Monthly Archives: May 2009

New Cabin Progress!

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New Cabin Floor
We’ve started work on a new cabin which will serve as a place for the kids to sleep and play, especially during the next several months as we work on Kerry and Greg’s cabin. The original idea was to rebuild Emma’s playhouse but as we realized that the space would actually be more than a place to play but a needed sleeping and storage space. We ended up re-using wood for the floor but the rest is new lumber.

Walls going up
The salvaged wood from the original playhouse which was built from wood pallets will be re-used again as a shed extension for storing the kids bikes as well as a variety of equipment. Nothing goes to waste! In fact, from a permaculture perspective there is no such thing as waste, just resources which are not being properly used.

Siding and roofing
I’m always amazed at how quickly we are able to get these buildings up. It’s true that they are small and that certainly makes things go much more quickly. We’ve still got several days work on this cabin. We have to finish the roof and then the inside finishing, probably about five to six more days. Our site is slowly starting to have the look of a little village with the various buildings, gardens, food forests and paths. Hard to believe that we’ve only been at this for a year!

Cabin at night

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Garden in full swing

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So much happening!! We’ve had gobs of rain these past couple months, so much that I’ve had trouble finding time between rain to plant. Just as we get a break and the soil begins to dry just enough to dig in it rains again and turns it all to mud. That said I’ve been able to sneak in 40 of my 80 tomatoes, five heirloom varieties. 12 of the 21 comfreys have been planted around four fruit trees. Basil, nasturtiums, zinnias and cosmos all planted with more many, many seeds of those still to go in other places. Many varieties of eggplant and pepper, about 60 plants are needing to be transplanted into pots from their seed trays. I’ve got mounds of soil waiting around the edges of the food forest for squashes and melons. Those will get planted in another week or so, when the soil warms just a tad bit more. Speaking of food forests all the trees and bushes are off to a good start. I’ve found what appear to be gooseberries growing wild around here and will be transplanting them and observing to confirm that they are indeed gooseberries. Much to done but much more to do!

The bees have settled in nicely. The queen is out and laying eggs and the others are all busy gathering pollen. The chickens are all growing up very fast. I’ve taken to calling them my clucking cuties.

In construction news, We’ve cleared the area where we will be building the kids cabin. This will be an 8×12 cabin with a very large loft and should be big enough for 2-3 kids to sleep in. When my sister and her family move down this will be a place for the kids’ stuff as well as a playhouse and guest house. We’ve got lot’s of salvaged wood to build it so the cost should be minimal, mostly insulation and siding.

I hope to post a few photos soon.

Oh, and we had a crazy storm here last week. Winds of 80-100 mph which were sustained for 20 to 30 minutes. At the time I thought this is crazy, seems like a hurricane and sure enough, they are calling it an inland hurricane. Damn thing even had a defined eye. We had minimal damage because the tornado 3 years ago cleared out many of the biggest branches of the trees it did not destroy. In town though they’ve had major damage to homes and trees. Climate change in action.

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The Bees Have Landed

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Bee Hive Set-upYesterday morning at 6 am I got the call from the Fredericktown post office that the bees had arrived. Lickity split I got up and mixed up a spray bottle of sugar water and was on the way. I was back home by about 6:50 and quickly changed clothes and gathered up the few things I would need to introduce the bees to their new home. Luckily the sun was poking out through the clouds and rain seemed to be holding off. By 7:15 the bees were freed from their mailing package and buzzing in and around the new hive. I have to say that it was a totally enjoyable and fun five minutes!
Bee Hive Set-up
A year ago I was just starting to research bee keeping and was fairly certain we would give it a try though I knew we’d have to wait till this year to do it. Now that I’ve been living here for almost a year and have a good start on the kitchen garden and the food forest as well as the recently introduced chickens, I’m happy that we followed thru with the bees. All of the critters, plants, buildings, paths are increasingly connected and intertwined just as planned.

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