A Motto for the Homestead

     It's been a hot minute since I did a homestead blog. It was back in January that I posted the dismal failure of trying to spend time in our cabin with basically no wood. We've been back a couple of times since then and with much greater success! The warming weather was the main factor in that.

     Since the last post, we've gone up and started a log pile. It's nowhere near adequate enough for the winter, but we cut more each time we go up so that it has a chance to season and dry. Honestly, if we plan to spend any time at all up there this winter, we'll probably be looking at buying some seasoned wood to get us through.

     We've also built ourselves a large fire pit. There were a couple of small fire pits that the previous owner had. Apparently, she would light a fire under each of the two tubs she had and use that for bathing. To each their own. We don't need multiple fire pits, so we gathered all of the stones and made one large pit. It's large enough to put our cooking tripod in and also to have a flat stone in the front for pots of water or for extra cooking surface.

Eventually, this fire pit will be turned into our outdoor oven. As we find more rocks and boulders, we'll add to it. Our plan is to build a "workshop shed" behind the house - in the area where the old owner had her little barn. The space between the cabin and the shed will be our little courtyard/outdoor kitchen. 

     Frank was also able to bring up some lawnmowers and such and we got some of the grass trimmed a bit around the yard. We'll keep going, of course, but it was a start to clearing out the space to see what exactly we have to deal with.

       

One of the biggest changes we've mad is to put a new coat of stain on the cabin itself. Yes, we still need to put new siding up, but this will at least protect the wood that's there and keep it from rotting away. Our color scheme is a classic hunter green for the body, a golden yellow ochre for the doors and the trim, when we get it up, will be a traditional deep brown. Frank also made a bath house on the back of the cabin 100% with materials that were already on site. 

The bath house isn't finished yet. We're adding a clear Plastic roof to it to keep the rain out and we'll more than likely add some stones to the "floor". We put one of the tubs in there to use in conjunction with our pump shower that we bought. Our bucket toilet will go out there now too. Let's be honest, no one wants to be in the same room with Frank while he's on the bucket! We also have an older solar panel that will go on the top to charge a battery for lights out there. The final touch will be a painting that I'm sketching out now. It's kitschy and fun and I think it will look awesome.  

     We have a bunch of old wooden shutters that we got for free. Those need to be scraped of their peeling paint and I have to get the hardware to hang them. We also have to get trim for the corners and such. One step at a time though. I think that's turning out to be our new motto!

     This last time we went up, Em was able to come with us and it was great! We got to do some exploring along our little river. We found out that there is a perfect little cooling off spot right as the river comes out from under the road. 

It's a little area about 12 feet across and about 3 or 4 feet deep. I know some people are going to think that it's dirty water that comes from a drainage pipe, but I'm going to stop you right there. This isn't like a drainage pipe under a major roadway with runoff filling in. This is a metal culvert that runs under a dirt road that's only traveled by the one family that lives down the road. The property on the other side of the road is untouched and clean. I have no worries about the quality of this water, for swimming anyhow. The water is perfectly clear and cool, and I know we'll be spending a lot of time here when it's hot out! As is the case with the entire property, there's a lot of dead wood that needs to be cleared out, but this is such a neat little hang out spot! 

We found tiny fish that I think are some sort of minnow or chub and there was a little peeper frog too. I couldn't get a picture of the frog, but here's the fish.

     Emily and I and Jambeau had come down here and were exploring when Frank decided to join us. We ended up going on a spur of the moment adventure walk following the river. We got soaked! We were schlepping through mud and water and muck, and it was probably the most fun we've had in a while. We walked quite a ways down before we came to an area that we just couldn't cross. We realized it was time to turn around when Frank got stuck in the mud and almost lost his pants! I've never laughed so hard. It was awesome. Frank and Emily found a spot that they want to build a tree fort - they'd dubbed it Cedar Island. It's a clump of land surrounded by the swamp that has 2 cedar (I think) trees on it lol. One of the trees has fallen over but looks to be usable. We'll see what they make of this little project. 

By the time we made our way back to the cabin we were all wet and mud-covered and our boots were a little worse for wear. You should've seen Frank's sneakers! Frank took the worse of it after falling in the swamp, so he got to be the first one to try out the new pump shower. Even Jambeau got a bath that day!

I could go on and on about all the fun we had and all of the things we discovered or learned, but I'll leave it for now. I think we're going back up in a week or so, hopefully for an even longer time this time. There will be more stories, more pictures, more plans. But as always, one step at a time.