affected many other things related to human health. So, I want the benefits of modern CPAP technology, but I also want to keep my electricity-free lifestyle to the extent possible. I realize that I overcome this contradiction only because of the good graces of my farming neighbors. Thank you.

Permit me bring you another teaser from FOREST LEGEND: THE TALE OF OL’ SPLIT TOE, Preview Snippet (5 of 27). Read and Enjoy! (Photo 3) 

I wish you the technology of the future without forgetting the lifestyle of the past.

Until next time,

Dan

Excerpt from Chapter 6:

 AD 1409 - Smoke poured into the sky, filling his lungs. Waawaashkeshi could barely breathe. Flames danced in front of him and behind him, threatening to trap him. The fire’s heat intensified with each passing moment.

Something else was happening too. Besides the dark haze from the smoky air, daylight disappeared as a circular shadow seemed to take away the sun. On another day, Waawaashkeshi would have stopped for a few seconds to look through an opening in the canopy to watch the shadow move, but he did not have time.

He ran with all his heart until he suddenly drew up at the east bank of the small river—the crossing, the time portal.

The sky, already obscured by smoke, suddenly plunged into an eerie darkness. The eclipse had arrived. Waawaashkeshi stepped into the shallow water and walked quickly toward the opposite bank. As he reached the center of the stream, the sky began to lighten again, and the eclipse shadow passed. The sky was clear and blue with a strong, brisk wind blowing from the north. Waawaashkeshi caught his breath. Pure oxygen. He breathed deeply. Lifesaving cool air whipped across his back. He felt his own temperature descend, and the drum of his beating heart begin to quiet.

Waawaashkeshi walked up the rise where he expected the small river’s bank to be. Now he found only a short step up from a shallow gravel trench. The tall, dark forest of white pines that he knew to cover the landscape was missing. There was no evidence anywhere of the raging fire he had escaped. No flames. No charred embers. No lingering smell of smoldering destruction. Behind him, where the river once flowed, there was only the small, clear, cold trickle of a fledgling creek coming off a massive glacier.

What was this place?

Copyright @ 2025 by Daniel S. Ellens

Praise for FOREST LEGEND:

“Through the eyes of a mythical, time-traveling whitetail buck, this rich tale explores humanity’s relationship with nature. A really good read.”

- E. L. Stanesa, avid fly fisherman and conservationist.

Presale Release date: November 25, 2025

Publication Date: March 31, 2026