warmth of the fire

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We all gather around the fire for warmth and cooking on these snowy winter days.  I have soup, vegetables and grains cooking on the stove.  Bread is rising on the lower right of the fire, and kombucha tea and sourdough are staying warm on the mantle... A normal winter day  Of course even our dog Summer likes to stay warm by the fire.  Our woodstove is older and well used, it needs a good cleaning and repainting, along with a new damper, but it sure puts out the heat and does a great job cooking food.  This time of year we almost never let it go out, and bank it at night to easily start up in the morning. 

We live in the upstairs of the barn and use the cabin daily for showers and sometimes cooking, as we are still slowly building our big house, which is in the sheetrock stage and has been for a long time.  In the lower level of our barn is a woodshop, and has it's own woodstove.  The cats live in the lower portion, and enjoy the fire when it's going down there.  It's still snowing outside, and is starting to turn to rain a little today.  You can see Kaley in shorts (just in from sledding, and removed all her snow gear), the kids don't seem to feel the cold like adults, I will bundle up warm on these cold winter days.  March will be here this week, and I'm looking forward to Spring days in the garden full of sunshine and warmth, we're getting close, maybe this will be the last snow of the year.

I haven't been able to get in to Seattle to pick up the rest of my soap making supplies, namely the Lye (due to the weather).  I drove all over to every store I thought would have lye in our town, and no one had it, I guess lye is not a popular thing people buy these days.  I had no idea this would be such a hard item to find.  I know the store Zenith in Seattle will have it, so hopefully the snow will melt, and I can get down there on Tuesday or Wednesday.  I have everything else ready, and just need lye and cocoa butter.

Wherever you are, I hope you're warm and cozy too.

socked in and rainy

Looking through the upper meadow toward the big house surrounded by mist, one hundred percent humidity today.

Walking toward the barn to find warmth and a fire.

It rained steady all morning, we watched it from under cover as we had a second cup of coffee to ready ourselves for another day of living in a rain forest.  J walked the dogs in a downpour this morning, as I sat toastily by the stove.  I can sometimes be the indulgent one, who says, lets have a second cup of coffee and watch the rain together.  It's fun, we had work to do, but it could wait.  We live in the Pacific Northwest and it's naturally rainy here, I love it, plus it's a whole lot less rainy and cold than Juneau, Alaska where I spent 7 years growing up. This weather I could handle.  It's 45 degrees, my garden is starting to think it's spring, and so am I.  I get Spring Fever real early compared to most people, it hits me about now, and really goes into high gear on nice days in February and March. 

Our climate is fairly mild, though rainy, humid, socked in, foggy, soaked, grey, this is normal for us.  I just want my bees to survive, along with my 3 fig trees, they are fickle as well.  You never know, being a beginning beekeeper in the rainy Pacific Northwest, it's daunting at times, I have lost my bees 2 out of 4 winters, this winter, so far so good.

I have been researching Nigerian Dwarf milk goats as many of you know.  Today I spoke with Melissa who breeds nigerian dwarf goats in Sedro Wooley, she has a goat farm.  She also shows her goats, and is committed to excelling the breed.  We made plans to go look at her does and bucks next weekend.  She has 10 pregnant does, and 8 bucks, most nigerians deliver twins or triplets, so she'll have  many doelings and bucklings for sale.  The really good news, she said she may have a couple does in milk to sell, so hopefully we may see one or two we like.  I'll keep you posted, and will take pictures.

Today it rained all day, and is still raining here in the early evening.  As I walked around with the camera,  I found J sharpening his chisels, with his sidekick Sierra, our Great Pyrenees by his side.  I took a few pictures to share with you.

Some of the old faithful chisels used over the years helping to build and carve many a fine barn.

Sharpening system, to create a perfectly balanced blade.

A nice sharp blade, ready for use.

This is a time consuming process there are 7 different grits from start to finish, it takes time to properly sharpen a chisel.  Sharp chisels, and knowing how to sharpen them are important skills for timberframing.

Some old vintage chisels on our barn wall, that have yet to be sharpened for use.

The Barn

The first part of the Barn was built in 1976, when Jarin was 26 years old.  It's built using the beam and bolt style of building, this was before he began to specialize in timber framing.  Over the years he's added onto the back, sides and front of the barn.  There was never any finish put on, and we have just let it age naturally. I have dreams of  it beautifully finished with Sierra Penefin, maybe someday.   Much of the Barn was built from trees he cut and milled right on our property, along with recycled old growth beams. If you have lots of trees on your property for building, you are rich indeed. If you only have a few...don't cut them down! They are worth more for their beauty and the enjoyment of seeing them alive. We have an abundance of evergreen Douglas Fir trees on our ten acres, and the trees for buildings came from clearing the meadows. Our friend Matt has a Wood Mizer mill that he brings out to our home, it's worth every penny to have him come out.  When he leaves we have a wonderful pile of large timbers and lumber, and after curing and drying it will be perfect for building economically. 

                                     

The workshop where all the big tools are for building timber frames and various carpentry projects.  The desk and drawing table are for Jarin the artist/architect and his drawings of barns, cabins, bungalows, gazebo's and gates. Our Barn is very cozy upstairs in the living quarters, I just love it.  It feels like a squirrel nest in the evening with the glow of soft light, the smell of good food cooking, and the warmth of family.

In the beginning there was no running water or bathroom in the barn, we did have to 2 finished bathrooms a short walk over to the Cabin and Big House. The Big house is where we all took our outdoor showers, and did our laundry. I will write more about the Big House and Cabin in another post, along with pictures. 

Running water is so essential for a family!!! You really appreciate it after hauling water. We also built 2 loft bedrooms, they are warm with the heat that rises. The first few winters living here, we stayed close to the wood stove it was so cold.  The kids never got up until they heard the crackling of the fire that I would start before anything else in the morning. We still out of habit stay close to the woodstove, even though now the barn is much warmer. 
There is off to one side of the barn 3 rooms ( they house my office, and 2 of the childrens rooms). At the back of the barn is a shorter loft that is our book nook/ library. The other side of the barn is the kitchen, bathroom and pantry. About 4 years ago we put up plywood over the insulation, and built shelves, and room dividers. We also insulated the bottom of the barn, so cold air couldn't come through the cracks, this made a huge difference in our warmth factor. The first thing we did was get the barn connected to it's own septic system, then installed plumbing, a bathroom and a rustic kitchen.

This is the gate leading into Applegarth Farm.  Jarin built it when we got together, and told me that this was the storybook gate, for the beginning of our life and story as a family.