Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

On Jul 9, 2008, at 8:52 AM, keith bellinger wrote:

> Funny you should ask, Gene.
>
> I drew our master plan at a picnic table in the front yard while  
> living
> in a tent. No, we hadn't been here a full year yet. In general the  
> plan
> hasn't changed much even with the added acre a few years ago. Maybe  
> it's
> time to revise though; the pasture hasn't been used in three years and
> is returning slowly to the brushlot it was. I could take down the  
> fences
> and finally plant the orchard...

The orchard here has been a challenge. I can count three plantings.  
Only this year has the truth sunk in that I must do something about  
these very long black walnut roots that are killing my apple trees. It  
is such a serious problem that I am considering digging large planting  
holes and lining them with roof metal or something else that walnut  
roots cannot penetrate. Walnuts have a tap root but their feeder roots  
appear to be fairly shallow. I've not been able to find a definitive  
source; I may have to become the source by excavating and playing in  
the dirt.
> Specifics have changed though; barn will become woodshop and the small
> addition that was shop will turn into a pigpen perhaps...

Those are good building transitions. Unless you are saying that the  
pigs will be living in a room attached to your house. I've read of  
many who live in what was once a chicken house. Recycled buildings are  
a fine use of resources.

I just dug out our original house blueprints, drawn by a sixteen year
> old aspiring architect cousin who indeed became one. That was in 1986,
> years after we got the land. I wanted to see what kind of greenhouse  
> we
> dreamed of and am trying to redesign it to match the log walls which
> were simply board and batten on paper. I am leaning toward a stone
> (cultured stone probably) kneewall the height of our crawlspace--two
> feet, recycled sliding glass doors as windows above--angled at a
> fifty-degree or so pitch, and steel roofing to match the existing  
> cabin
> but with a couple skylights rather than dormers. Any non-glass wall  
> area
> will be sided with pine lap to match the gable ends and dormers of the
> house.

Sounds very good. Research those upper windows and skylights and also  
the pitch of glass other than plumb. I can't give you a reference but  
I recall reading that high, angled glazing is neither efficient nor  
necessary. As I recall, you lose more heat than you gain and plants  
don't need light from directly above. In my little East Wing, which  
also uses patio door glass, I finished the back wall and the ceiling  
with what here is called milk barn paneling, white, dimpled four-by- 
eight plastic sheets that reflect light very well.
> I desperately want a concrete slab at grade for the floor, eventually
> tiled. You will step down into it from my office. The ceiling height
> where it joins the house will be eleven feet.

If south-facing, such a design cannot be improved upon. With  
appropriate high vents to return air, it provides supplemental heat  
for the house when the sun is shining. Your masonry floor will provide  
valuable mass.
> But I'm leaning toward a pole-type structure for now with gravel floor
> only. The reason being the frost; about a foot and a half is as deep  
> as
> I can dig without a good backhoe and you live too far away. The septic
> installer used a huge excavator to dig the hole for the tank through
> solid rock. Here in Pennsylvania the frost line averages three and a
> half feet. The holes for the posts will be a problem but I'll dig them
> as deep as I can and call it good. Then maybe next year pour a  
> floating
> slab over the gravel, inside the posts. Any heaving shouldn't crack  
> the
> windows.

Even in deep frost areas I believe that a rubble foundation will do  
the job. If there is perfect drainage then there is no water to freeze  
and expand. Perhaps a curtain drain will allow you a more shallow  
foundation. It would remove water until the ground froze and except  
for the transition times of thawing and freezing, would keep it pretty  
dry. But that is a lot of trenching. Can you not barter for backhoe?
> Then again, revision could be my middle name.

Revision is a good middle name. It implies flexibility and an  
inquisitive mind.
> How about yourself, gene? Did you have a master plan?

My plan started as more of a fantasy of creating my ideal homestead.  
By making a drawing in Freehand I made the fantasy a dream. The dream  
has been changed a fair amount over the last couple decades but the  
layout--building locations, garden spots, traffic patterns--have  
stayed the same with minor modifications. Lots of the dream is still  
unfulfilled and it may still be that way when I retire to the porch.