It’s a mad-dash to get ready for winter here. First was the roof, which is complete except the gutters and some windows. Now we’re nailing up salvaged plywood, shoving shredded news paper (cellulose) insulation into the wall cavities, and doing landscaping to drain water away from the house. We hope to get two stoves installed this week, and move into the upstairs before the big freeze. It’s good motivation to get your house built when the alternative is sleeping outside in the cold. We’re busy bees getting our Hive ready for the winter.

The garlic has been planted, over 3000 cloves, and now, alas, we have to say goodbye to our chickens, for they’ve been pecking around and taking dirt baths in the garlic beds. We didn’t plan to have chickens over the winter anyway, but now that the time is come, we are sad to see them go. Some of us, anyway.

The garden is coming to a close, we’ve collected the last of the squash and tomatoes and all the seeds we can handle. Now we will be collecting leaves for mulch.

After walking in the forest to enjoy the fall leaves, we’ve come back out into the field to see an outline of a house in the distance. Who would have known. It’s starting to look like a home.

Thanks to all the volunteers for making this happen. We’ve had a lot of great help this summer, some of whom can be seen in Maloud and Chente’s video. And this week, we will be saying goodbye to our longest standing volunteer, Ems, who has been with us since April. Goodbye, thanks, and come again!