Off The Beaten Path

Getting all the correct angles for the studwall was complicated. We had a line stretched to take the measurements from, but stringlines blow in the wind, no matter how tightly you try to stretch them. We got them cut, though, and erected. Given the wind here, studs CANNOT be left to stand free. They must…

When the wind is high (which is quite frequently here), being up on top is simply unsafe, at least until there are strapped walls on all four sides. So when the weather is unfavourable, we find work on ground level. Up until this point, we had been scaling the outsie of the building in order…

Homesteading from scratch, on a frayed shoestring budget, with small children is an incredible challenge. We try to make sure they understand why we are leading the life we are, but they are kids. They miss electricity and running water. The occasionally mourn the loss of our house, which was comforting and familiar. Their whole…

Once the tall posts were up and temporarily braced to the middle of the floor, they needed permanent diagonal wind braces as well. These aren’t terribly difficult to install — just a matter of marking and cutting the correct angle — but they are finicky and precise. Attaching them to a precariously high wall with…

We weren’t in any hurry to set the the tall wall posts. We procrastinated that job as hard as we possibly could, if I’m being honest. We found plenty to keep us busy, though The short posts needed to be leveled and shimmed, and needed an offset double sillplate and an edge cap, to begin…

We were finally finished the first floor and ready to frame in the second. We’re dealing with a single-plane roof, so one side is a 3 foot wall, the middle is 5-something and the tall wall is 8 ft. The tall wall intimidated the heck out of us, so we began with the short side.…

The supplemental joists arrived, so we had work to do. Alone. Time to find out how well we were paying attention to instructions on the build day. In a way, the joists were the easiest thing we’ve done. No measuring, no cutting, just put them up, make sure they’re in the right spot, toenail them…

While our reasons for stepping out on this crazy journey of ours were largely practical, reasons are rarely one-dimensional. There are almost always layers and nuances to a choice this large. I have a calling to heal land: every human does, to a degree. We were created to tend and steward and bring abundance to…

Once the concrete had a chance to cure, it was time for a good old-fashioned Raisin’. About 5 families gathered together to get us going on the build. A very large pack of kiddos ran wild doing what kiddos do, and the adults strapped on toolbelts and hauled out tools and generators and work gloves…

We all have things that make us who we are; formative influences and experiences. Sometimes, these are positive things, sometimes negative, but the sum of these, and our reactions to them, help to determine the course of our lives. What is vastly interesting is that three people can experience the same things, and each may…