Home Construction Progress

The exterior work is nearing completion.  The metal roof is on, as well as the gutters.  The roof needs some finishing touches, and we are still digging trenches for the drainage pipes.  Most of the cedar plywood siding with battens has been put up, as well as window trim.  Jeff and I did most of the staining of those things.  The cypress siding and corrugated metal wainscoting and accent pieces on the south and east sides of the house will be put up soon.

In landscaping developments, some additional clearing and grading around the house was done. We needed to do more clearing on the south side of the house in order to allow the low winter sun to shine through our south facing windows and warm the house in the cold months.  We cleared the area all the way down to where a seasonal stream runs through the middle of our property.  The area was seeded with tall fescue grass, which we watered with a bunch of sprinklers until the rains finally came.

A ten foot area was terraced along the south side of the house, a driving path was created to the west entrance to the house, and rocks and fill dirt were added to fill in the areas behind the concrete walls and direct water away from the house.  I have placed mulch, lots of rocks and some plants along the steep slope of the terrace.

The interior finishing has just begun, with the process of polishing the concrete floors getting underway today.  The framing of the walls will happen next.  We are also working on decisions regarding insulation and HVAC systems.

Groovy Green

The house has been covered with a green zip system sheathing, which is the type of sheathing recommended by Southface for energy efficiency. The cedar siding is going on now, as well as the soffit and some windows.  The roof will be completed as soon as all the materials arrive.

Although it has been quite dry lately, we have been able to keep the gardens green.  This is my big garden at Twisted Oak, in which I'm growing okra, sunflowers, basil, tomatoes, black eyed peas, sweet potatoes, and luffa and gourds on the big trellis on the far end of this photo.  The tomatoes are coming in well now, and the okra are just starting to be ready for harvest.  I'm cooking tomatoes in the solar cooker and can't wait to make my first batch of gazpacho of the summer.  Jeff and I are also feeling inspired to try making a Bloody Mary mix as well.  :-)

Roof Trusses

Much progress has been made since the last home construction update.  Forrest and his crew have been working hard, and the exterior walls have been framed and the roof trusses are in place.  It is nice to now be able to see the actual shape of the house.

A well has been drilled on the east side of the house.  A goodly flow of water was attained at 365 feet down.  Hooray!  The septic field was put in off the lower west side of the house.

The plumbing and electrical work was completed behind the house, so most of the trench was finally filled in with gravel.  Raine had fun playing in the mounds of gravel that were piled behind the house before the trench was filled.  The roof decking materials, stacked by the remaining pile of gravel, will go up next.  A rock sculpture garden is also being constructed at the house site.  :-)

Springtime!

It is definitely springtime on the farm.  Pretty flowers are blooming, especially the irises and daisies right now, and baby animals are being born.  Geneva, our herd matriarch, gave birth to twin girls this past weekend.  Just like their mother, the twins are all white and have cute little wattles.  Mother and kids are doing well, and we enjoy sitting in the field, cuddling with the new kids.

Two Sweet Kids

Another new arrival this weekend was a young rooster that we got from some of our farmer friends (thanks, Michael and Veronica!).  He's a handsome Asian Blue chicken, which is a new breed of chicken that is supposed to grow quickly and be good for both meat and eggs. We hope that he is also good at producing offspring, since our flock has dwindled to only 7 hens.  Raine is excited about the possibility of having new baby chicks on the farm.


The garden is coming along fairly well.  I had germination problems with my carrots, and most of the ones that did come up were swiftly gobbled up by something.  However, my beets and sugar snap peas are doing great.  The bush peas are flowering already.  The greens are also coming along well, and I am in the process of transplanting lots of tomatoes.

New home construction update coming soon!
-Annie

Framing the Walls

The temporary electrical service was set up, with an underground power cable, and now the framing of the walls is underway.

Clearing for the well has been completed, so we can get the well drilled soon, and the clearing for the septic system is in progress.  Lastly, a few more oak trees were felled, adding to the hickory and other oaks we have harvested from our land, all of which will go to the mill soon to be prepped for interior finishing purposes.

In farm news, we have lost a few chickens this winter to a winged predator.  Boo!!  Otherwise, the electric poultry netting, that we began using about a year ago, has cut down tremendously on predator issues.  New additions to our little goat herd are expected this spring, as Geneva is definitely starting to show now.  In the garden, sugar snap peas and carrots are sprouting, and beets shouldn't be far behind.  I transplanted onions recently, and a variety of greens have been started in the sunny mudroom window.  Soon, I will start lots of tomatoes!  Raine looks forward to planting a little flower garden this spring.  :-)

-Annie

House concrete work done

The concrete slab has been poured, so now we have a floor and a wall.  Temporary electrical service will be installed by the beginning of next week, so that the work of framing in the house can begin.

We are now down to three goats: an all-white herd, including the two guardian dogs.  Timbuktu went to a new home, and this year's two male kids were harvested this past weekend.  Jeff and a friend (thanks, Patrick!) did the slaughtering and processing.  Raine was a little sad about saying goodbye to Timbuktu, but he expressed some relief as well about not having to watch out for him anymore, re: getting "Timbuked," as Raine put it. There was a time or two when the buck reared up at Raine in warning, when Raine's play with him became too rough.  Raine's thoughts about the slaughter ranged from planning to help the goats escape to wondering when he would be old enough to shoot the gun .  We discussed our process in terms of how we try to minimize any pain and suffering, and Raine sweetly asked for a photo of the two goats so he could remember and keep them with him.

A White Christmas, Twisted Oak-Style

Happy Holidays,
Annie

House Construction Begins!

The pole barn has been completed, and it finally stopped raining long enough to begin concrete work on the house.  The concrete wall on the north side of the house has now been poured and water-proofed.  The concrete wall is 6 feet high, and it will be largely underground, when construction is complete.

Raine was excited about the cement mixer trucks coming

Interior View of Wall

Exterior View of Wall

The next step in construction is to have the plumbing and electrical work done that will go into the concrete slab, which we hope can be poured in the next couple of weeks.  However, we just got about another inch of rain last night, and the forecast is not entirely favorable.

The heavy fall rains did not appear to negatively affect the new fescue pasture we planted, and we will see how the ryegrass planting around the garden and barn areas does, given last night's heavy rain.  In other farm news, we have been busy with the fall harvest (mostly pumpkins, carrots, and beets), planting garlic, and selling some goats.  We decided to downsize our herd, while we focus on the construction, so we've sold our two Spanish does, and we will soon sell the Kiko buck.  We're keeping the three Kiko does, one of whom will hopefully have been bred by the buck, before he goes to a new home.  We're looking into the possibility of using a provider of artificial insemination services to breed the does in the future instead of getting another buck.  It would be nice to not have to manage a buck and to better plan the timing of kidding.  No more surprise kids while we're on vacation!

-Annie