Our two big construction projects are nearing the finish line now and we’ve gotten to one of the really fun parts – crafting the beautiful wooden built in counters and tables that were designed.  Here are a few images of the work in progress.  Above is the counter which will wrap the whole half circle of the kitchen (with spaces for oven, sink and refrigerator units, of course).

At left is the sink unit at the Albertson house – the other half of the corner unit will be installed soon.  All these beautiful countertops and the table are the work of Rob Mini, our wood miracle worker.

On the right is the dining table at the Albertson house.  Instead of chairs, she plans to use reclaimed pews to turn it into a booth.

All of these pieces are crafted from slab wood harvested here at Driftless Farm and prepared in the workshop before being taken to site and custom fit into place.

The time has come, the walrus said, to install the straw bale roof on the albertson house.  Straw bale roofs are a really fun process, Whole Trees, style.  After the rafters are placed we stretch an interior finish of canvas between them and then create a good strong vapor barrier and fireproofing layer with a techfoil and airkrete layer.  Then a tightly stacked layer of strawbales are laid out to cover the whole roof surface.  But the work is far from done.  The bales are tightly cinched down to the rafters below by wires threaded up through the bales and secured to wooden purlins which run in the opposite direction.  Above you can see Prairie working to tension a purlin row as he works his way up the roof.

Once purlined the straw bales are very secure.  But the roof isn’t perfectly insulated yet.  Because of the curving form of the roof there are little spaces between some of the bales.  To stop those from becoming insulation problems, we go back and find each and every one and stuff it tightly with more loose straw, tamping and packing it down as we go until the straw bale forms a secure and solid barrier of insulation space.

Because this work needs to happen quickly and in optimal weather we had an “all hands on deck” day and I (Della) actually got to get out of the office and up on the roof, packing straw.  Here I am demonstrating a hole that went all the way through – needing to be very thoroughly packed with straw.

Working on a straw bale roof is a very pleasant thing to do.  Unlike a conventional roof where you are dealing with inflexible (or alarmingly bowing) plywood and slippery, hot, toxic shingles, you sit on a comfortable surface working with natural materials.  The packing process can be meditative, as you contemplate the warm winters you are providing, or therapeutic as you dissipate frustration with each firm thump of the tamping stick.  Its also a friendly group activity the way we do it at Whole Trees.  Two of us worked methodically back and forth across the rows of bales packing spare straw into the gaps, another crew member traversed the roof tightening and securing purlins and Roald undertook the installation of the chimney opening himself.

We didn’t exactly whistle while we worked but there was plenty of friendly discussion, banter and even a little singing.  All in all, we have a nice warm roof underway … with many pleasant thoughts tucked into it which must be adding something, even if it won’t count towards the R-value.

Here’s the whole roof, soaking up the sun and just waiting to be covered over in the final metal decking layer!  Its currently being protected from wind and rain by heavy plastic tarping … which is actually re-purposed billboard signs.  We practice what we preach about material re-use and recycling here at Whole Trees!

Here you can see that the canvas has been stretched over a few of the rafter poles but the last set are un-covered, giving a view of the roof rafters above.

This got finished up tuesday and now the metal decking has been laid out, ready for the concrete pour to be completed soon.  But its already possible to stand up in the loft area and get a feel for the space …

… although you still need a ladder to get there.  The first stair stringer has been installed but the stairs aren’t quite done yet.  Here are Roald and Brian consulting about the next steps to take on the stair way.

Its always exciting to see new spaces come together from the drawings.  More updates to follow as the loft progress continues!

Feast your eyes below!!!!

Here’s Rob sitting on a roof rafter and demonstrating how interestingly shaped said roof will be (as it arches up over the half round windows at the living room sliding glass door).

The soffit trim was finished up recently.  Using “live edge” wood for our trim (milled out of a tree but not squared off at the edges) is both more flexible for our undulating roof form and more beautiful in itself.  Here we are layering two pieces over each other – one painted and one stained – to get the right depth to cover the soffit edge.

And here are some shots of the interior rafters of the workshop area – it would be fun just to keep it tarped over rather than installing the roof because the light coming through the rafters is really beautiful.  But the installed roof will have its own good qualities – like keeping the room nice and cozy through the Wisconsin winters, for one!

Stool for our little Toad. A late June Pleurotus?

Hello Friends of our Forest.

It is a little over a year since we kicked off our Community Supported Forestry Project here at Driftless Farm.

Since its inception, we have hosted over 8 workshops, countless camping trips, community gardens, staff retreats, a winter greens CSA, spring water deliveries, shipments of milled lumber and firewood, and even had a sexy turkey decoy spend some early mornings trying to lure a mate!

Some of you appreciated close-contact interactions with the forest, some of you took its abundance into your city homes.  A couple of you have yet to redeem your full membership value.

As for the future of the CSF: it has been the most exciting melding of Roald, Derek and my passions– forestry, cottage industry, and community.  But it has been dwarfed by the increased demand for Whole Trees Architecture and Construction, which has demanded tremendous focus on our parts over the last many months as it gains in popularity.

For this reason the CSF must remain on a simmer until we settle into this new plateau of growth within Whole Trees. I hope that at some point in the next year, I can return to promoting and maintaining a strong CSF.  Until then, I assist with our exciting building projects:

Karawoods Residence in June. Willard, WI

Onward and Inward!

