Hi everyone, this is just a quick update to tell you that the roof is almost completely sheathed...

And the second load of straw came in right off of the field! (450 Bales)

Here I am screwing around (I LOVE drillin' and screwin' with my power tools!)...

And see what we did...put up the bamboo poles that we'll tie the straw to...when we build our walls.

Speaking of building walls...Thanks to all who have offered help (and moral support)...we could still use a few more volunteers for our wall raising August 8 and August 9. If you know of people who have dreamed about building there own home...pass on the info...they might be interested in this type of house. See the previous article for all of the info.

You've all heard stories or seen movies about ol' fashioned barn raisings...well, we're having an ol' fashioned wall raisin' (and probably some hell raisin' too!). It's a happenin' the weekend of Aug 8th & 9th! Put on your ol' duds...don't come in no fancy clothes...

Now, ifn you think you are too old, or too frail, to be liftin' a bale of straw ... well, you figured wrong, because this will be a team effort...and there will be lots of things to do...

Besides the liftin', there will be sewin' (that's right...we're going to sew the bales together so their nice'n' tight) and there will be stuffin' (that's right...stuffin' extra straw into the cracks and crevices in our new wall)...

If we get far enough...there might even be plasterin'...a mighty muddy job!

So bring work gloves (rubber gloves will be provided if we actually start plastering), and loose fitting long sleeve shirts because the straw tends to scratch a bit...oh, and don't forget sunscreen. We will provide the eats and the drinks...lots o munchies during the day, a picnic dinner on Saturday, and pizza and karoake at the Wooden Nickel on Sunday!

The address is 810 S. Meridian, Mason, Michigan. Please RSVP to coni.barlow@wayne.edu if you're planning on coming. We want to make sure we have enough for everyone to eat and drink.

If you're planning just a visit, we ask that you plan on coming a different weekend (we will be there all the rest of the summer and well into the fall!), when we can give you our undivided attention.

Note: There are honey bees on the property. If you are allergic, please take proper precautions.

Dare I say it again...a lot has happened since my last entry! First came the shear walls...these are structural walls made of 2 by 4s and OSB to give them more strength.

Then came all of the trusses and then some of the roof sheathing...but that makes it sound so simple...watch how it goes up in pictures...

I call this one 'Man and Machine...They are one'. I'm not sure that he planned it this way ...notice, he even wore matching clothing...but you can tell by the look on his face...he's ready for the task at hand!

Let's begin...up goes a truss...the first of many!

This looks like a giant lego set...

And the men, they're as good at balancing as my grand-daughters on the balance beam, and they do it in boots!

And they work fast!

The next two remind me of the saying 'Now you see it...now you don't' but in reverse... The garage...

The garage with roof...

The first sheath goes up...and then they had to stop for the day...it was a little scary up there with the wind blowing...and I don't blame them one little bit.

But they were hard at it the next day ...

Notice anything different? Besides the fact that half the roof is finished...?

That's right! The straw has arrived! 150 bales are now sitting inside the garage...

And now...for our comercial break...

Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself...when last we left off, some posts had been installed...well next comes the beams!

The beam go up...

The beam comes down...

See Jane, all the beams are on...

And what a difference a beam makes...the floor with the posts seemed small for some reason...but the beams add such mass, the house feels huge...even though the footprint didn't change.

I took the weekend off to take part in a Cancer Relay in Houghton Lake with some of my best buds...and still managed to finish fixing the leaky trailer roof (something that has been on my list for some time)!

As far as farm news...the strawberries are just about gone...the peas were ripe for the pickin'...mmmm, fresh peas! Can't resist eating them raw right out of the pod...but am hoping to save some for creamed tuna with peas on toast! Next up is the raspberries...a few teaser berries were ripe...enough to make our mouth water for what is to come...

But I digress...the trusses arrived on Monday, just before I left to come back to the city...on a really big truck. I thought it was going to be a big job to unload that truck...little did I know...

The trusses go up...

The trusses come down...well, in this picture, they start their downward journey...

And as the truck pulls away, they land with a really loud bang!

Happy 4th of July! I keep saying this but a LOT has happened. The old farm just 'ain't' what it used to be...

The boys brought more toys and then played in the mud...and when they were all done, we had a floor!

And then there were posts...pictured is the very first post, set after a lot of discussion, measuring, sawing, and looking through that little view finder thingy. (This is why they do not let girls play...)

And this is what it looked like after the very first day of setting posts!

And while all of that was happening, the bulldozer came back and made us a pond...or at least, the start of the pond. The plan is to catch rain-water off of the roof and flow it to the pond where it will be used to water the gardens.

And lastly, our shed, whose door never got put on last winter, became the birthplace of 4 little swallow babies...who, as you can see below, are just about ready to leave the nest. And before I left on Monday, did just that. Now we are re-considering putting on the door...it seems that swallow babies come back to the site of their birth-nests...and build their own nests. We like the little swallow babies so much, we might not be able to put the door on.

Well a lot has happened...I am now down to 60% time at work and this is my first really long weekend at the farm. I'm now re-thinking things and thinking about going back to work full-time...to save my aching back!

This picture titled 'Boys and their toys'. What they once did with several men and shovels is done by one man and one shovel with 'more power'. Here you see him adding fill dirt as a base for our future floor.

Then they added pea gravel, and then more insullation and re-bar.

Then our work began...we laid nine 300 foot rolls of pex tubing for our radiant floor heat! We laid it loosely at first, and then Don left for a much needed mini-vacation to the GLREA Energy Fair in Manistee and I began the process of tying 10,000 electrical ties!

...and then you see it laid all nice and neat!

Besides the work on the floor, they did the rough grade.

And we got water! Well, we had the well for some time but Bud came and installed a loaner pump that we can run with our generator. Yeah! No more carrying water from Royal Oak, or begging it from our neighbors.

And finally, a little side note...as if I didn't have enough to do this weekend in 90+ degree heat...our bees decided (while I was there alone) that their hive was a little too crowded. So they swarmed. I heard the ruckus when I stopped to get a drink of water...happily, they didn't go far. They landed on a nearby pear tree while they decided where to go next. I suited up and sprayed them down with sugar water and gently brushed them into a garbage can to hold them while I prepared their new home. Our one hive is now two.

Next, they lay the floor!