Trading up to Simplicity

[highlander]

Well Im glad to be with all of you here at BWH. I've been reader for years and decided to join the fun. My wife and I are once and for all checking out of mainstream suburban life (for the second time) and heading back to the VA mountains this year. If only our bloated suburban home would sell! Patience I guess. We own 117 acres in Highland County VA, the least populated county east of the Mississippi. We scrimped, saved, flipped land, traded up, and finally own this parcel. We actually moved to this extremely rural locale in 1996 to raise our only child on a farm and learned so much about self sufficiency, farming, lambing, maple syrup, community spirit, service to others and struggle. But we were lured back to the city in 2002 by the almighty $$$. Never again. Our son is now in college and we are preparing to return for good to our land and develop it into our functional farmstead. We hope to learn from others on this forum, share our past mistakes and chronicle our progress. For the past 8 years- since leaving Highland for the $$$, we have felt like fish out of water. Once you have lived in such a good, small mountain community, its hard to adjust back to the rat race. But we did and slowly let our guard down. The last 2 years have reminded us what really matters- self sufficiency and serving a close knit community. We moved back and got complacent- acquiring too many things we don't need and straying from our values- never again. We have built a small 500 sq. ft. cabin on our place to use as HQ for the next 2 years as we build our barns, root cellar, restore old pastures and develop orchards. Then we will build an additional home, with PV and small wind and use the first cabin as a guest house. I plan on sawing all lumber for all structures off my land with my own bandsaw. Here are a couple pics of our land and the new cabin. I'll post more as we get busy. Good homesteading to all! oops-- it says I cant post attachments. Well I have blog coming in the next week or so to point to!

[dademoss]

Welcome to the fun, it sounds like a wonderful place you are going back to.

[LJH]

Welcome! We both grew up rural and got captured by the city for a while too, came to the same conclusion and fled back to God's country for good. Looking forward to your blog.

[highlander]

Thanks. At what point on this forum do you get the ability to post pics?

[kawalekm]

Welcome Highlander

We're in a similar situation now. We're finishing our cabin now, with running water inside just this last summer, and the woodstove going in now. Our solar panels are bought and payed for and ready to go up also as weather permits. Got our orchard in the ground already and waiting for the fruit to come. Once they do, we'll be having a slow-food festival at our place, all cooked on our own woodstove.

As for posting pictures, you need a photobucket (or equivelent) account, which you post your pics at. You then insert photos like this

[img]www.yourlocation.com/whateverpic[img]

Can't wait to see your pics.

Michael

[Anon001]

As for posting pictures, you need a photobucket (or equivelent) account, which you post your pics at. You then insert photos like this

www.yourlocation.com/whateverpic[img]

Can't wait to see your pics.

Michael

Except you have an error in your closing tag. It should be . But,... even easier is to use the icon above this message window that looks like a mountain. Click on it and just type in the URL and that's it.

You should also read the Picture Posting Etiquette first. We ask that photos be no wider than 650 pixels and no larger than 50K.

I look forward to seeing your photos.

Paul

P.S. I would suggest starting a new thread with your progress and photos under "Homesteading".

[AlchemyAcres]

Thanks. At what point on this forum do you get the ability to post pics?

Welcome to the forum!

I've had other new members ask the same question.

Apparently there's a restriction on new member's posting pictures until you've participated in the forum for a bit!!!???

I assume it's to discourage SPAM!

Seems like a formal notice would be a good idea!

Edited to add: I guess it is in the FAQs, but stated very generally and a bit obscurely!

"Your Member Level may permit you to attach a file to your post. If it does, the option will appear on the New Post page."

I wonder how many new members get discouraged a leave before they can further participate in the forum???



~Martin

[Anon001]

Martin,

Even though a new person can't add a pic as an attachment, I was thinking they could still post it inserted in the text with the image icon. Am I wrong?

Paul

[AlchemyAcres]

Martin,

Even though a new person can't add a pic as an attachment, I was thinking they could still post it inserted in the text with the image icon. Am I wrong?

