up and running

last weekend, during the first gathering of the season, the timber frame workshop at destiny came back to life with chisels, planes, squares, pencils and lots of laugther, a brief review and introduction to timber framing and a couple of good days of work during which we started carving the cross beams that will tie the three bents of the kitchen together.

the timbers survived the winter well, a bit drier now that six months has passed, a bit mildewed here and there (lesson: do not tarp your timbers too tightly) but nothing that a few swipes of a plane won't remedy.

our plan is to complete the timber cutting over the next five weeks and raise it in the first week of july. i'm not sure how exactly we'll raise it. there are a few options. my inclination, though i'm not sure it's the smartest way to go, is to put raise small sections that can be lifted by a small number of people rather than lifting the entire 50-foot bent which will weigh in the thousands of pounds. the frame is set up in such a way that two column sections can be lifted into place and secured independently, then tied together once they're all raised.

the picture...hmmmm

work begins!

From Bambi:

Work began this past weekend with Moss, Matt, Daisy, Zinnnia, Michel, Symbient, Wave & myself showing up for three days of lovely weather. Ken from Newfane stopped by for a visit on Monday.

All of the spring flowers were popping out all over along with the garden seeds planted at the last work weekend. The variety of vilolets: yellow, light blue, and whites along with a flowering dogwood near the brook made way for sightings of trout lily and spring beauties. Three deer were sighted in the new meadow munching along a perimeter of of dafodils and we found beer tracks in the mud near the workshop area.

We all worked on mapping out a schedule for the work (something which I'll post on the website calendar), disussed next steps before Whitman begins, cleaned out the kitchen, splitting the summer's firewood (thanks Moss for hauling the splitter down), filling drums for wash water, and seeding in the new meadow with conservation mix and red clover. We also set up the workshop with the red frame & tarps as well as heralding the arrival of the timber framing tools.

Wave has arrived to start his extended stay on the land until early June. Please make a point of visiting to say hullo. We're planning on having work weekends every weekend in the foreseeable future to begin work on the timbers again. The hope it to have dedicated crews pull things together so we can raise the walls at the Governess gathering. Come on up and help out with the timber framing, tend the garden, or help out with making meals.

While we were on the land, we'd hoped to make it down to Azteca to have a well deserved dinner out. Well sadly, it's closed. We'll have to look into options for getting water and a good burrito. We ended up at Nick's Sports Bar and had the place to ourselves harrying the barkeep with orders of curly fries as we switched the TV to the Nature channel. We also made it down to the diner in Chester where we crammed into a booth (for a bit) and were treated to a sample of some fine custard. Yum. I won't mention the run to Baba-a-Louis for cream puffs and other pastries.

Thaddeus was able to make it up to gravel and grade the road, something which was sorely needed after amazing mud! We're asking folks to try to drive up the road slowly! Put your vehicle in a lower gear, it will give your engine more torque to make up the hill and it won't rip up the fresh gravel.

See you all on the land!