On the road again...more lumber!

We made another trip to Colorado to pick up finished lumber and move logs to a new miller out there. We left Thursday and came back on Sunday and what happened in between was not at all what we expected.

First, the new miller, Joel, is amish and a truly wonderful person.  He also help break many of our stereotypes of how the amish live (in a good way).  While his family doesn't use electricity like a modern family, they do have 3 solar panels set up so that they can run an electric well pump, a refrigerator and some lights in the barn.  He uses a diesel sawmill (all hydraulic - its a really nice mill) and has a diesel skid steer to move logs and lumber around.  He carries a cell phone and seems thoroughly versed in all things modern life.  In the end, we felt like we'd found a kindred spirit after visiting with him.  His family of 4 is living in a cabin about the size of the one we're building.  They have chickens and can produce from their garden.  His primary goal is to stay on the farm with his family and we can certainly relate to that.  We look forward to getting to know him better.

Jeremy with one of the 8 loads of logs we hauled.

Jeremy, Joel and Caleb (the little one) in front of the logs we moved Friday

This was physically the easiest trip we've made so far because there was a skid steer with forks at both ends of the trip and Joel is only about 10 miles from Jeremy's grandparents.  We were able to make 7 trips on Friday and 1 on Saturday (Joel wasn't available for most of the day) for a total of about 60 logs moved this trip.  I have to say, Joel clearly has some time in on that skid steer!  He picked logs off the trailer like a pro.  After he was done unloading the last load, he loaded the finished lumber for us.  He had it banded and blocked such that he could pick it up in 2 bundles and place it in the bed of the trailer.  That was WAY easier than loading it by hand like we had been at the other miller. 

Joel unloading the trailer like a pro.

We took the finished wood up to Jeremy's grandparents and his grandpa loaded the two 25 foot long 7x10's that will form the continuous top plates for the cabin.  The finished load looked something like this:

Kids, wood and mountains as we set out for home.

On Saturday, since we weren't moving logs we took the kids around in downtown Westcliff.  It was a pleasant walk around and there are several interesting things to see in the little town.  The day was beautiful and we greatly appreciated the day of almost vacation.  We also got to visit with old friends who were there for the summer.  The weather was beautiful and the scenery can't be beat!

We also got to celebrate Jeremy's grandfather Ott's 86th birthday with him while we were there.  You'd never know the man was 86 by how he gets around!  I took some video of him loading the trailer (it took about 6 minutes for him to load it each time) but it's too large to upload on the blog.  Just know that he's an amazing person (both of Jeremy's grandparents are) and we couldn't have done any of this without him.

The trip back was uneventful until we got to Chapman, KS.  Somewhere around there our passenger rear tire on the trailer blew out.  We discovered that the fender on that side had gotten bent forward somehow and had rubbed the tire away.  We limped to Junction City in hopes of finding someplace open at 6:00 on Sunday to fix it but had no luck.

Very dead wheel...

A couple of very nice people at the Walmart tire center let us park it right under their security cameras as they were closing up.  We then came home, unpacked and went to bed.  Jeremy and the kids will be buying a new tire and rim and making the return trip to Junction City this morning.  Hopefully, all the wood is still on the trailer when they get there and no new craziness will happen.

A Note about Camping Full Time

We have started getting a lot of questions and interesting looks when we explain that our family of 4 is now camping full time without running water or electricity.  It seems that there is a widespread opinion that this must be misery and we will have no end of bad anecdotes to share.  I’m afraid we’ll have to disappoint on that count.  Here are a few of the things we’ve experienced as we move through our second full week living at the farm.

Last night we enjoyed home cooked (and grown) potatoes and cabbage cooked in (home canned) chicken stock with fresh tomatoes.  This was accomplished with very little fuss on a camp stove that we are becoming very adept at using.  Man was it delicious!  While we ate sitting outside around our patio table (that is larger than our old dining room table I might add and the chairs are more comfortable) we were treated to a glorious double rainbow in the Eastern sky.  I can’t remember seeing a rainbow as brilliant as the lower of the two.  It had rained for most of the day so the air was cool but the sun decided to peak out for most of our meal.  I wouldn’t have noticed any of that living in town.

You can see the lower rainbow in this picture clearly

Home cooked cabbage and tomatoes.  Yum!

There are 2 pairs of cardinals and a pair of yellow orioles living in the locust grove.  We get to watch them swoop at each other as they come and go.  There are countless other birds on the farm that pop in and out of our space as we go about our daily life.  It has given Catherine the inspiration to become a bird watcher so she is now cataloging all the different birds she sees. 

As I make my semi-regular middle of the night voyage to the composting toilet in the shed, I often see the most amazing moonlit views around the farm.  We are near the crest of the hill with the trees on the other side dimly visible.  There are no sounds except the occasional insect or owl and the wind in the trees.  It is almost like we are the only people on earth.  When the moon was near full, we could see almost as well as in the daytime making for a stunningly serene and quiet view of the world.  Somehow everything looks a little bit magical when seen in the silver light of the moon.

One day last week I had to walk down to my car at the bottom of the hill before work in the morning.  As I wandered down the driveway enjoying the early morning fresh smell of dewy grass and a light breeze, I realized that I was following a coyote.  He was trotting through the north field on my right, completely oblivious to the fact that I was there.  He moved with the simple grace of an animal that has often come through this field and is on his way to a familiar spot.  We listen to the coyotes call every evening at twilight.  It has become an expected ritual that tells us the day is over and it’s time for bed.

