Week 3: Early Site Work

With a builder selected, construction got off to a quick start in May, driven in part by our desire to get water and power hooked up to the trailer.  It’s getting old, filling the water tank by hand and lugging batteries back to Bellevue to re-charge.  Then our well crapped out (we think it was the old electronics) and we need to make really nice with the Peases to keep using their water.  We can’t drink the irrigation water!  I gave Dave a bottle of wine last weekend – saying they’re the only people I know who can turn water into wine.  Literally.

So what do you do with the well?  Fix the old electronics, or go ahead and advance the work we’ll need to get the well ready to handle the demands of a house – new pump, new electronics, a well house.  We opted for the latter.  And so there we are, filling the water tank one quart pitcher at a time.

Given that our site is so far from the road – an 850-foot stretch - we have to invest a lot to get utilities and water uphill to the house. It’s requiring three transformers, double the connection charge from the PUD, and a huge delay. 

But we’ll have 400amp service at the house, and 200amp service plus a frost-free spigot at the base of the hill, serving the trailer in the short run and a future barn in the long run.

Here’s the road from the first cut (above) to the latest profile (right). When we arrived on the 15^th of June, they had laid 8-12 inches of crushed rock on the road bed. Also, they've cut a drainage ditch on the right hand side to take runoff down the hill.  Quite a difference; it looks like a real road now.

 

Week 4 saw the team trenching to drop water lines, plus 4-5 pipes for power, phone, cable, fiber and one more conduit ‘for what we don’t know yet’ about future technology. Here’s a picture of the trench, right before they closed it up on Friday, June 8.  We’re awaiting the wires to be pulled and a final inspection by the PUD before those can be filled in.  We will wait anywhere up to 6 more weeks for the inspection – a 30-minute visit after which the ground will be filled in and the switch turned on.  And so there we are, entertaining visitors, filling the water tank one quart pitcher at a time.

 

And especially for the little boys in the audience (you know who you are), here's a video of Jeff in the little excavator backfilling the trenches.  And one of his men using what has to be the worst tool in the shed - the soil compactor.

Week 1: It's Gonder Custom Construction

Leo Gonder (L) and Wally

After taking all that time to explain the process for selecting a builder, I thought it would be good to share with you our choice: Gonder Custom Construction!  A husband/wife builder team out of Leavenworth, WA, Leo and Teresa really won us over with their energy, honesty and attention to detail.

We interviewed five builders, and narrowed it down to two to provide a detailed bid.  Leo and Teresa Gonder provided an amazing book full of all of the materials they used to create our bid.  They bid the house exactly as the architect spec’d it – and then showed us how to cut the budget by over one hundred thousand.  The other builder made a series of judgments about what he would change from the plans and architect specs; but how he got to his number was not clear.

We felt going forward we could trust Leo and Teresa to be straight with us, and to provide a clear paper trail for everything.  That appetite for detail will serve us well.  And so far, working with them, we are very happy.  This is a really good project for them and for their business, and they're bringing a personal interest to the project. We’re making decisions well, he’s thinking ahead, providing options for reducing cost while achieving good results.  And as of mid-June, we are deep in the decision-making cycle.  Things are happily moving forward!

Next Post:  Week 3: Early Site Work

Memorial Day Hike

Barrie came up to visit us for Memorial Day weekend.  You know how you sit there looking at a hill and say, "One day, I'm going to climb that hill."  Well, that Sunday morning, we did.  Here are some photos of the hike.  It's really a storybook environment over there.  Enjoy.

This is the hill - it's called Summer Hill for the little girl next door.

Looking back at our home site - what a road!

Looking west up the canyon towards the Willems' house

Looking down at the Szmania's farmhouse from 'Brender Beach'

Barrie looking down on Dryden from the top of the hill

Could they have made this valley any prettier?

Barrie pointing the way to Wentachee

Arrowleaf Balsamroot in full bloom all over the hills

Not sure what this is - we'll call it Fireworks Flower

The Real Authentic Thing: Case in Point #1

Now and then I get sucked into buying the wrong thing; usually it’s a sale item I talked myself into.  Invariably, I end up disappointed for the rest of the time I own it, and wind up disposing of it thinking, “what a waste that was.” And since last summer we disposed of most of the stuff we accumulated over 27 years of marriage, I find myself acquiring things – lots of things.

 

So when it comes to the property in Cashmere, I’ve got a new policy.  From now on, I will only buy the Real Authentic Thing. You know, the version of a thing that exemplifies the best of that thing.  The old- school, the timeless, the one everything else is a substitution for.  

Case in point number one is our new picnic table.  When we rolled the trailer over there, that gave us a place to sleep, but also a nice table for meetings, meals and hanging out.  Of course as the weather got better and better, we found ourselves outside more, missing a table.  So I started looking for a picnic table.  Not a plastic one made in China.  Not faux Tuscan or faux French or faux anything.  

Bear and Barb Milner delivering our new table.

Craigslist delivered the solution:  beautiful tables made from scratch by Bear Milner in Tonasket, WA.  I ordered the table in early May, and he delivered it on June 16.  We’re thrilled to have it.  It’s comfortable to sit at, long enough to seat 6 - 8 people, and very well-made.  He rounded over all the corners, so no splinters.  He used porcelainized screws so no rusting.  And chrome carriage bolts.  All at a rural eastern Washington price. With a little care, our grandchildren will inherit it.  

Leo Gonder (L), Wally and Matt Miller from Washington Window and Door going over our window package details.

We’ve eaten our meals there since the weather’s been lovely.  Even took a meeting on house business.  All made even more satisfying knowing a local craftsman got some business, and we got the real authentic thing.

