Going Batty

After a day of installing insulation, we had a pretty good system down. The batts are an eco-friendly type... without treatment of chemicals like formaldehyde.

That's all, for now, folks! You'll have to wait another week or so for pics of the interior.   :)

Exterior & Windows

The exterior covering is very simple... tyvek, plywood and slab wood over the seams (not done yet so pics of that detail will be later).

The windows are double pane, of course, two are single hung, one is a slider and a double hung for in the loft.

The Roof

In the words of my nephew "You now have a shelter."

roof joists

osb

tar paper

galvalume metal in place

Raising Walls

A group of wonderful, salt of the earth folks (friends and relatives all!) came for a day, and many scattered days thereafter, to help with this project. We are thankful beyond words. You know who you are!!!

wall #1- north side

wall #2- east side

all four!

loft floor joists

upper walls to support the roof

A Bunkhouse

After a famine of posts, get ready for a feast! We have been crazy busy building a bunkhouse. It's 12 x 12 feet, on skids, with a shed style roof, built with passive solar design in mind with lumber milled from our own trees. Very cool. And cute! 

In future, guests will have a cozy, private little space all their own! With amazing mountain view of the other side of the creek valley.

 A series of posts with construction photos follow.

Here are pics of the floor...

built upside down, insulation and skids are added

turning it over

putting on the plywood flooring

dragging it into location

They Fly By

 Looking back on the last year we have so much to be grateful for. Ranching together for one thing! Spring started with baby animals galore: 25 Speckled Sussex chicks, 5 English Shepherd puppies (one never left!), 3 American Milking Devon calves, and a few bunnies. It was quite a springing! ~ We were excited to be invited by the Washington State University extension office to present a rabbit workshop at their local livestock production seminar. ~ We had the pleasure of heartwarming visits from family far away! ~ Reconstructing the fallen bridge has been slow due to unusually wet weather and other setbacks. Priorities can change in the blink of an eye out here. ~ We started building our cabin! ~ The late fall arrival of a small spinner’s flock of Shetland sheep- you should see their stunningly beautiful fleece. ~ And we’ve made so many good friends in our new hometown!

Summer stayed late, and winter arrived late but it’s here for the duration. Last Sunday night over a foot of powdery snow fell. So far this winter we’ve received close to 3 feet, but 2 of that melted during the above-average warm Nov/Dec. With overnight temperatures predicted to drop far below 0 for the next couple days, now it’s a matter of making sure we all keep warm enough. It's been strange weather!

2013 promises to be unlike any other year in many ways. What changes are you personally excited about? We look forward to concentrating on growing more food as we install the vegetable and herb gardens as well as a small berry patch; the cabin will be completed… we can hardly wait to move in; preserving some of the harvest; learning to work with our first crop of wool; and being creative in doing more with less.

One thing is certain… the year will fly by as usual!

Now It Begins

The weeds are cleared, corners staked, holes dug, roofing/insulation ordered. What do these things add up to? We have begun work on our tiny cabin!

Yes, it is a bit late in the season to begin. But my health and our sanity won’t allow another winter in the fifth wheel. So we’re racing the weather to get the concrete into the post holes. Once that is done the floor and roof need to go up quickly, too. From then on it won’t be as much of a race. With it being so small (18x18) it also won’t take long to go up. We have lots of friends willing to help, so we’ll host a cabin raising - complete with hot coffee/chocolate, muffins, soup, etc. for our hard-working helpers!

Photo 1- clearing the weeds off cabin site

Photo 2- weeds all gone

Photo 3- Greer "helps" with hubs for marking corners

Simple Solar Homesteading

  
  The following is a press release from a guy who is inspiring people everywhere to live more simple and sustainable lives they build with their own hands. A version of his tiny cabin is what we plan to build ourselves! For anyone interested, his book is chock-a-block full of incredible ideas easily implemented. We highly recommend it!

  "LaMar Alexander is a long time homesteader and author that lives off-grid in the 14x14 solar cabin he built for under $2000. His cabin power comes from a small 570 watt solar and wind system that runs his lights, water pump, TV, laptop, and other gadgets. The cabin includes a rain water and gray water harvesting system and he hand drilled his own water well. He uses a solar composting toilet of his own design for handling waste. Propane is used for a small 20,000 BTU heater, fridge, and on-demand water heater.

  LaMar also uses many passive solar features in his cabin including solar air heaters, a solar water heater, solarium porch, and passive cooling. With no house payments and no monthly utility bills LaMar has been able to leave the 9-5 rat race and now runs a small part time business and spends most of his time pursuing his hobbies of fishing, gardening, and writing books.

  If you are interested in a simple solar homesteading life LaMar has a new book titled "Off the Grid" that is 355 pages full of his designs and detailed step-by-step plans for building a solar cabin, solar composting toilet, solar air and water heaters, and teaches you how to hand drill a water well and make your life and homestead sustainable.

  Visit his website for more information: http://www.simplesolarhomesteading.com."

LaMar's simple solar cabin

Simple Solar Homesteading Lamar Alexander is a long time Homesteader and author that lives off-grid in the 14x14 solar cabin he built for under $2000. His cabin power comes from a small 570 watt solar and wind system which runs his lights, water pump, TV, laptop, and other gadgets. The cabin includes a rain water and gray water harvesting system and he hand drilled his own water well. He uses a solar composting toilet of his own design for handling waste. Propane is used for a small 20,000 BTU heater, fridge and on-demand water heater.

LaMar also uses many passive solar features in his cabin including solar air heaters, a solar water heater, solarium porch, and passive cooling.  With no house payments and no monthly utility bills LaMar h