Do all of these things mean that there is no downside to long term camping?  Of course not.  We all miss some of the luxuries of life like a hot shower (camp showers are just not as convenient although we all get clean) and a real refrigerator.  On the whole though, the experience has been far more pleasant that we expected and I really don’t have any complaints.  Soon, the solar panels will be up and wired and then we’ll regain many of our lost comforts (although not the shower).  The kids, in particular, are looking forward to the return of electronic entertainment.  I hope that being able to turn on the lights again won’t make us forget the moonlight or stop looking for the birds though.  We might have to turn them off again to remind ourselves to enjoy where we are.  That is the key to happiness, wherever we may be.

We have mail!

We have achieved another milestone - we have a mailbox!  Thanks to some help from our friend Matt, we also have holes to set the posts for our solar array.  We'll work on setting the posts and getting the rest of the stand up over the next few days. 

Quick update - moved and RAIN!

Since there is not an internet connection on the farm yet, this update will be pretty short.  We are moved!  Everything is out of our old house and the gentleman who is renting it has moved in.  We are settling into life in the RV and shed with few issues.  We also find ourselves re-living some of our ancient ancestor's issues - we have no running water and no electricity.  Luckily, we aren't actually living in the 1800's - we have flashlights, batteries and water available from the spigot by the road.  ;-)

Construction should start on the stand for the solar panels this week with a hopeful goal of having electricity by the end of next week.  Running water will have to wait until the contractor gets here in mid-August, but that's only a couple of weeks away.  Until then, we're doing a bit better than camping, but not much.

On the upside, we've seen baby deer, cayote's, no end of birds (and bugs) and gotten to experience the wonderful silence that comes when you can't hear any man-made sound.  I missed the quiet more than I thought.  It is amazing and so worth it.  You don't realize how much noise there is in town until you're not there.  You also forget how many stars there are - we can see a dazzling number of stars from the farm.  On a really clear night, you can even make out the milky way crossing the sky.  We also got to eat an entirely garden grown meal of cooked cabbage and tomatoes and pan fried potatoes.  So delicious!  Anyway, here are a couple of pictures that I remembered to take.  Hopefully we'll check back in soon with more news!

Home sweet home

Newly brush-hogged top field

Solar components and batteries waiting to be assembled.

Solar panels arrive and moving

For the last 2 weeks we have been steadily moving everything out of our house and into the shed.  We should be completely moved by the end of the weekend (crossing our fingers) so that we can get the house completely cleaned and ready for our renter to start moving in on Wednesday.  There's a rediculously long list of misc. stuff that has to get done for that to happen, but we're working our way through it steadily.

One of the key elements of us living at the farm is having electricity.  A key milestone in that process happened on Tuesday when our solar panels and control system arrived!  We purchased batteries and some other needed cables on Wednesday and started reading the manuals for how to hook this thing up.  Its a mid-sized system at 2.4 kW with 8 batteries.  It should be more than enough to run the RV and, later, the cabin.  Thursday we purchased the electrical panel and associated breakers so that we can eventually have normal electrical connections everywhere.  With a little luck, we'll get the system operational by next weekend.

Then we can work on building the stand for the solar panels to mount on.  That will be a larger project that will have to wait until we get completely moved out of the house.  The gap between getting the panels mounted and us moving to the farm means we will be living power free (read: camping) for a while.  Fortunately, the next 10 days look to be cooperating with unseasonably cool temperatures. 

In other news, we had the farm brush hogged on Monday.  We really needed to get the Sumac cut down so that it will stop spreading.  We hope to get our own brush hog by spring time so that we can maintain it ourselves going forward.  We didn't have time to do that this time though - we're too focused on the move.  It makes quite a difference in how it looks!  Of course, in the busy of moving, we have been lax about taking pictures so you'll have to wait on that for another post...

The moving begins and the garden grows!

Now that the shed is complete, we can start moving out to the farm.  Our house is now a maze of boxes and stacks - some destined for the farm, some waiting on the garage sale in two weeks.  Bit by bit, we're getting there.  Our goal is to be moved and ready to live at the farm by July 14th.  That gives us time to clean the house and have it ready to rent by the last week of July.

We took a load out to the farm this morning and did a bit of work in the garden.  I mulched the bases of our 20 grape plants to help hold in moisture now that the weather is finally acting like summer in Kansas.  I also mulched in the 2 planting beds with our arbor and our rhubarb so that hopefully I won't have to keep weeding it now!  While we were there, we picked several tomatoes, 2 small cabbages and a green pepper.  They will become part of our dinner tomorrow.  ;-)  Here are a few pictures of the garden.

Peppers growing happily

Tomatoes

Newly mulched corner bed

Flowers in the other corner bed

We ordered solar panels and the associated inverter and controls this week also.  With a little luck, it will arrive around the 14th also.  Then we'll have to get the stand built for the solar panels and get the system wired and ready at the farm.  It is a 2kW system that should run the RV and, later, the cabin with no problems.  It can also be expanded later when the house is done. 

Lastly, we said goodbye to some friends of ours that are moving to Norton, KS to continue their journey toward living sustainably.  You can follow their progress on their blog (Hale's homestead on the blog roll on the right).  We'll miss having them in Lawrence but we wish them all the best as they start this new and exciting chapter in their lives!

Building the shed part 2

Another busy week and weekend have passed.  The shed is done except for siding the peaks.  That is waiting for us to finish building my brother's shed (we're work trading on the 2 sheds) because we're going to use some extra pieces of his lap siding to finish it out.  It should give the shed a nice look when it's all done.  Here's our last week in pictures:

Loft inside the shed

Starting to put the vapor barrier on

The (almost) completely wrapped shed

Starting the siding

Jeremy on a hot tin roof!

The current shed...

In other news, we applied for our building permit today!  Once we get the final permit in the mail, we'll be ready to break ground on the cabin.  We've already lined up the contractor for the foundation work, so with a little luck that work will start soon.