BARN LIVING.
We are HERE....we are home. And in these few short moments we have with the internet, we thought we would share some scenes from our little "house" as of late. The cabin is coming along nicely, but until it warms up a bit we are staying in a borrowed barn.Every morning is an adventure for the moment. It's an adventure to the spring to get enough water for the day; an adventure to cook a meal; an adventure wondering how Wendell's going to react to all these adventures... It's an adventure, but it's been a lot of fun. Simple living like this is deeply rewarding, where most of your energy just revolves around food, shelter and warmth. Everything is physical, and for right now, we're having to figure out a lot of little things one rarely thinks about in the city, like how to wash dishes without using a lot of water, but honestly, we're sort of loving it.As far as cabin progress, yesterday we finished insulating the downstairs, we built some crazy looking stairs on the front porch, and installed our mailbox - how official! We will hopefully be back with more updates soon.- Hannah & Jesse.
TOGETHER AT THE CABIN.
I am breathing a big sigh of contentment today. For the first time in MONTHS, Jesse and I were both together in Bugtussle, at the cabin. It was a complete breath of fresh air - seeing all of the work he has done, visiting with our Bugtussle Farm family, making plans for the future. Sometimes when I am stuck in the city, away from the farm and spending my days indoors, the worries and the doubts will begin to creep in. But every time I drive back to Bugtussle, down that gravel road past the cedar mailbox....I am sure. I am completely at peace, knowing there is nowhere else in the world I would rather be.- Hannah.
The cabin!
The homesite is SURROUNDED by irises, day lillies, and daffodils!
Finishing up the wiring and insulation.
The floating back door.
The totally trashed high tunnel....it clearly did not fare well in a recent storm.
Quince.
We've got a very amazing/terrifying pair of black vultures living in our barn.
The bees are alive and well!
One of Ira's chickens says hello.
The best eggs you will ever eat in your entire life ever.
Eric is experimenting with biochar - they will be posting more about it on their blog soon.
Collecting moss for his flower garden.
Magical.
LONG DISTANCE CABIN BUILDING.
I would like to go ahead and apologize for the amount of times you will no doubt see or hear about me making cedar shakes on the blog over the next few months––it's gonna get ridiculous. Making enough shakes to cover the house is a huge endeavor and is going to occupy a big portion of my time. But one of the beauties of it is it's something we can do while we're in Nashville, right in the back yard with plenty of help!- Jesse.
A LITTLE MORE PROGRESS.
I got to make another trip back to the farm this Wednesday. Unfortunately, Hannah had to work, so once again she didn't get to come. It's a bummer––truly. It's not just that we're one of those obnoxious couples who suck at being apart––though we totally are––it's also that she hasn't been back to the farm since December and she misses it, the Smiths, the animals, the work. I am, however, excited for the next time she does get to go for her to see all the progress we've made. We've just about got a threshold for me to carry her through!––we just need to build some stairs to get to it...My goals for this trip were to cut some cedar logs to bring back and turn into shakes here in Nashville (check); finish the wiring (nearly check––ran out of wire again); put up some insulation (check––though still a lot left to do there). And although mulching a third of the high tunnel was not on the agenda, I ended up getting that done, too. It was bitterly cold working in the cabin, so when I would get a chill––which seemed embarrassingly often––I would go work in the high tunnel to warm up. It happened so much that I eventually accomplished an enormous task: mulching enough area for our early tomatoes. Starting early tomatoes, however, is a whole other issue. But more on that another time.
This week, our goal is to get a wood stove. We don't need a big one for our tiny cabin. Just something like the Smith's that we can cook buckwheat pancakes on, perhaps!- Jesse.
