Hello and welcome to another blog post! Today’s post is very exciting as things are starting to happen on the homestead! As it seems to be the case, there will be long stretches (months or years even) where it seems like very little is being done towards building the homestead. And then all at once, whether we are ready or not, it is go time!! With that in mind it felt like a good time to try and fit in an update, and I hope you enjoy!
We initially met with the builder on the property in early July to discuss and start planning the location of the house, septic, well, and power. Being July and the fact that this year saw lots of rain in the spring, the brush was very overgrown. We were able to very roughly lay out the placement of these things, but I first needed to clear out some of the brush before we could really start to plan. We ended up deciding that it would be worth it for me to clear the bushes and saplings by hand, but leave the larger tree removal for the heavy equipment that would be up there for future work. I would say there are two main areas that I was focusing on and those were the area where the house would eventually sit and along the edges of the driveway as it wasn’t wide enough as it stood to allow for delivery of the house.
It took a couple of months and a decent number of trips, but I finally had the work I wanted done completed with only hand tools by the end of August. With this completed we were able to start planning the location of things!
When I was clearing the brush on the edges of the driveway I had an unexpected idea that I think will end up being really cool. After taking down the brush I needed somewhere to put it. Initially I just moved it back a little bit so that it would not interfere with the house, but if you know me then you know I like to use “waste” in a beneficial manner. Somewhere along the way I decided that it would be neat if I used the brush to create a walking path through the marsh area. A lot of the reason for this is because I’ve recently started to look into foraging, and I’ve learned there are many edible things that grow in marshy areas! It might be hard to see the path I have made in the pictures below and maybe it will be a little more obvious in the winter/spring. Or you can visit us and experience it for yourself 😀 The path is only partially completed and I will need to continue to add to it over the years. I am excited to see what it takes to build this and what it becomes!
In the middle of clearing the brush I also needed to get an official property survey. This was to make sure that the house was far enough away from the boundary as we are planning to build on the southern boundary since that is where the high ground is located. I won’t go into too many details (as this is going to get its own post), but the property boundary was about 20-30 feet north of what we thought based on the trail that we were told was on our property. This was 100% on me as I had 7 years to get this done and continued to put it off. No worries though as I was punished for my laziness 😀 Because I waited to do this, we now had to adjust our plan and push back our schedule. It seems to have worked out just fine (the neighbors were nice about it and now we will have a wider driveway), but it is something that I certainly should have addressed earlier.
The builder was able to quickly line up someone who could help me clear the trees for a new driveway. It is always a treat to watch someone who had mastered a craft, and it was a really good reminder of what power tools/equipment can provide. The clearing for the new driveway is ~300 ft long and ~20 ft wide. We also had them clear a few trees where the house and septic system are planned. What would have taken me weeks or months to complete was done in about 6 hours!
Now that things were cleared up a little we could start to stake out the locations of the house corners, power hookup post, septic system, and well. These didn’t have to be exact right away, but more of a general placement that could be adjusted if necessary.
About only a week after placing the stakes we were excavating for the foundation! We were treated to some gorgeous weather, and everything just seemed to fall into place on this day. While the excavation company was working, the power company showed up and started their work on getting our transformer planned out. The concreted pouring company wasn’t supposed to make it up there until the next week, but the job they had that day got delayed and we got bumped up!! After one day of work the homestead looked very different. It was a great reminder that many hands make light work 🙂
This initial pouring of concrete sat for about a week before they poured the rest of the footing. After that had cured they finished off the rest of the foundation!
At this point we had a week long vacation to celebrate our 5 year anniversary, and I planned to check back in with the builders when that was over. I figured they maybe had finished the foundation, but not much beyond that. Boy was I wrong! They are not messing around and went and got the foundation done, septic tanks installed, power transformer installed, and the well dug!!
That brings us to now, and I hope you all feel caught up! 😀 If everything goes as planned we will have the house on the homestead and everything hooked up in the next two weeks! This has been a wild ride to this point and I’m excited to see where it takes us next 🙂 Take care out there!