As the previous post described, we’d purchased land, decided on a house site, and begun a driveway. Then deep snow covered the ground for three months during which time we could hike around the property with our pooches and imagine building the house and living a rural life. It was a time to plan what kind of house could easily and affordably be built and learn what tools and materials would be needed.
The first tool was a book that had just come out: “30 Energy-Efficient Houses… You Can Build”.
One house plan that stood out for me was a simple salt box designed by Pat and Patsy Hennin of the Shelter Institute.
It seemed reasonably easy to modify and expand their open plan concept. A basement was added and the upstairs lofts made a bit larger, but the basic idea was to maximize the passive solar gain and have the long north sloping roof hunker down against the winter winds. This was my first experience ever drawing something that I intended to build; a trip to the art supply store for a small portable drafting board, graph paper, triangles, ruler, and Architects & Builders templates.
The general time frame was to excavate for the basement and have the masonry work completed by late April. There would be a fair amount of non-woodworking tasks, such as digging deep trenches from the well under the foundation,
installing a utility pole between an existing line and the site (perhaps the hardest physical task I have ever performed)
digging an artesian well for immediate water needs before electricity was hooked up,
garden preparation
raking and smoothing ground, digging post holes, and removing runs of barbed wire. It was lucky for us that a friend mentioned his grandmother was getting rid of a garage full of garden and lawn tools. They were the good wooden handled ones. There was also a very nice old fashioned store, Farmers Hardware, in Saratoga, where I could find just about any basic tool.
A list of basic homesteading type tools would include:
leaf rake, rigid-tined garden rake, tarp, pitchfork, wheel barrel and or Garden Way-style garden cart, spade, mattock, water hose, 5 gallon buckets, hatchet, hammer, regular screw driver, phillips head screw driver, chainsaw, bowsaw, crescent wrench, channel lock wrench, pitch fork, knife, wire cutters, hand drills and brace, posthole diggers, level, circular saw, pliers, crowbar, and tractor.
Leave a Reply