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.
Monday, July 16, 2007
It's official - Thursday we start the building!!
In the world of construction (and nowhere else does this hold true...) - things always change. I used to tell clients that being a contractor was like being a juggler on a surfboard - the challenge was not only to keep the balls in the air, but to anticipate the next big wave and try to catch it before it sideswiped you. So here we are - having another relaxing day before the BIG PUSH.
Our scheduled Oregon Yurtworks team-leader was sidelined by a hernia (ouch!) on Friday - so the start date has been pushed back. His replacement - Jonas - called this morning . We had a good talk about what he's bringing with him (tools and know-how), what we're providing here in the way of accommodations (a rustic 'cabin') , and when we'll gather the big crew. Since he's not getting here until late Wednesday, our official start date will be Thursday - 8am sharp!!
This phase of the project has been a testament to the 'let go let god' philosophy of construction. In our original version of things (or in revision #56), we'd anticipated jumping on site first thing this morning and getting the floors and possibly a wall or two installed with our gang of 7 or 8. As it turned out, I didn't get up until almost 8am, had a leisurely cup of tea and then spent all day connecting the rest of the water line up from the pumphouse to the new house (mostly running to the hardware store for parts - it is plumbing, after all.). Therese and Sarah worked on getting the 'cabin' ready for Jonas and tending to general Groves business as well. All the delays we've encountered thus far have been to our benefit- we've learned to not sweat the small stuff, and in fact are approaching the next two weeks of work with a sense of spaciousness and relaxation.
posted by Tere # 5:36 PM 