This post may contain affiliate links, which means that we make a small commission when you place orders using our links.
Two months ago, I left Brooklyn to live in a tiny cabin in Upstate New York. My desire to spend more time in nature brought me to a magical property with deer, wild berries, mushrooms and hummingbirds.
I left the city to create a minimal sanctuary in nature, start a garden, connect with the stars, and create the space to tap into my inner guidance. My job is to share about wellness and mindful living, and I knew that to enter the next phase of my expansion, I was meant to take the conversation beyond the food and movement, and into the realm of home and living in connection with nature’s cycles.
When it came to choosing the property and buying a house, I had no idea where to even begin as I’ve never owned a house or land, but I’ve been taking it step-by-step step and following my intuitive hits. I shared more about how our adventure went from an idea reality in this podcast episode.
This has been a huge shift, and sometimes I wonder if I’ve made the right decision. It’s been an enormous learning process. When I get honest with myself, I know that the joy and curiosity that it has brought into my life far outweigh any challenges we’ve experienced.
In this post, I’m sharing 11 lessons I’ve learned in the two months since we moved from moving New York City to a tiny cabin in Upstate New York. 
1. A new level of responsibility
When something happens with the house or the property, there’s no landlord to call. We’ve had to hire a pest control service when ants were dropping on our pillows from the ceiling in the middle of the night, figure out how to cut down dead trees around the house, and find the right person to cut down weeds on the property. We’re learning #adulting in a brand new way. It’s also making me rethink the golden standard of real estate being thought of as a good investment – when you own a house, there are always costs that you can’t predict. No matter what, our mortgage here is still over two times lower than what our rent in Brooklyn used to be.
2. Taking care of your land is a big job
In the first few weeks, the list of things to clean, organize and set up seemed endless. I was concerned about being a landowner becoming my full-time job and not having enough time to fulfill the projects I’ve taken on as a social media consultant and founder of a media company.
I’m happy to report that after about a month of unpacking, setting up the garden, and optimizing our space, I have plenty of time to spend my time how I want to. In fact, sometimes I find it hard to stop burning ceremonial fire or talking walks around the property – it’s so calming!
3. You’ll see animals you’ve like you’ve never seen them
I love animals, but I had no idea to what extent. Watching families of deer on top of our property has become a sunset ritual, and learning about critters and birds around me is something that fascinates me more every day. As I’m writing this, there’s a hummingbird hovering outside my window, closer to me than it ever has been. I will be Googling “hummingbird spirit animal” as soon as I’m done writing this!
4. A good security system will give you peace of mind
We’ve recently installed the Guardline Outdoor Motion Sensor around our property to alert us about visitors – both human and animals. The sensors (we have four across our 12 acres, but you can have unlimited) detect movement and alert you through pre-selected sounds in the receiver. So far, I’ve been loving it – it was super easy to install and now I don’t have to worry about deer raiding my garden without me even knowing or visitors arriving unexpectedly. I set up the system at our driveway (to alert us when someone enters our property), in our garden, the shed, the observatory, and at the top of the property line.
5. Eating off your land is a magical experience
In June, I discovered an abundance of wild strawberries on our property – just like the ones I already know from spending time in our family country house near Moscow, Russia. In July, I ate raspberries from our front yard for breakfast most mornings. It’s now August, and I’m finding new patches of ripe blackberries every day. Our first vegetable harvest is also here, and it includes lettuce, kale, radishes, cucumbers, and our very first tomatoes! There’s a sense of accomplishment in growing your own food that I hadn’t known before. You’re lucky if you get to experience at least once in your lifetime.
6. In-person over on-screen
In the country, people prefer to communicate in person over phone. Sometimes that looks like neighbors or contractors showing up at your door instead of giving you a call or sending you a text like they would in the city. This is something that took us time to get used to. After a couple of awkward (and hilarious) instances, we’ve decided to get a security system.
7. The power of community
Everyone knows everyone and is willing to help. Even though we’re almost 3 hours away from the city, I’ve been consistently running into friends of friends. I’ve also discovered an incredible yoga studio that offers sound healing and acupuncture, as well as a shamanic healing center – both within 20 minutes away from me. Drop me a note in comments if you’d like me to share a list of all my favorite Upstate spots!
8. You do need a truck
I’ve resisted buying a truck ever since we started talking about getting a house in the country. I learned my lesson before we were even moved in – the day of our move, we got stuck in the mud and couldn’t even drive up to our house. Our movers got stuck as well, and our belongings were unloaded on a tarp on the curb outside our property. We ended up hiring another local moving company – and their 4WD truck is what helped us complete the move, after 24 exhausting, stressful hours. Our next car, if we choose to stay here longterm, will definitely be a truck.
9. You’ll become more self-reliant
Everything closes early – grocery stores, farmers markets, pharmacies. There’s no food delivery, and no casual runs for coffee (my favorite local coffee shop is a 35-minute drive). Because of that, I’ve been cooking more (I love grilling outside!), growing my own food, and keeping things simple. The fact that the nearest grocery store is 20 minutes away has also saved me a lot of money that I would have spent on things I can live without.
10. You need way less than you think
We went from a 1000+ square-foot apartment in Brooklyn to a 340 square-foot tiny cabin. That involved A LOT of downsizing of all our belongings – from clothes to food, art supplies, and kitchen appliances. Even when we thought we’d gotten rid of everything we could, there was always more to get rid of. I had been downsizing for 9 months prior to our move, and I kept being surprised by how much stuff I still owned. Because during our dramatic move we got to see everything we own piled up together, I felt the weight of it and it inspired me to minimize my possessions further.
A lot of the things I was holding onto just didn’t fit into our space. Other things had to be replaced to fit into the design of the house (like my desk, which is now half the size of the one I had before). Interior design and creating a functional space in a tiny home is a whole other topic that I will be getting into more in a different post.
11. Rituals will become the center of your life
My friend Tara Barot teaches that we should organize our living space to help promote the kind of activities we want to spend our lives doing. When you have very little living space and lots of land, the invitations to spend more time outdoors and to connect with the land are ever-present.
Sometimes it seems like there’s a force beyond me that gets me up from my desk and tells me to walk into a forest to discover a new plant, a berry or a mushroom. Instead of scheduling time to wind down and take a breath as I used to while living in New York City, it seems that those moments of peaceful connection happen naturally. That’s the beauty of living in nature.
Forest bathing is becoming my religion.
Thank you Guardline for sponsoring this blog post, and the security of our property!