Paul

I don't think so, but don't know for sure
All the image icon does is automatically add the tags.

Highlander or any other unconfirmed member, does the the image icon http://i50.tinypic.com/208fsw4.gif appear in the New Message box?


~Martin

[sinzitu]

Highlander - best of luck on your new venture. Sounds like you are back on the right track.

Dibs on the guest cabin... I keed I keed :wink:

[briddygirl]

I enjoyed reading your post, I am new to this forum and am hoping to learn a LOT from others like you. You've seen both sides of the fence...we live in Northern VA -- the rat race has gotten to both my husband and I....I have always wanted to move away from the rats, but since we have a large family my husband has to be close to his job--4 of our 8 kids are either in college or graduated and the others attend private schools b/c although they say "Fairfax County schools are the best" --well, I beg to differ......I love Virginia and would like to go more south to find a place to call home.....I have 2 horses, so I want to have a place where I can go out in the back to care for them and not have to travel 8 miles to tend to them (I am renting a barn now so I can afford to care for them and have a few boarders to help with expenses) -- we are going to get some chickens this spring. We've always had a rather large garden that my husband tends to but we may downsize a bit and just focus on certain vegetables and herbs this year since we've had bad luck for the past few seasons (because neighboring trees have grown so large and shaded a lot of our yard!). We, too, have always felt a little like fish out of water here....have a nice house, but we don't drive fancy cars, and we don't go on ski vacations, etc. --- and yes, I feel that it would be trading UP....not down!!!!
Anyways....let me know when you start your blog...would love to read!

[firegirl969]

Welcome to both of you newcomers! I look forward to reading more about your progress.

[Jan]

Yes a blog would be great. Will be fun to read and see your progress. Sounds like a wonderful place you have there.

[kiwirach]

Hi and welcome Highlander.....another here who would be interested in reading your blog, so please post a link as soon as you're able:).

[momma_to_seven_chi]

Will it allow you to simply upload your image to photo bucket and then put a direct link? I don't even try to understand the whole picture posting thing. Just use a link to another site.

[highlander]

Martin:

I dont see that link or I'm not looking right....I'll try to figure out the photobucket thing or hopefully my blog will be ready this week. I've been up at the cabin for the last two days in snow squalls and windy drifting. It just does not melt much there. 14 degrees this am at 3,000 ft. as we left to return to suburbia.

Spent the weekend catching up with old friends, stoking the woodstove, cursing the dead battery in my tractor, re-reading A Sand County Almanac, tromping through 2 feet of crusted snow to get up to my back fields and check on my wildlife feeders and replace 6 volt batteries in them, and trimmed off a lot of small saplings along the woods roads in order to create some brouse for the wildlife. What a workout- a mile in that stuff is like 4 miles of jogging.

The deer kind of stood there and watched all my commotion. They looked bewildered- like "please don't make us have to run in this". Thanks to all. I look forward to sharing ideas with everyone! Chuck

[TNDadx4]

Welcome to both of our newcomers!

Chuck - I'd love to read your blog too once you get it up and running. It sounds like you and your wife are right on track.

"Trading up" is definately what it is. I try to do something... anything each day to get me closer to my goal of self-sufficiency and simplicity. Bringing my kids along is a lot harder, but can be done.

[Anon001]

I dont see that link or I'm not looking right....I'll try to figure out the photobucket thing or hopefully my blog will be ready this week.

If you can see it, it will look like this:

http://cedarshillfarm.com/bhmphotos/insertimage.gif

If you can't see any icons above the text box, you need to check your settings.

To do that:

1. In the green navigation bar above, click on "Member CP".
2. In the left column, scroll down until you find "Edit Options". Click on it.
3. Scroll almost to the bottom of the new page to the block that is titled "Miscellaneous Options".
4. In the drop down menu, select "Enhanced Interface - Full WYSIWYG Editing".
5. Click on "Save Changes".

That should bring up the formatting options at the top of the box you type in when you post.

