I never had a need for home automation, until I got a cabin in the woods. I wanted a simple camera security system, sensors, and other automation so I could monitor my cabin when I wasn't there, and tell whether I remembered to lock the door! I wanted control over my personal data, so I went with Home Assistant, open source home automation software that's easy to use, can run from a Raspberry Pi, doesn't depend on cloud services, and has wide compatibility with home automation hardware.

In this talk I will explain how I set up Home Assistant to monitor my cabin including camera security, remote sensors, and how to set up alerts to keep me up to date on the family of foxes that visit my property.