HOW'S MY FROË.
One of our newest tools/toys is the froë from Garret Wade. I've never used one before so I have nothing to compare it to, but I'm both greatly intimidated and slightly obsessed with this beast. Essentially, it's a splitting maul, but instead of swinging the tool down hard and crashing into the log, you place the froë on top of the log and slam it in with a mallet to make precise shakes (cool video demonstration!) I made my own mallet out of a small cedar log, and then before I left on Sunday, gave it a whirl.And it. was. awesome.It's definitely going to be hard––if we side the entire house with cedar shakes, it will take several months of making them and I will have enormous hands––but it's a blast. When I go to Bugtussle this week I'm going to bring back a bunch of logs to Nashville so I can do some here, a form of long distance cabin construction. We're very excited about the shakes, and this new tool.- Jesse.
GETTING TO WORK.
As far as the cabin goes, the easy stuff is over. We have a frame, but now it needs insulation, siding, electrical work, a stove pipe, etc., etc., etc.. So this weekend, I made my trip to the hardware store, picked up a ton of supplies and got to work.The first step was installing the wiring for electricity, which I admit is a bit hilarious considering how far off we are from actually getting (solar) electricity. But, if you ever want electricity in your house, you gotta do it before you insulate. Eric and Cher from Bugtussle Farm––who were incredibly generous with their time and knowledge for me this weekend––said they had their sockets empty for TEN YEARS before they got electricity. When they were ready, though, they just plugged it in and turned it on (more or less). So we did a lot of electrical work and a lot of insulating. Nearly 4,000 staples later, we were finished with insulating the floor and almost two whole walls. All in all, if one can base success on soreness, it was a very successful weekend.- Jesse.
HARDWARE STORY.
I remember one morning in high school a teacher came into our classroom and said that we needed to support this small hardware store downtown. She said they were struggling and they would close if their business didn't turn around soon. You see, Richmond had recently got a Walmart...To a fifteen year-old the place looked insane. And the owners were a little suspicious of my being there, but I dutifully went in and bought my soda––small, I realize now, but trying to do my part (never questioning why a hardware store would have soda).A couple months later the store closed. And if that hardware store was anything like Bruton's in Tompkinsville where I went this weekend for building supplies, then Richmond lost an absolute gem.I walked in with a strange list of materials, then met a man named Doc who took me all over their store––a store piled high with everything from garden tools to wood stoves––and proceeded to find every single thing on my list. And not just find them, but in some cases help me make my decisions and give me tips on installing them. He pieced together a kit for a stovepipe; he got all the materials I needed to install our (future) electrical system; he found me insulation, staplers, masks, and everything else I had come for. This went beyond customer service––I had my own professional to guide me.Now this might or might not seem like a big deal to some, but if I had needed these same things in a town with only a Walmart, would I have been able to find them? Also, would someone there have been able to help me? And would Walmart let you borrow a charger for your drill batteries because you forgot yours in Nashville like a dope? Doubtful, but Doc saved the day. I'm a newcomer to this carpentry thing and I'm honestly quite intimidated, but Doc was an enormous help––a priceless one.As a kid, although I bought my soda, it was hard for me to truly value that hardware store in Richmond because I had no real use for it. Now, however, I see their value and how important it is to keep them alive. And although Bruton's was slammed busy and had seemingly nothing to worry about, it felt good to support them. Without Doc and his store, I would've had a much different weekend, a much less productive one.- Jesse.
stay tuned for more posts about all the cabin progress we made this weekend!
WORKING WEEKEND.
Jesse is away again, back at Bugtussle, getting a lot of work done. He is installing electrical stuff (for the distant, distant future when we can go solar), as well as putting in insulation and a stove pipe. I am still in Nashville, taking care of our high-maintenance dog.I haven't been to Bugtussle in months and I am missing it terribly. I miss our little cabin and our chickens and the children and the woods. I am hoping that the next time I go, it will be for good.Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!- Hannah.