Winterizing

Well, we're married and back from our extravagant honeymoon, and just in time to see the autumn colours.

Since I've been home, I've had these wonderful feelings of winter come over me.  The thought of standing outside at dusk, in the still air listening to thick flakes of snow cover the ground.  If you listen close enough you can actually hear it.  I was thinking about fast moving southern wind coming up the farm hills and hammering our little TS's poor single paned windows.  And then felt comfort in imagining the warmth of a wood stove blazing away inside.  And B, Pickles and I all cozy warm.

If you don't know me, then you should know that I absolutely love winter.  It is my favourite season.  I love so many things about it.  In fact, just thinking about it makes my heart ache.  It's almost unbearable some times.

I love the farm, the land, the history, the people who live on it.

B and I spent some time at the camp last winter over Christmas time.  It was a very special time, because that is when he proposed to me.  Not at the camp, but during the time we spent there.  We has such a great time there, that I can't wait to spend a whole winter up there!

I have comfort in knowing that we have 4.5 cords of wood split and stacked, I have comfort in knowing that our floor is going to be insulated tomorrow with spray foam insulation, and I have comfort in knowing that we've just purchased a new super efficient Pacific Energy wood stove for the TS.  That should burn for a longer period of time.

We had planned a cider pressing party for this weekend, but are building an 8x8 addition instead.  It will be nice to have a little more storage space and a spot to put wood that is closer to the TS.

While we were on our honeymoon, we had come up with plans to re-arrange the layout.  Currently, half of the upstairs isn't being used, because it's storage so once it's moved out into the addition, then we are going to make a lounge up there with our bedroom, and allow more space on the main floor.

It's all very exciting and I will post photos after this weekend of the new stove, and the addition being built.  And, if it's cold enough we'll light the first fire in the stove for a visit from our great friend Melissa!

I Don't Mind Choppin' Wood

Our delivery arrived right on schedule!  B spent a couple of days cutting it all with the chainsaw, and then we borrowed B's dad's wood splitter, and have been doing that.  He splits, I stack.

 

 

 

 My first wood pile!

And... glad I have a man who can cook!

 

Lately, we've been discussing how to insulate the floor before winter.  We're going to be away on our honeymoon for a month, so these decisions have to be made.  

I'm suggesting to spray foam the whole thing, although it is our most expensive option.  If it's too expensive, then styrofoam boards and we'll have to but a vapour barrier; maybe tyvek.

I'm not putting too much thought into it now because we're getting married in 5 weeks and it's all about that at the moment!

A Way In

Here it is...

A way into our lot! 

Just Gettin' On

While it seems that summer is just getting started and you're all thinking about summer vacations, B and I are actually planning for winter already!

We have half a load of hardwood logs being delivered to the TS (temporary shelter) this week.  B and I need to cut, split and stack that wood if we want to make it in the TS this winter.  We're getting about 4 cord of logs.

Along with cutting, splitting and stacking our wood for the winter, we're also doing work around my folks' house to prepare for our wedding in August.

In order to get the logs delivered up to the TS, we've had to clear a spot out of the rock wall, to create a different route.  It's amazing to think that it took people weeks, maybe even years to take all of the rock out of the field and pile them into a wall, and it only took about an hour for us to undo their work with the backhoe.

B put a clothesline up for us.

The garden has been doing quite well and we've really been enjoying our fresh greens, and spring onions.  We arrived home from our backcountry camping trip to a garden that's now finally producing peas and little green tomatoes!

Basil, Purple Kale and Lettuce

 Tomatoes!

 Our Tomato Plants

 Zucchini

 Peas!

 

Our Salad Greens

Basil

We just love our little garden!

I did a little re-model of our living room.  This is now my favourite corner of the TS!

The township is re-paving our road, so we've convinced them to put in a residential entrance for us on our lot.  Can't take a photo because it's in heavy construction, but I will when it's all completed.

Exciting times out at the TS.

Livin' the Dream

It's been a while since my last update.  Not much has happened, really.

We've been harvesting green onions and leaf lettuce and arugula from our garden.  We've dealt with 3 mice, hundreds of ants, 2 disgustingly large spiders, mosquitos and starlings in the soffits and waking us up at 6am.

We've been dealing with pests.  B screened in the windows, so we can now open them and feel the amazing breeze that comes up the hill and right into our TS (temporary shelter).

The next thing on my list of things to do is to caulk to whole bloody TS, so that ants and other insects can't get in.  It will also be a must if we plan on roughing it up there during the winter.

We still need to insulate the floor of the TS, which we will get to, but we've been so busy with wedding plans and honeymoon plans that we just haven't had the chance.

Where would we have found the time to debark and split 10 cord of cedar for a cordwood house?  I am so glad we've decided to build straw bale!

Plans for the house have been put on hold because of the wedding and honeymoon.  We need to get our site planned and permitted, a floor and design plan of our house stamped for approval by an engineer (haven't even really started with the design planning).  We need all of that to happen by next spring, so that we can put a driveway in and a slab on grade foundation.

That's probably all we will be able to do next year.  The strawbale building will happen in the spring of 2013.  And finishing the interior will happen in 2014.  I hope to move in with my wonderful husband in the fall of 2014.

We are really digging the Warburton's straw bale house in Orangeville, Ontario

But we'd like to put a purple steel roof on, and the exterior walls will be a beeswax colour.  Very similiar if not the same as the exterior walls in this photo.

Buzz...

I already hate the fact that I have to get up in the middle of the night to relieve myself, but last night was something else, I'll tell you.

4:00am, and I sneak out for a moment, and come back into the TS and crawl into my warm covers next to B and hear "buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz".  Mosquitos!  There was so much buzzing around my head, that I couldn't tell if it was in my head or if there was actually a mosquito flying about my head.  I swatted a few times into the air, but that didn't help.

Eventually, I went down stairs to sleep on the couch thinking that they were only upstairs but before I even settled on the couch I heard more buzzing.  I turned the light on and spent the next 30 minutes or so killing mosquito after mosquito after mosquito.

Quite the deal.  I went back up to bed and threw the sheets over my head.  Damned things!

How did B fair?  They didn't bother him.  They wanted my blood.

We're camping this weekend and I know that I'll be battling black flies and mosquitos.  Thank goodness for bug jackets!

Second Thoughts

B and I are having second thoughts.... not about getting married, but about what materials we're going to use to build our house with.

We have calculated that we'll need to cut down almost 300 cedar trees in order to build a 1300 sq ft cordwood home.  That's a lot!  We'd be clear cutting quite a bit of our land.  We're not so sure about doing that anymore.

Now we're thinking of building straw bale.  With a straw bale home, we can get an R-value of 30-40, which is quite impressive for a wall!

Other issues we've been seeing with the cordwood, is making sure that our mortar mix is just right to ensure no cracking and therefore, no air leaks.  The logs will expand and shrink naturally in the walls, and we would have to caulk up any leaks coming through.  With the strawbale, there won't be any leaks and we feel that it might be a safer bet since we've got one shot at building our house.  Sure it will cost us slightly more per square foot, but we think it will be worth it.

We do still want to build something out of cordwood, and it could be a studio on our property, or a cottage or cabin.

We are still going to document our progress and get really into it when we're ready to build.

The title and meaning of this blog has changed quite a bit, but the goal is still the same.  We want to build a mortgage-free home.    So, our blog is now called 'Building Our Love Nest... Mortgage-Free!', but the web address will have to remain the same.

I am sorry to those who have been following our blog specifically for cordwood purposes.  It's not like we've done much anyway except move into the TS.