Trees VS Solar

I have an sustainable issue that maybe ya'll can help me with...
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I moved into the forest, and there is only scarce amounts of sunlight coming to the Luck Cabin. While I would love to get off the grid entirely, when it comes to doing anything solar related... well the trees are blocking out the light. It seems crazy to me to cut down trees to have solar energy, but which option really is the most environmentally sound? I mean, how much is destroyed when I use up all the electricity... more then 10-20 trees?
I have a small hot water heater, run by electricity - it's small enough to fit under the kitchen counter. But I long to have a solar tank, that uses the sun to heat up the water. I have a stove and fridge run by electricity too... but I use maybe 30-40$ a month total, so switching to solar should be somewhat easy.
That is, if i had sunlight (and $).

I would love to open a discussion here where people can share their ideas of better ways to live Off Grid without using electricity generated by the electric company. Do I even need solar panels (sunlight heat), or is there a truly efficient and realistic way to live with no electricity year round without solar energy?
My suggestion box is open!
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Here are steps I have already taken to be sustainable::::

• Gravity fed spring water
• Organic gardening (planting fruit trees, herbs, veggies etc to feed myself)
• Using wood to warm the cabin (also can cook on the wood stove too)
• Building my gray water system, instead of a septic tank
• Composting toilet
• My donkey! (using her poop as garden fertilizer and I plan to train her to take long rides, carry pack saddles, hike etc...)
• Rarely drive a car (i have a bike too, but don't have the strength to ride it in my area)
• Wear only organic, vintage, fair trade, used, thrifted clothing and shoes

Xoxoxox

Whoa WTF Tree!

Yeah, it looks like a rock in front that large tree trunk right? From far away I knew it was part of the tree, but as I approached it I thought that HAS to be a big boulder....

WHat it is IS A TREE (not a rock), folded ova' like a piece of freakin' bread dough! Wowsers! I don't even begin to understand this one.

But I love it. I mean I love it so much that if it asked me to marry it, I would totally say yes and take care of this old man (knowing he will outlive me!) This is not only an awesome tree because of this weirdo circular appendage, but also it is one of the largest birch trees I have ever seen! The type of birch which smells like wintergreen & rootbeer in it's bark and branches.....mmmmm

You can see here the top of the folded bark 'boulder', and it's strange connection to the main trunk... what do you think? One time a root? One time a trunk? Wtf is it?

AnD here's Me ! On top the funny rounded stumpy! WiLd !

xoxoxxoo

Spooky Tree: Portal To Another World?

The thing about nature is even the worst disease, the most scarred, damaged and dead thing in the woods is sometimes the most powerful, fascinating and attractive bit of beauty amongst the mundane. (Mundane, as anything we become accustomed to seeing.) Me and Bort found this giant melted, twisted, knotted, hollowed, mangled tree in the forest behind my cabin...
Seeing things like this always bring out the best of my imagination - if there is ever any glimmer of hope that things will turn out to be all multi dimensional (like it was in the Golden Compass book series) ... and just like in the movies you can just accidentally lean against a bump in an old tree to get to the other side(s) ---> finding things like this puts the spark of opportunity and mystery in my eye.
Bort began moving towards the other side of the tree first...
And then I followed to find a whole other realm of interest --- a blackened bark with knots following upward like a ladder made for critters and gnomes. ;)
With a big hole in the ground, which I stood in and tried casting a spell with a stick. Maybe it worked?!? But I lost my concentration when I realized I was standing in a wet hole, soaking into my boots. bye bye big spooky fantabulous tree.
xoxoxXooox

My LOveLy LaDy Stump

If I was a raccoon, coyote, or fairy I 'd live in this fallen old tree stump. It's large and hollow almost throughout the entire thing. This is the kind of place that is right above a sun sparkled creek where you can listen to giant woodpeckers tap on the trees, breezes rustling leaves of Rhododendrons, water fall over rocks, and it warms your heart (broken or unbroken kinds).
There are two holes up top, like skylights to the inside contents of the mysterious stump. Such a perfect seeming critter home that I hardly dared to stick my hand down that hole...
But I did dare, and this below is what the view from the inside looking out was...
a light at the end of the tunnel.
PS- here's a link to the song the post title refers to... (beware it's pop music!)

Xoxoxo

Trees in Inter-Species Relationships

Is this hot or not? This tree hugging, by trees hugging trees of another species is.... well.... look at this! It's awesome.
And this, well it's like watching late night HBO in the late 80's .... this pair is actually....
K-I-S-S-I-N-G! Is it getting hawt up in here?!?
XoXoooox

Bleeding Tree

One of the reasons most regular folks label environmentally concerned folks as "treehuggers" and "hippies" is for exactly what I am pointing out here. This tree is obviously bleeding from being partly cut with a saw - the macabre part of my personality noticed right away how sickly the dried black goo looked dripping out to one side... the part of me who strives to give nature all the respect it deserves wanted simply to share how strange and amazing this looks with others. I am not an advocate of deprivation, I am not seeing this and having it lead me to simply screaming "save the trees" - in a world of survival there are many uses for trees. It is how we (ab)use at this point in modern history that strikes me as odd and disturbing. We don't just build simple shelters, we build toxic McMansions in gated communities, we use billions of paper grocery bags instead of bringing re-usable bags...and still that isn't exactly the problem, our whimsies are just a symptom. The real problem is the disconnect from nature. Who will really think of a tree or the eco system while building their big 'keep up with the Jones' house in the wealthy or middle class neighborhood - and can you blame them for not thinking of it, when they have no exposure to the reality of our natural resources and where these resources come from? Sometimes I think people should act more responsibility towards the earth (of course they should) but the over educated rich are just as under educated as the poor in this modern consumer society. Without the hands on knowledge of what this eco system really entails, without the reality and experience (AKA living in the woods and with nature in the raw)- I have doubts to whether the majority of uneducated will come around very quickly to learning the basic elements of respect for the earth that supports their very life and breath. Our education system is concentrated on teaching children and adults what I would consider some really petty skills, mainly ones applying to consumption, sales, and how to fit into the economic box we've created. After learning to read and write- our most basic education should be to learn the one-two steps to what really keeps us alive - being our food & how we can grow it, our water & how we can keep it drinkable, our air & how we can keep the earth in balance enough to breathe it without breathing in later health problems.
It's good to recognize it, it's amazing to talk about, but it's extraordinary to go out and really live it! I believe the low mummer of talk I hear these days of cleaning up the planet is a good sign - I am forever an optimist about the possibilities of change... I know that when things really start to break down and are seen for it's dysfunction people will undoubtedly be motivated to make changes - but it would be so awesome if we could fix before it completely breaks.
XoXo