Building Update: I've been framed!

As the leaves have fallen from the trees this autumn the wooden frame of my dwelling has risen into place, much thanks to Bishop's help and expertise.  He's heaved the rafters into place, as well, and now I'm nailing lots of hurricane clips to hold the rafters tight.

Bishop works on a rafter.

"Lightweight", he murmurs, teasingly, when I hammer for only an hour then take a break.  Well, I do have rotator cuffs to think about, and they're feeling a little worn about now.  And for good reason.

"It will take longer than you think."  How many of you have told me that?  "AND it will cost more than you think," you lovingly follow.

Okay.  Okay.  You're RIGHT.  I'm losing my race with ol' man winter, and fast.

It's amazing how much work goes into each aspect of the building.  I've scoured the woods for locust trees for the center support post and deck supports (thanks, Diana, for your locust).  I've hauled lumber and sand and rock, and lugged stones in buckets for the foundation drain (thank so much, Nancy, for your help, and your truck, and for wood).  I've "rubbled" the outside face of the foundation.  This means filling the voids created by the round tires with rubble held in place by dollops of concrete (my idea, to help stabilize the stones), and also by chicken wire tacked onto the tires.  See the photo below for a view of the "rubbled" foundation.  

A "rubbled" tire foundation.

And where do I get the rubble?  The rubble comes from sifting the clay soil that I'll be using for the mud-slip (cob) overlay of the straw bale walls, which means first making the screen to sift the soil.  And there is no magic to sifting soil.  It is done one shovel-full at a time.

Sifting soil.  I'm proud of my sifter!

 An alternative to rubbling the foundation is filling the tire voids with discarded plastic bottles packed into crevices with mud slip or cob, but that requires preparation of lots more cob and, hence, lots more sifting of soil.  Further, cob in contact with the ground develops moisture problems, so I am opting for rubbling my foundation with stone and then creating a rock wall overlay.  I've had the good fortune of beginning the rock wall overlay during a recent warm spell, and I absolutely LOVE the process, the artistry and patience of it.  However, the remainder of the wall may have to wait until a season of reliably warm weather returns.

Rock wall overlay of foundation.

Meanwhile, I may rest awhile, finally, and enjoy — to my surprise — a wondrous change of scene that has occurred; for as the autumn leaves fell, the summertime view of the garden on the sunny slope with birds streaming past gave way to a stunning panorama of misty mountains to the south and east!  What a delight! — a mountain-top view for six months at a time and then the forest garden for the other half of year — all without changing my seat!  As much work as it is to create, I think I'll want to keep this seat for a very long time.