End of The Year

Michael and I went to the land today. Instead of only working, we also wanted to remind ourselves how lucky we are to have found a patch of dirt that we love and want to build the next chapter(s) in both of our lives. It's very easy to become so busy that you miss some of the beauty that is right in front of you. After checking on the new trees, and doing a little work, we walked some of the property, and took some pictures of some of the beauty that was right in front of us...

The end of the year makes us reflect on how far we have come, and what the next year may have in store for us. We are looking forward to 2009!

Tree Planting

Directly below is the two Granny Smith apple trees that we planted today. The one in the middle is a close up of one of the trees (I named that one "Helen, the other is Lucille both after our Grannies, corny but fun). The last picture is the blueberry bush being planted in the interior.

Happy Thanksgiving

It's good to remind ourselves, and those who follow our blog how far we have come in a little over a year. Below is a picture that we took on one of the first outings to the land.

Below are pictures taken today, as we surveyed new clearing and a level spot for a storage/garage that Mr. Austin did. Directly below is a picture of some dirt he borrowed from our future "home site" to help make the garage spot level.

Here is a video that spans the newly cleared out area. The video was taken standing on the garage spot.

More Committed Than Ever

We finally got back out to the land briefly today. Here are a few pictures I took, one of Michael bush-hogging the interior and one of a really cool lizard I saw.

While watching all of the news lately, and seeing this nation's financial situation unfold, we have become even more committed to our vision of this farm, the earth sheltered house, this new way of life we are working so hard to create. We are going to be taking things slower because of this, as we want to make sure that we are not rushing into things, or biting off more than we can chew financially. We will get there, it will just take a little longer than Michael or I would prefer, but we WILL get there, and are looking forward to it that much more now than ever.

We are trying to decide what comes next. We are contemplating another day of clearing from Mr. Austin's bulldozer, to make sure we have the right spot for the house, as well as looking at storage/garage structures so that we can start collecting recycled materials that we will use in our house. After that, well and septic are on the list, which means a soil sample for Mr. Williams (home designer). That is another thing on the list, getting in touch with Mr. Williams about the house plans at some point (we aren't too rushed on that, considering the slow down in our time table).

Other exciting news is that we have purchased two granny smith apple trees for our drive, and a blueberry bush. Those will be arriving in November, and I am sure I will have pictures of the tree planting.

Driveway Ride

We went out to the land today, and got the silt fence up to keep anymore gravel from washing away at the curve. Here is a video we made of riding up the driveway toward the street.

Next Steps

Since the driveway, things at the land are slowing down for right now. We did put up two posts and chain link going across the drive to make it more visible that it is private property. The next trip down there will be "bush-hogging" the remaining grass on the side of the driveway, putting up a silt fence to keep water from washing away gravel when there is extremely heavy rain down at the curve, and leveling the pop-up camper.

The Driveway Graveled and Leveled

This picture was taken from the street looking down toward the tree line. We are envisioning down the left side of the drive (where the white stakes marking our property are now) a wooden fence, and down the right side peach and/or apple trees lining the driveway.This picture is taken down from the right side of the driveway looking into the clearing where the home is going to be built. This curve is where he had to level the ground so that it wasn't so steep.
This is taken from the clearing looking out at Michael checking out the curve and the drain pipe that Mr. Austin put in.

This also is taken from the clearing looking out.

The Driveway in Progress

The entrance to the driveway

From the street looking toward our tree line (and our pecan tree

at the entrance) Looking from the tree line toward the street

This is the curve at the tree line going into the opening that
has been cleared. They are leveling this part so that the curve
doesn't slope so steeply.



These are the pipes that are going to be used to divert the water
from the underground spring going through the middle of
our drive. The pipes will help keep the gravel from being washed
away


On my trip out there today, I also met with Scott K., our representative
from Superior Walls (see Links for more information).
We looked at the potentialhome site, he also looked to make sure his semis
could get around the curve at the tree line. We discussed possible exterior finishes
for the front of the house (as both Michael and myself are partial to minimalist clean
design, I am leaning toward the plain concrete finish, but will make a
more definitive decision when we are closer to building). Below is a picture I took of him.

Scott was kind enough to take a picture of me after looking through
the book that he brought of different houses and buildings
that Superior Walls has built.


We may hopefully go back out there on Sunday to look at the finished driveway
with the gravel and the curve leveled...

A Trip Out There

Here are a few pictures from our trip out to the land. Michael mowed the "future driveway", while I got to pick blackberries that were already on our property. Tomorrow we will be taking the camper out to the land, so Michael also flattened a spot with the front-loader part of the tractor in preparation.

In talking, we have decided that after the driveway, which is coming up soon, that we will fence in the drive part with trees that we have cut down, and look for some young fruit trees to plant along the drive. I am thinking granny smith apples and peaches, but will have to do more research, I have found out that (I think) we are either in a climate zone 7 or 8.