Paul

[kawalekm]

Well Chuck, what you'll have to do in the mean time is just give us mental pictures.

Your property sounds wonderfull! You might have had to make some detours on your journey, but you are still reaching for the same destination. Hat's off to you.

Getting there in winter means you'll be ready to get started the moment that spring weather starts to break. I know the dizzying amount of work that needs to be done. Should I start planting trees, or getting chickens? Should I pay for the new fencing or the new chimney? Should the kitchen face east or west?

Please share all your ideas with us. I'd love to hear more about what you've accomplished. For now, since you can't share any pics yet, here's one of mine. This is after we got the roof on our little cabin, which I am now in the process of finishing the insides into something more than an empty shell.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r55/kawalekm/Finishedroof.jpg

[highlander]

One project down- 487 to go....IO'll post my to do list later....heres the first cabin on our 117 acre place. this will serve as home sweet home while we build ourselves a little larger one on the top of property....please let me know if you can get to this link OK. Im new to photobucket.... Thanks!

http://s775.photobucket.com/albums/yy38/vahighlander/

[firegirl969]

Highlander,

Those pics are great. What a cute cabin! You did a great job building it. I look forward to your future posts. Blessings, firegirl

[cartershan]

Highlander,
That is awesome! Great pictures. I too look forward to reading more posts from you! I'm going to figure out the picture thing inside of posts at some point. I tried once, and Paul had to resize it for me.
Good luck with everything, it really looks great. Shannon

[CountryGuy]

One project down- 487 to go....IO'll post my to do list later....heres the first cabin on our 117 acre place. this will serve as home sweet home while we build ourselves a little larger one on the top of property....please let me know if you can get to this link OK. Im new to photobucket.... Thanks!

http://s775.photobucket.com/albums/yy38/vahighlander/

Highlander... WOW!! that's a gorgous place. Is that a kit cabin and did you put it together yourself?

Thanks for sharing and we all look forward to seeing and hearing more on your projects.

[TNDadx4]

Absolutely beautiful pictures of the cabin and the view! You all are really blessed.
Great job!

[Southerngirl]

Highlander,
I am in awe! Just breathtaking! LOVE the wood in the cabin, I would be happy with it just the way it is!!!!!! BEAUTIFUL scenery! You guys have done an awesome job on everything! Just like everyone else I look forward to more pics and readings of what you do on the place! Thank you for sharing with us! Nice to see beauty, we see wide open wheat fields here, that's it. :( They are beautiful when they are ready for harvest and the wind is blowing the wheat, but.... nothing like what you see!

[highlander]

We built this from "scratch". I looked at kits and just could not get the solidness I wanted. I'm kind of weird about subfloors and footers. I always over build to extremes in those areas but, hey I want it permanent and cant stand things like floor bounce. Those foundation piers each have huge poured concrete footers under them- probably each 3'X3'x3'. The subfloor is all 2x12- doubled up to 4x12 each 8'. Double band around perimeter. Then the subfloor is a built up encased rigid insulation design I thought up. Two layers of 3/4 TG plywood with 2" of blue foam insulation sandwiched in between ( blue sheets laid in between in a true 2x4" sleeper grid). This way of insulating the floor allows it to be warmer- without having insulation under the cabin for animals to get in to.

Rough sawn board and batten pine exterior, knotty pine T&G interior. I used trusses for the roof, with a little vaulting built into them and then tied in two big pine exposed beams, then boxed those in cedar. 50 yr dimensional shingles.

Kitchen cabinets are actually stock, rustic solid hickory stuff from Lowes. Work great and look awesome for the $$.

A buddy and I tiled the hearth and bathroom.

We have gravity fed spring water and use a tankless HW heater in the little bathroom- its in a little closet.

The cedar gazebo was left on the place- so we moved it close to the cabin on its on crushed run bed- pressure washed it and then built all the rock gardens around it.

