The Canadian biffy is a place that many Canadians and camping visitors know well. It is a place relied upon by generations as recent as my own. Both my parents and grandparents lived with only outdoor toilets for significant periods in their lives, as homesteaders and simple people who could not afford to live in more modern houses.

This particular biffy belongs to friends who relied on it recently, in early stages of developing a small family farm, far out of town.

It symbolizes the close, loving (if less comfortable) relationship to the land and its elements that many Canadians know, and how recent and even current some such close relationships are.

Some people choose to simplify their lives in this way, preferring exposure to the elements to be close to the land over the relative comforts but stressors of even small city life. It also nods to the fact that a significant number of Canadians, particularly some Indigenous communities but also some others, don't have the resources or support for modern infrastructure.

In such cases, we make do, make the best of our dependence on the land, adding artful moons and stars, for example.

When nature calls, we answer.