by Heidi Madsen | Sep 30, 2014 | The House Build
That’s right! The posts have arrived!! Can you even believe it?! After all this time, it seems like a mirage that they are actually here!
Many thanks to our extremely patient apprentice, Shelley, for her continued help this season. While I was busy trying to keep the kiddos out of the way (and not doing a very good job of it), she and Jonathan managed to get the system down for setting the first 3 posts. Only 30 more to go! Hopefully, it will start to go a bit quicker now that they worked out a good strategy.
Do you see all those changing colors in the landscape? Yup, Mother Nature is reminding us daily of the shifting seasons. (Scarlet keeps noticing too and reminding us that it will soon be her 4th birthday. She knows she is named after the intensely beautiful color of the leaves on the day she was born.)
Soon enough the snow will fly. And how far will we be on the house when this happens? That is the looming question for us. Stay tuned for updates!
by Heidi Madsen | Sep 11, 2014 | Natural Building, The House Build
Have you heard the news?? We passed our initial building inspection last month! And we have some other really good news to share, too! An amazing investor has reached out and loaned us the initial funds to get the insulated outer shell of the house complete…possibly by winter! We just placed the order for the posts and roof lumber yesterday! Yahoo!!!
We have, however, continued to face some hurdles to with the inspector, getting approval for our unconventional building materials and metho
ds. The latest is that we need to send in another $1200 to apply for a special exception to build our below grade wall with earthbags. (The other option is using treated, AKA toxic, lumber.)
As deeply frustrating as these hurdles are, indulging in the drama, of course, does no good. It is good practice for us to learn to be awesome in the face of these challenges. (Exhausted sigh.)
In case you missed the short video tour of the house site and building plans, you can watch it HERE.
by Heidi Madsen | Sep 5, 2014 | Kids Classes
Earth Warriors was a blast today! So much to explore as summer slowly shifts into fall here.
A game of Cougar Stalking Deer…a kid favorite!
Gotcha! Back to the starting line!
And Scarlet gets the deer!
Practicing stalking and listening skills
Goldenrod!
“Woah! The autumn olives are ripe!”
Yum!
“I’m gonna pick these for mom!”
Jonathan taking a rest during sit spot time
The most perfect mushroom!
Nature journals
Sharing our nature journals after our Sit Spot time
Sharing what they saw, heard, and smelled
Concentrating on capturing those thoughts
by Heidi Madsen | Aug 1, 2014 | Natural Building, Off-Grid Living, The House Build
We’ve had lots of questions about our house plans, so we thought we’d give you all a tour! Many thanks to Dan Noyes of Vesper Eco-Architecture for his unbelievable help in making this a reality!!
For more on how we are doing with our time crunch with the building inspectors, please visit:
www.GoFundMe.com/BluebirdHillHomestead
by Heidi Madsen | Jul 28, 2014 | Everything Else
That was the most people we’ve fit in our tipi so far! We so enjoyed Saturday’s Herb Walk and Medicine Making with Erin Piorier. Thanks to all who came out for the day!