The site where the cabin is built had a run down single-wide there and was chest deep in thorns etc...We moved that off the land and presto- had the old gravity fed water lines (which we dug up and put new PVC and valves etc. on) and also a good old septic system- ready to be used!

The spot where the matching board and batten shed is - had an old caved in metal shed, which we hauled off. Then we spruced up the little block foundation and added more crush run for the new shed.

Our larger permanent cabin will be up the hill aways on the edge of a small field. We will orient it for good passive solar as well as future PV and small wind. Here are some pics of the land and views from this future building site. I will saw a majority of my lumber with a woodmizer band mill for the house and barns to be built.

Here are some cold looking pics!

http://s775.photobucket.com/albums/yy38/vahighlander/Cabin%20Pics/Winter%20at%20Our%20Place/

Chuck

[Jan]

Just beautiful.....I love it! You have it right.....right down to the herb garden. Wonderful. :)

[sinzitu]

Highlander - Those pics are great. Looks like you well on your way.

[AlchemyAcres]

Very nice place!

How long will the little Jotul hold a fire?


~Martin

[highlander]

Very nice place!

How long will the little Jotul hold a fire?


~Martin


About 6 hours if you use good wood. But even then- there are still hot coals in the AM. So if I pack it right- and it wont hold much- at about 1030 or 11pm, at 630am I've got some coals to start again. Ive got two strips of gel baseboard and a thermostat as a "backup" :o Those can kick on if it gets way too chilly. But that little stove is a workhorse and will run you out of there if your not careful.

Building plan question: I didnt have any plans- just kind of drew it up on a piece of paper. But this is like my 5th little home I've built, I'll put out some pics of my other past rustic creations. My wife says I have a building compulsion. :rolleyes:

[Anon001]

The pictures are great.

I have one question. With your cabin being off the ground, how do you keep water from freezing, if it comes up through the floor?

Mine is also off the ground, but I don't have pipes coming in through the floor. Sure wish my shack looked as good as your cabin! LOL

Paul

[MotherCharlotte]

What a beautiful little cabin! Nice work. :)

[Pokeberry Mary]

What a pretty place to live. Thanks for sharing it!:)

[highlander]

The pictures are great.

I have one question. With your cabin being off the ground, how do you keep water from freezing, if it comes up through the floor?

Mine is also off the ground, but I don't have pipes coming in through the floor. Sure wish my shack looked as good as your cabin! LOL

Paul

I brought the 3/4" water pipe up through a 4 inch pvc pipe for 18" up through the cabin subfloor. Then I sprayed in foam, expanding insulation to encase the 3/4 " inside the 4". This works fine- but I also have a drain valve and shut off valve 3.5 feet deep in an access hole built to drain the cabin when Im not there and shut the water off below frost line. I use a 2 inch pvc pipe notched out on the end as my shut off tool to reach down in the hole. I took some old clay 12" flue liner pieces to build the below frost line box. But this summer Im probably going to box in a 1' square box to insulate that pipe even more.

[CountryGuy]

Then the subfloor is a built up encased rigid insulation design I thought up. Two layers of 3/4 TG plywood with 2" of blue foam insulation sandwiched in between ( blue sheets laid in between in a true 2x4" sleeper grid). This way of insulating the floor allows it to be warmer- without having insulation under the cabin for animals to get in to.


I'm interested in how you set your walls with this SIP construction. did you put down the sub floor, set your perimeter walls, and then do the foam and top layer inside the perimieter? Or did the center of the sandwich also have lumber in the places where the walls would rest? I'm just trying to understand how you set your load bearing walls since the foam would be substantial enough. Do you by chance have a picture you took while doing it? I love the idea since as you said it doesn't give the critters anything to tunnel into and then I'm sure when you ran your PVC chases in it made it much easier to seal up around them.

Are you planning to put any type of "skirting" around the cabin to keep the wind from blowing under and cooling it down?