Anxious to get out there

2-3 Weeks for the Driveway

We spoke with Mr. Austin regarding the driveway, and were told that it should be able to be done in 2-3 weeks. We will meet him out there before he starts so that we can show him where to get dirt from (the home site), so as to make it easier when we do start the construction process...By him moving dirt from the home site to where ever it is needed to level off the driveway, it will also allow us to get core (soil) samples to give to the engineers at Superior Walls.
After the driveway, we are going to hold off on any other major expenses for awhile (the next thing would be a carport/storage building) to build our finances up again. We were given an old pop-up camper that we are working to restore, so we will have plenty to keep us busy, and allow us to finally stay out there every now and then.

Slight Changes to the Home Plan

The Changes are obviously no garage (we are determining based on budget if that will be feasible). The entry to the Master Closet (the room on the far left side) is from the bedroom instead of the bathroom. I love the fact the the toilet area in the master bath is also acting as a half bath for guests. Very efficient! John is still working on configuration of the kitchen (which will be subject to change, as we are hoping to get some used restaurant items (counters, sinks, maybe stove etc.) at auctions when we are closer to that stage. The restaurant items may change how the kitchen is laid out).

Quick Update

We are planning on meeting with Mr. Austin (Bulldozer guy) the weekend of the 14th to show him where we want the driveway, and where to borrow dirt from.

Update on Plans

John has come up with a layout that we are even more thrilled about. The garage may have to be cut out for budget reasons....

Rough Drawing of Placements

Along with getting the plans and rough placement underway, we have also been working on paying off the land in a more affordable way. Based on some equity in our current home, we decided to take out an equity line at a lower interest rate to pay off the land loan. This will save us quite a bit, and be available to us as we pay off the land as quick as possible for aiding in some of the construction costs.

After meeting with John, we have decided not to clear anymore acreage at this time, and to let the next project be the driveway. We are hoping to get that done in the next few months.

Pictures From Today

John talking about approximate placement of house and garage

The yellow square is the outline of the garage (estimated at this point)

The van is pointed where our home will open towards (south-east for maximum efficiency)

Looking toward the future drive

Phase One Video

Meeting With John (Home Designer)

Our preliminary home plans...

Update

We should be posting more next week, as we are supposed to meet with J Williams (our home designer). We are going to narrow down home plans, and possibly take him to see the land for the first time.

Next Steps

It was really nice seeing part of the land cleared, it looks like he got over an acre cleared. We spent part of Sunday spreading organic fertilizer and grass seed over the area that he cleared so that it doesn't end up a mud pit.

We have decided to get him out there for one more day of clearing, which should result in another half acre or so cleared out. After that we will wait a little while, and then get him to go ahead and get the driveway in graveled, ditched, and french drained (there is an underground spring going through the middle part of the driveway).

The Clearing

Gaining perspective...Compare to the earlier picture titled "Our clearing process so far..."

Michael standing beside the debris pile

Becca standing on top of the debris pile
The view looking down from the debris pile

Sooner Than We Thought!

The bulldozer guy, Mr. Austin called us on Sunday and said he could go ahead and bulldozer Monday and Tuesday, and we are thrilled! I can't wait to go up there on Sunday to see it and take pictures!

Good News So Far

We met with the bulldozer person, and everything went really well. He is clearing out an acre in a couple of weeks. That means that he should be clearing a little past the home site. I can't wait to see that. We will probably need to get core samples (soil) to give to our builder, so that he can design our ESH (earth sheltered home) with Superior Walls (the wall company we are going with for the infrastructure of our house). I will include links to all.



The next step, we have determined is to get the (very long) driveway graveled, a ditch dug so the gravel won't wash away, and get the drive leveled a little bit.


What is going to be bulldozed...

Bulldozer

Sunday we are going up to the land and meeting the bulldozer person. I am pretty excited about this, as he will hopefully be able to clear out to where our home site is going to be. As soon as we get things bulldozed and "graded", we are going to get a shed out there, and put a pop-up camper so that we can stay out there longer. Right now what happens is we drive the hour out to the land, chop trees and work on the land for awhile, then we drive the hour home. It would be so much more fun and convenient to be able to camp out there, have a bon fire, have a char-grill smoker going while we are working, making some good food, and be able to have our dogs out there enjoying the outdoors as they should!


picture of our dogs...

What we are about

We are the Bowmans. Our dream is to make the land that we bought into a self-sustaining organic farm, which also includes construction of an earth sheltered home that will be as off the grid as we can make it. This blog will follow us on the path to making our dream a reality.

Right now we are in the "clearing the area" stage, and saving as much wood as we can to make fence posts for our driveway. Here are some pictures that we have taking of our progress.

Our clearing process so far...
Our expansive future driveway...

Sitting on the"keeper pile"...