Amelia

Yesterday some of the Whole Tree staff was honored to participate in the Home Blessing Ceremony held for the Kara Woods residence which is currently in construction.  Roald, Amelia, Della and Christopher Cooke (who is visiting to do a detailed LCA on whole trees as a part of his graduate thesis) traveled north to the building site in Willard Wisconsin and met with Sisters Marge and Gabriele and with some of the current residents of the Christine Center.  The Sisters had planned a beautiful ceremony to express gratitude for all the contributing factors – from mentors to the bountiful earth – and to set intentions for their new home.  Due to the continuing rain (ie “holy water”) we held the first part of our ceremony inside a near by building and then processed over to the house site complete with a swinging incense burner and blessed and set intentions for all the parts of the house.  We were honored to be involved in the ceremony … and thrilled to see the house on its way to eventual completion.  With some walls up and some rafters in place on the poured concrete pad it is really possible to see the building taking shape.  We’re all excited to keep following the next steps!

Sisters Marge and Gabe also gathered a number of small personally significant items and placed them in a decorated box after sharing them with the blessing group.  They placed the box into one of the pallet walls as a sort of corner stone time capsule.  We feel confident that the blessing ceremony will contribute to making this house a home for the Sisters and everyone who visits them there!

It was a very different feeling to be unloading the truck with a crane!

We assemble each timber frame “bent” on little rolling dollies which makes it easy to move it into position before it is raised into its upright position.

Since the rest of the building will go up right around our timber frame structure (and eventually tie into it structurally) we have it all braced up with scrap lumber for the moment.  That way the guys on the construction site don’t have to worry about tipping in the mean time.

Once two bents are up the feeling of the space begins to emerge.

At the center of the building the hallway widens out into a “Brahmistan” space.

Once we got all the elements bolted together it was ready to stand on its own … and hold up the rest of the building as well.

Finally, here are some detail shots from the connections.  Whole tree elements can come together very beautifully, even when they are a simple structural framework of columns and beams – we always remember craft.

One of the ways we compromise is by preparing and assembling our whole tree framework right here at our home base and then organizing an efficient Ship it, Build it, Come on Home operation to get it to its permanent location.    After arduous weeks of harvesting, peeling and preparing these pieces they are finally ready to ship out!  Because the Maharishi timber pieces were SO LARGE we actually borrowed a little workshop space from a neighboring business – Chaseburg Manufacturing located in scenic Coon Valley.  Here are some of the beams, all prepped and ready to ship.

Once everything was securely strapped in place we were ready to caravan on down to Fairfield Iowa for our big timber raising event!

Elevations for the Karawoods Dwelling, facing South and North

Toward a residence in Willard, WI, affectionately titled, “The Karawoods Dwelling”, we’ve selected rafters, beams, and even the white oak for the custom kitchen counter tops.

The "Hag Tree" standing in the woods, 150 years old.

To our left, an aging white oak, perhaps 150 years old.  Our managed forest plan suggested we remove it, as it falls into the description of a “Hag Tree”– Useless for milling.  Instead, we call it a Great Mother Tree, and will honor it in three different projects this Spring– custom fascia, slabs for custom counter tops, and perhaps a branching column or two.

Ben Hansen, of Hansen Diversified, works with us to respectfully remove trees from the forest.

We have a wonderful colleague and friend in Ben Hansen, who skillfully removes larger trees, and works with us when we mill, plane, and customize certain pieces.

I am sorry to say that no one ever yells, "TIMBER!" Sometimes I do just for fun.

Turns out, the wood is even more beautiful inside than we had hoped.

In addition to this Mother Tree, we’ve pulled out beams and rafters for the Kara Woods Dwelling, and are now washing and preparing to urethane.

Peeling a Rafter in oddly warm March weather.

Next on our agenda, selecting the structure’s columns and beams, and beginning to pre-fab the joinery for the timber frame.  When we pour the foundation in mid-late April, we’ll then deliver the timber frame ready for immediate erection.

Rafters for Karawoods. Aspen and Bass Wood.

Melissa has joined our farm and forest for the season. She will garden our earth, and type us poems. "Following her on the deer trail, past all the footprints from last week, side by side with the spring, she hopped, and I cautiously stepped to the other side, in and around the kissing spring, we snipped tiny tufts of watercress."

This week’s winter greens box will include…

*Watercress!

*A mix of tender salad greens: sorrel, claytonia, tatsoi, mizuna, mache and more.

*Blossoms and shoots from Raab and other mustard greens.

*Small bunches of kale/chard/or bok choy.

*Rosemary Sprig and remaining autumn garlic.

*Potatoes from Driftless Organics.

Sometime in the last couple weeks all the plants in the greenhouse got to talking.  They discussed the ratio of sunlight to darkness, mixed with soil temperature and daytime highs.  And from this conversation, they lept into BLOSSOM!  All the mustard greens and brassicas that have quietly persevered the winter have now decided to send forth shoots of soft seeds, full of sugars.  The greenhouse is now charged with fertility, and as tastey as can be.  Each blossom and shoot are like tiny broccollis, but so much more tender.

And in the forest, the watercress peeks above the spring water now; the mint has sent up its tips, the sap is about to run.

We started these seeds on January 9th, and transplanted them into the greenhouse yesterday. They will be bright red mustard leaves, lettuce leaves, and endive by mid-late April.

This is a "hanging gutter" of arugala sprouting toward the February sunshine.

Here is a stack of fire wood (white elm) ready to be delivered to a forest member for February and March.