[highlander]

I'm interested in how you set your walls with this SIP construction. did you put down the sub floor, set your perimeter walls, and then do the foam and top layer inside the perimieter? Or did the center of the sandwich also have lumber in the places where the walls would rest? I'm just trying to understand how you set your load bearing walls since the foam would be substantial enough. Do you by chance have a picture you took while doing it? I love the idea since as you said it doesn't give the critters anything to tunnel into and then I'm sure when you ran your PVC chases in it made it much easier to seal up around them.

Are you planning to put any type of "skirting" around the cabin to keep the wind from blowing under and cooling it down?


http://s775.photobucket.com/albums/yy38/vahighlander/Floor%20Build/

Here you go- check out the above link. Just double click on each photo- for the details. I like this system that I rigged up. My total floor R value may only be about R15 or so....but it works great. I added cypress T&G flooring on it and the little Jotul will run us out if not careful- so its snug. the link shows pics of the floor system with notes as to how I built it. I do plan on adding a skirt and rocking my piers this summer too. Thanks! Chuck

[patience]

highlander,

You obviously do it right. :)

I have always wanted to have the opportunity to start from scratch on a place like that, but never could afford it. Always had to refurb something we could afford. I envy your chance here to do it your way!

That gravity fed spring water is worth gold. :D

Your place reminds me of Cade's Cove, TN, in the Smokey Mountains National Park---one of my all time favorite spots. What's your altitude?

[highlander]

Thanks! Our cabin in the hollow is at 2,700 feet and where Im building our larger cabin is a little higher up on my place at 2,850. My property varies from 2,650 to 3,050ft.

The mountain ranges that envelop the larger valley were in run from 3,500 to 4,800 ft. With the big long valley floors in the county all at about 2,500 to 3,300 ft.

[CountryGuy]

http://s775.photobucket.com/albums/yy38/vahighlander/Floor%20Build/

Here you go- check out the above link. Just double click on each photo- for the details. I like this system that I rigged up. My total floor R value may only be about R15 or so....but it works great. I added cypress T&G flooring on it and the little Jotul will run us out if not careful- so its snug. the link shows pics of the floor system with notes as to how I built it. I do plan on adding a skirt and rocking my piers this summer too. Thanks! Chuck

Thanks Highlander!! You did what I thought you were meaning when you said "sleepers" That is definitely slick and smart way to get a warm and tight floor. Like you said more money but it's built like a Mack truck.

[highlander]

Yep! I'm funny about my floors and building in general. That little cabin is built better foot for sq. foot than my bloated "custom" suburban home (which I didn't build and am selling to move into the little mac truck1)

[Roots_Farm]

I was ready to see a neat cabin that, though admirable, I would probably not want to live in myself. After seeing the pic’s I’m ready to move it :D. You need to build a few of these a year for folks as a part time business.

[highlander]

I was ready to see a neat cabin that, though admirable, I would probably not want to live in myself. After seeing the pic’s I’m ready to move it :D. You need to build a few of these a year for folks as a part time business.

Thanks Roots! We are a little worried about living there next winter and still being married in spring 2011! :D I hope to have our bigger cabin finished by next November- but this weather is delaying spring! I actually got my contractors license this past fall- not quite sure why or what I'll do with it. I've had some requests to build stuff- but i only like to build small, rustic, well built structures- nothing much over 1,000 ft. Well built, unique, small. i think i'd have a hard time building for someone- spec cabins would be cool- but I bear the $$ burden on those. Its a little scary now to do that. i like building it my way with my creative juices. That may be a problem for me. Here are two other cabins I did build myself and then sell in the haydays of 2003-2006. These helped bankroll my land and homestead efforts now.

http://s775.photobucket.com/albums/yy38/vahighlander/Headwaters%20Log%20Cabin/

http://s775.photobucket.com/albums/yy38/vahighlander/New%20Hampden%20cottage/

[Roots_Farm]

I'll take this one thank you:)


http://i775.photobucket.com/albums/yy38/vahighlander/Headwaters%20Log%20Cabin/Rightsideview.jpg

[CountryGuy]

Highlander, You do very nice work. Works of art to feel proud of.