People keep telling us that building our farmhouse is going to break up our marriage. I can certainly see why.

Just when you think you are finished with your day – errands and jobs and family drama and dinner all complete – you and your partner sit down at the computer to figure out what kind of faucets you want in your new house. Suddenly you have an opinion about something you have never consciously thought about – grout color, porcelain vs metal handles, whether the toilet flush lever is on the left or the right side, depth of bathtub, how much molding is going to be around your doors, what style doors do you want, how long the cords are on the lights that hang from the ceiling, on and on and ON.

I know these are nowhere near real problems. But depending on whether everyone is well rested and has their humor glasses on – such a conversation can be turned into something huge and dramatic and end up with one partner retreating to the bath with a glass of wine and Cherry Garcia, especially when some appliances and bathroom fixtures cost more than our car. I am grateful for the most part my partner doesn’t care and I can play the princess, but sometimes he does.

Septic fields, running the electric lines, and digging the well – three things I knew nothing about in my naivete of wanting to have more control over where my food comes from. But as many people can tell you – in addition to choosing faucets, those are vitally important things one has to think about when away from municipal utilities.

I learned inoculating mushroom logs that it is much easier drilling holes without having to worry about the charger dying on you. So until we get ourselves organized with water and electricity we are taking a break from the planting.

But that doesn’t mean I haven’t started planning – as I will talk about next week with a run-down of my Permaculture Design Certification course.

Cherry Garcia devotee,
Corinna

Here are a series of pictures showing what has been going for the last month.

Digging the trench for the frost walls

Frost wall footings (there is no basement)

Pouring the concrete into the frost walls

Laying the plumbing pipes underneath where the slab will be poured

Insulation goes under the radient piping

Using sand and gravel from the land to lay on top of river stone for a driveway

A completed driveway

A septic field before being backfilled

A slab!

It is beginning to look like a house! (soon we will be ready for faucets!)

Farm Beginnings is the chronicle of a city girl starting to farm. Last installment Corinna gave an update on the land – and specifically the bonfire bonanza. Today she gives an update on the house.