Evening Farm Report
Dead Horse Report: 8 weeks of running now, did 17, 18, 19, and 20 miles as planned. Pace goals were 9:35 down to 9:20. Actual pace – 9:11, 9:04, 8:51, and 9:18. Once I passed the 9:00 mark, decided to relax last week as I was getting a little ragged. Still had a mild pull in my right calf Friday of this week, so will have to modify things a bit. I may go ahead and take a week off to let things heal up. Also, thinking about getting a bike for a lower impact alternative. May need to take a little longer to build back to the 30 mi/week range.
Buzzard Report: Saw a dead buzzard in the road last week, highly unusual for a buzzard to be road kill. The carcass laid around for several days, nothing seemed to be eating it. Professional courtesy among scavangers?
It’s Spring Report: Found 2 or 3 gallons of morels this week, redbuds are fully in bloom, rabbits are going nuts on the lawn, etc.
Log Cabin Report: OK, I’m going to build it with a little help from my friends. Will be about 1/8 mile from the gravel road, totally isolated. Those who make a serious contribution to the building will have dibs on hiding out there. First step will be to stake it out and build a stone foundation/fireplace/chimney. Probably next summer for that job. Will use mortar, not mud, may buy and have hauled in a dump truck load of flat limestone rather than try to gather and use the round rocks from the creekbed. Got to study fireplace construction so I can build something that will draw, heat the place, and be workable for over-the-fire traditional cooking. Advice solicited.
Current plan will be about 12 x 16 feet with an 8 x 12 sleeping loft over the front door and opposite the fireplace. Banjo pickin’ and critter watchin’ porch on front, which will face north due to the lay of the area. Alternative is south entrance which is a lot more traditional with porch on three sides including the north end which will have the best view.
Now as to construction. Will use a tractor in lieu of a mule, that’s legitimate. Chainsaw/ax debate yet to be resolved. There will have to be some rough sawn lumber used for floor, window and door frames, roof, etc, so a saw will come into play somewhere along the line. All that work will be second or maybe third year, so I am actually thinking of trying to acquire a used portable sawmill. Roof will probably be metal over wood. Shingles would be cool, but the durability and fire issues may prevail.
No electricity, maybe a cistern for washing water, other wise will just carry it in. Maybe a sandpoint and pump near the stream at the bottom of the hill.
At present, am evolving toward the idea that I am more interested in getting the thing done and being able to use it rather than doing it all in fully old time way. Not sure yet.
Buzzard Report: Saw a dead buzzard in the road last week, highly unusual for a buzzard to be road kill. The carcass laid around for several days, nothing seemed to be eating it. Professional courtesy among scavangers?
It’s Spring Report: Found 2 or 3 gallons of morels this week, redbuds are fully in bloom, rabbits are going nuts on the lawn, etc.
Log Cabin Report: OK, I’m going to build it with a little help from my friends. Will be about 1/8 mile from the gravel road, totally isolated. Those who make a serious contribution to the building will have dibs on hiding out there. First step will be to stake it out and build a stone foundation/fireplace/chimney. Probably next summer for that job. Will use mortar, not mud, may buy and have hauled in a dump truck load of flat limestone rather than try to gather and use the round rocks from the creekbed. Got to study fireplace construction so I can build something that will draw, heat the place, and be workable for over-the-fire traditional cooking. Advice solicited.
Current plan will be about 12 x 16 feet with an 8 x 12 sleeping loft over the front door and opposite the fireplace. Banjo pickin’ and critter watchin’ porch on front, which will face north due to the lay of the area. Alternative is south entrance which is a lot more traditional with porch on three sides including the north end which will have the best view.
Now as to construction. Will use a tractor in lieu of a mule, that’s legitimate. Chainsaw/ax debate yet to be resolved. There will have to be some rough sawn lumber used for floor, window and door frames, roof, etc, so a saw will come into play somewhere along the line. All that work will be second or maybe third year, so I am actually thinking of trying to acquire a used portable sawmill. Roof will probably be metal over wood. Shingles would be cool, but the durability and fire issues may prevail.
No electricity, maybe a cistern for washing water, other wise will just carry it in. Maybe a sandpoint and pump near the stream at the bottom of the hill.
At present, am evolving toward the idea that I am more interested in getting the thing done and being able to use it rather than doing it all in fully old time way. Not sure yet.
posted by tickmeister at 5:32 PM
2 Comments:
Fantastic --- count me in, of course, since I've been daydreaming about this kind of project for 8 or 10 years now, a few years before I first mentioned it to you and found you were kicking around the same notion. Of course, if you remember, my original idea was for everyone to get together for a long weekend and build a hay house with stucco walls and a roof made of wood beams. I think your plan sounds better. You never went on one of the canoe trips to the current river, but there's a place you can stop and wander back towards a huge ice-cold spring where the water rises up out of the ground, and a 100-year old wood cabin is back there. Don, Randy, michelle, patrick, and some others have all walked through it and daydreamed about it. It sounds a lot like your plan, although maybe a little bigger. There's a front porch, a double-sided stone fireplace in the middle, and a sleeping loft over the front door.
I think it all sounds great, except I would sure like to see it all come together sooner. That's the impatient in me. Anything we can do in advance of tickfest this year?
A sawmill would be great.
I'll probably work up a visual of what it might look like on my computer today, since it's friday and work is pretty slow. So, here's a question --- what kind of windows, if any? I would assume there would be some to get a breeze at nights. And are you thinking about a true log cabin or making beams/studs and plank siding?
Walls would be logs, maybe 8 inches diameter with flats sawed or axed top and bottom for a better fit, then notched on corners and pegged toether. Door and window frames, siding above logs on the ends, floors, etc. would be rough sawn lumber. A bigger cabin with a double sided fireplace is an interesting idea that I hadn't considered. That's more like a log house than a cabin. We will need to discuss that idea. I would see a door on one end and a window in both sides plus maybe a small window in the wall in the loft. Traditional cabins didn't have many windows, but neither were they very pleasant to be in. I think green metal roofing like what is on my house, again not traditional, but zero maintenance for 20 years or better. Wooden roung lumber outhouse, water barrel with a lid on top fed from the roof, and as previously mentioned a hand pump with a sandpoint. Small wood shed of some sort for heating fuel.
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