Building our new house
In early 2007, we began building our new Round House here at Sacred Groves with a vision to expand our residential community on this beautiful land.
We purchased 3 round structures from Oregon Yurtworks--a big house with a large round Great Room that has become the heart and hearth of the Sacred Groves community, and 2 yurtlettes, private bedroom-cabins for new residents. We are modeling a "small is beautiful" lifestyle with small personal spaces, sharing kitchen, bathrooms, laundry, living room. We are enthused about the joys and challenges of community living, committed to the spiritual and personal growth required for sharing life in this way.
This blog, which has the most recent entry at the top, tells the story of the construction of the new house, starting with the foundation built Spring 2007. Carpenter and Groves resident Tere Carranza has managed the project from start to near-finish.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Amazing!!!
Jonas arrived last night while we were all in the log cabin eating dinner - we finally caught up with him around 8:30 PM - after he had taken measurements, checked the squareness of things, and generally gotten a handle on the site.
We started this morning at 8am with a little circle
and a blessing - asking for protection and health
and well-being from the powers-that-be.....
and then we kicked butt! Or rather, my butt got
kicked!!
By lunch-time we'd gotten most of the main floor
installed. And by 6pm, when we stopped for the
day - we'd stood the walls at the main round part
of the house.
Jonas is a wonderful manager and a great guy to
work with. We were eager to 'get things done'
and he was great about helping to keep us on track.
At noon, we took a lunch break - and Kendra had created a delicious and amazing sandwich bar that all we had to do was show up with our appetites and eat, and she generously took care of the rest! Thank you Kendra for lunch AND cleaning up!! Yeah - one of the many benefits of living in community - lot's of hands make light work of everything!
The day essentially passed in one long adrenaline run - from huffing the floor panels into place, and nailing them off - to hoisting the wall panels up on their ends and nailing them together at the top and then at the bottom. Not much drama or excitement - but verry satisfying and gratifying in the progress department. Well, it's true that the 'womens' team dropped one wall as just a couple of us were trying to do the work of at least 3 - 4... but no big deal... just a reminder to slow down, wait until all of us were able to be there before we stood the wall...
By the end of the day - we all stood back, amazed and awed by how much we had accomplished - this pit that we've been working with for months suddenly took on the shape of a dwelling - a habitable structure! And tomorrow - we will see all the walls up, and at least some of the beams installed - as the roof begins to take shape as well!
Wahoooo! And whewweeee - are we tuckered out!
posted by Tere # 7:21 PM 