We thought we’d leave it down in the orchard – the workers could eat their lunch at it, we might have an orchard party down there – it would just be happy living down at the bottom of the hill.  But after living with it this weekend, we think it may earn a place on our evening terrace up by the house.

Farm School in Pictures - Subject: Close-ups

While I'm still working on the next posts about Farm School, I thought I would post up these close ups I took at and around Quillisascut Farm and School of the Domestic Arts in Rice, WA.  More to come.

 

Arrowleaf Balsamroot - in bloom now all over Eastern Washington.  Rick Misterley (of Quillisascut) 
says when the Balsamroot blooms, Old Man Winter is on the run.

This is Filbert.  He's very handsome and quite the casanova.

The coat of Libby, the Komondor.  Her job is to watch over the goats, but mostly now she just sleeps.  And barks at things because she's blind and deaf.  A dear dog and a wonderful presence.

And here's Jet, Border Collie Numero Uno.  She also has semi-retired from her job, now that wonderkid Sedona (Border Collie Numero Dos) is on the job.  I have no pictures of Sedona - she's always on the move.

 

Seed Saving.  Ready to plant out. Such a variety of heirloom beans. 

 

 

Farm School

Our Farm School experience took place on 36 acres of paradise along – ironically - Paradise Valley Road, just outside of Rice, WA.  Bing-map it, and you’ll find it’s 40 miles south of Canada, about 55 west of Idaho, along the eastern shore of Lake Roosevelt.

Rick and Lora Lea Misterly first started farming this land 31 years ago.  They sited their home and barn along a broad terrace; on one side is a low draw up to the north, and on the other side is a gentle, sunny slope leading down to a creek.

Like all farmers, they worked hard, and over the years developed a clear and simple philosophy for life: to build a community where people live in season, live sustainably, and with respect for nature in all aspects.  Living sustainably includes making a living, so they explored ways to supplement their income, starting with making world-class goat cheeses.  Lora Lea's mother made cheese at their Leavenworth home, so Lora Lea had history with cheese-making.  With great hutzpah, she and Rick sold their cheese to famous Seattle chefs and the rest is history (read about their back-door sales successes at www.quillisascut.com.)

A few years ago they built on an idea to take their philosophy to a broader audience; they built Quillisascut Farm School of the Domestic Arts.  Starting first with chefs and other culinary professionals, they’re exposing people to the health, flavor, joy and truths about eating in season and eating off your land.  For those of you familiar with Barbara Kingsolver’s book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, it’s the same concept, only Lora Lea and Rick live it all year long.  

Surely anyone can do it for a week.

So I suggested to Wally that we go.  I thought he might like to make a better connection from the kitchen to whatever we grow in our gardens at the new house.  I knew I wanted to learn more about cheese.  The program offered visits to organic farms and orchards in the area.  To my surprise, Wally readily agreed – book it, he said.

Farm School takes place in the Hippie hay-bale house the Misterleys built, complete with commercial kitchen, an endless dining table, a gathering room, and four bedrooms/two baths upstairs.  They can accommodate up to fifteen in their classes.   If you haven’t spent any time in a hay-bale structure, you should.  Radiant concrete floors and super-thick walls make it quiet, warm and embracing.

Our group included a guest food blogger (Heather), another blogger/farm advocate (Vera), a recent arrival to the Kettle Falls area (JoAnn), a Seattle lawyer (Jennifer), a true farm girl living in the city (Kim) – and Wally and I.  [Being the only guy in the group, Wally spent a lot of time talking with Rick.]

Here's our group after witnessing the slaughter of Billy Bob, the bully rooster.

Along with our hosts, we enjoyed the whacky repartee  and supple comic stylings of Stine (Steen), our Head Cook, a woman blessed with mean food skills and the ability to perform Hoagy Charmichael’s Stardust Memory in duck cluck.  Yes, we have it on video, but sorry folks, I promised her I wouldn't put it out there on the interweb.

She of the blue vest.

Upcoming posts will cover the experiences we had, but in summary, Wally and I really enjoyed this experience and are glad we spent a short vacation there.  It's just such beautiful country.  The Intro to Farming opened our eyes to new things, taught us a ton about growing and preserving food, and gave us a new perspective on what we want out of the life we have left to us.

Fire

Burn piles are visible against the early November snow.

For anyone with a second home, the notion that bad stuff can happen when you're not around is a really scary thing.  We don't own a second home - at present, our future house is just an outline spray-painted on the ground.  But we back up to the woods, and in fact own 8 acres of commercial forest land as well as the orchard.

So it was hard not to panic yesterday when Wally got an email from our neighbor that our site was on fire.  Backing up a bit, you may remember we cleared part of the site to better read the land and determine where the house should go.  That generated a ton of debris which Nick Waters piled up - quite artfully, I might add.  Nick layered green matter with brown matter and shaped them to burn with maximum efficiency.  He planned to burn them at Thanksgiving. Well, it snowed before Thanksgiving last year so the piles did not get burned before winter. 

Our brief delay in the builder process meant we didn't have Nick out again until April, around the time the dry-season burn ban was to kick in.  Nick got an extension from the County and with rain in the forecast, he burned last Thursday.  We saw the piles very lightly smoldering on Sunday, when we met with Leo and Theresa on the site to finalize the staking, and everything seemed fine.

But something rolled off into dry brush and ignited.  David and Christie went up there with shovels and put most of it out.  Luckily Wally was in his office to see the email, and Leo and Nick and their troops were in the area and could respond to put the fire out before it went any further.

It's hard to imagine how dry it gets over there, even this early in the season, especially when it's still cool and soggy over here.