Summer
2006
Building an Off-Grid Structure
We had to move the bales to get them closer to the shed... so we could count them to see what was left after the cows had their way with them (we lost about 40 bales). We ended up having plenty of leftovers to be used as scaffolding! I don't have a beef with the cows... :o) They are free ranging cattle and whether you eat meat or not, this is the way they should be raised... About as close to organic as you can get! Besides I got to pick up their "leftovers"... to use as fertilizer for some greenhouse plants.
Moving the bales was hard on a cottontail brood. The one below, out of 3, was disrupted. I moved them close by, where we left a few bales so the babies could mature and move out. Then they will have to survive the coyotes and badgers... Such is life in the wild west!
We made the entry way for the door with 2 - 2 x 12" frames... and similarly for the windows, but not as deep.
The bale raising was done in one day... but most of the 4-day weekend was very soggy, and the last day was a full day of rain...
Pre-compressing was done with wire and turnbuckles... not to mention the vigas. Yes, the 3 of us lifted them on to the top of the bales, from the back inch by inch... step by step... slowly bu surely. We did it!
We've been framed!
We've got a front step too.
Ready for a bale rasing!
The bales get closer...
Moving isn't easy for babies... :o(
Is this not the best way to celebrate Freedom? By using our inherent right to build our own home without government intervention,
on property bought with our own hard-earned money, yet charged with rent (taxes) and licensure (special interest scams) by government, under color of safety and security? How did we allow ourselves to go so far astray? Humans have been building their own homes prior to standing upright.
1st course done... Melee & Jedi
Bale"walls" finished - though it's just
one big oval wall.
1st Bale... Jedi & I
Puttin in the window frames
Come-along Jedi... Sasha keeps watch...
the cottontails keep her busy.
Straightening the walls with a sledge
1st Beam... Melee peeking The steel roof is on
the ground weighted down with tires
1st Beam... another view
We sealed the door and window frames to
protect them from the rain, and bega
framing the roof.
Rain Rain Rain
We got our barrels filled from the trailer!
We really needed this...
just not at this point!
6 standing dead pine vigas are all on. They
were quite heavy, but the 3 of us managed to
get them up with no problem. Well, 4 of us if
you consider Sasha!
I caught the shadows of the frame alignment with the vigas. The SE window will catch the earliest rays of the sun. The rest are aligned to catch the majority of the winter sun.
Finally the storms pass. Jedi ponders the next
phase. He made those window bucks too!
Leveling the frame for the steel roof
While this isn't the best sight one will see out there, it is one of the most important aspects of building a sustainable home. Taking care of waste... responsibly, and ecomomically. Get this very important book: The Humaneur Handbook by Joseph Jenkins. Excellent and well worth the $$s! See our hand made compost toilet made by Jedi (from the book)
Now THIS is one of the most beautiful rewards one can have at the end of a long weekend...
See some of the wildlife
that exists
in this area
Cutting the drive,
foundation & vigas
Skinning logs, beam
placement, and strawbales
Roof Roof
Framed & tarr'd
Winter Check-up
We have the RIGHT to build our
own home, as we see fit
"Of the
Dissolution of Government" Chapter XIX, ¶220
... But the state of mankind is not so miserable that they are not capable
of using this remedy till it be too late to look for any. To tell people
they may provide for themselves, by erecting a new legislative, when by oppression,
artifice, or being delivered over to a foreign power, their old one is gone,
is only to tell them, they may expect relief when it is too late, and the
evil is past cure. This is in effect no more than to bid them first be slaves,
and then to take care of their liberty; and when their chains are on, tell
them, they may act like freemen. This, if barely so, is rather mockery than
relief; and men can never be secure from tyranny, if there be no means to
escape it till they are perfectly under it: and therefore it is, that they
have not only a right to get out of it, but to prevent it. --John Locke (1632-1704)
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