Nestled in the lush forests of British Columbia’s Kootenays, the community known as Big Calm Tiny Homesteads offers something rare: a fully-serviced, nature-connected, tiny-home-on-wheels (THoW) lifestyle built from the ground up. Founded by partners Steve Hardy and Abby Hardy, it’s a vision of intentional design, abundant amenities, and a strong community ethos.
A Tiny Home That Shows What’s Possible
Their standout short-term rental offering—dubbed “The Pocket Getaway”—is a 24-foot tiny house on wheels nestled in a quiet corner of the property. This example home immediately reveals the thoughtfulness of the design: it accommodates four people comfortably (two on a convertible sofa downstairs, two in the loft) and packs in a full kitchen, bathroom and storage, all while preserving ample headroom and comfort.
Inside the kitchen, you’ll find a gas stove, a full oven, microwave, block countertops, and a cleverly designed drawer with all the cooking implements you’d ever need. Storage isn’t an afterthought: built-in stair cubbies, coat storage, and clever cabinetry mean even a compact footprint feels spacious and organized. The water supply comes from a spring on the property, triple-filtered for drinking; the hot water is propane-heated; the fridge is full-size electric. In the bathroom you’ll find a generous shower (not just a tiny stall), a full vanity, and an RV-style flush toilet—luxury tiny-home style. The sleeping loft gives enough headroom to sit up comfortably and has windows on both sides.
Home Pads & Community Infrastructure
Big Calm doesn’t just host a rental tiny house—it offers a platform for a tiny-home lifestyle. Phase 1 of the development features four fully-serviced pads for tiny homes on wheels: each pad is roughly 20 × 40 ft, with no fences between units and generous space around them (just under half an acre per unit) so each occupant can feel anchored, not crammed. Services include 50-amp power, water, wastewater, high‐speed internet—all the essentials out of the box.
Encouragingly, Phase 2 is already planned: 8-9 more pads will be added in the “Meadows” area of the property, opening up longer‐term lease and possible co-ownership options. The goal: a community of between 15-25 people who share both space and stewardship of land.
Garden, Greenhouse & Permaculture – More Than Just Homes
Beyond the homes themselves, Big Calm offers rich amenities rooted in permaculture and ecological community living. The 37-acre property includes a 1,500-square-foot fenced garden filled with squash, potatoes, kale, lettuce, garlic, strawberries and more. Two pollinator beds in the center help ensure the vegetables thrive, and a drip-line irrigation system supports each bed individually. Compost stations feed the soil year after year.
Nearby is the greenhouse: twenty-plus varieties of tomatoes, Italian heirloom peppers, bell peppers and more—all grown on site in one of the founders’ favorite spaces. These amenities bridge home living with land stewardship; they offer residents more than a roof over their head—they offer connection, cultivation and community. https://www.bigcalm.ca/
The Showhome: Bigger Space, Bigger Inspiration
For those curious about larger tiny homes, Big Calm also features a show home: a 41-foot-long, 8.5-foot-wide, 13.5-foot-tall model built by pro-builder Mint Tiny Homes (the “Canada Goose” model). At 348 ft², it’s a tiny house scale but feels roomy. With French doors, full kitchen, washer/dryer, walk-in bedroom and spacious bathroom, it challenges the notion that tiny means cramped. You’ll climb a ladder (or stairs, depending on the version) up to a loft space, walk on real flooring, sit comfortably—and still retain the ease, affordability and simplicity of tiny-home living.
Why It Works
What sets Big Calm apart is that this isn’t an afterthought: it’s purpose-built from the ground up. Zoning, site plan, utilities and community ethos are all aligned to support tiny homes on wheels, rather than retrofitting them into an RV park. According to the team, they’re aiming not just for individual houses, but for a genuine tiny-homestead neighborhood—where each resident has space to garden, to deck out the outdoors, and to live in and with nature.
They emphasize the “edge” — a permaculture concept meaning the transition between two ecologies. In practice, that translates to the outdoor deck and garden space becoming an extension of the home, seamlessly integrating indoor and outdoor living. Residents are encouraged to plant a garden, install solar panels, build a deck—they own that “edge” space.
Looking Ahead
If you’re interested in living tiny but don’t want to compromise on comfort or community, Big Calm offers a compelling choice: short-term stays allow you to experience the lifestyle (and test whether the design, kitchen size, bed footprint etc. suit you) before committing to long-term life on one of the pads. At the same time, the community is growing, with more homes and more shared infrastructure (common house, tool library, fire-pit, shared laundry, trails) on the horizon.
If you’d like to learn more about Big Calm:
Watch the full tour here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBuGbRLW5xA&t=3s
Check out their website: https://www.bigcalm.ca/
If you’d like to learn more about other tiny house villages we’ve featured:
https://tinyhousegiantjourney.com/2025/04/18/a-guide-to-the-best-tiny-house-communities/
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