Work, to many in our society, is a four letter word. It is dirty, exhausting, and something to be avoided at most any cost. In many respects, the idea pushed to children is that you put in your time so that in the end you won't have to work anymore. You either study your way out of it with college and a larger salary, or you labor your way out of it in a job you dislike so that you can retire. Things like chopping wood, culturing milk, or hanging wash are directly worse than flipping on the furnace, buying dairy products at Walmart, and using the dryer. Somehow, it has become that the idea of many activities I now participate in most every week are thought of to be gruelingly laborious. The funniest part of all this is that when I ask many of the people who voice these concerns to me, they have never participated in anything other than furnace switches, store bought food, and dryers. "So how would you know?" is my first thought, though I don't say it.

The fact is, turning on the furnace is much easier than chopping and splitting wood. However, I would like to argue it isn't simpler. I have no idea how my furnace works. I wouldn't have a clue how to fix it and legally cannot fix many of the processes that go into getting the power to my furnace. However, the schematics I have seen and the small amount which has been explained to me clearly shows that the steps of creating the electricity (hydro power here), storing the electricity, wiring it to my house, then the furnace, and finally somehow conducting it into heat is not simple. In fact, it is incredibly diverse and complicated. Now, the person who just has to flip that switch may never know any of the background of how their house magically becomes warm (never did), but ignorance does not make something simple.

I know how a tree grows. I know how it stores its electricity in the form of densely laid carbon molecules. I know the difference between a ceder, a hemlock, and a Douglas fir; why they burn differently; and what conditions they need to grow. Part of this is because I am/was and environmental studies major, but much of it is also because I participate in the process of these cycles and the natural systems of their creation, destruction, and the succession which follows. This is in no way easy (though it really isn't as hard as many seem to think), but it is incredibly simple.

The last time Jules and I went to go chop wood, he pointed out the immense sense of personal connection which comes from knowing where our wood came from. We have seen the home the tree once had which will heat our spaces this winter. We have intimate contact with the life it once lived and thus a reverence for all it will give us to continue our lives.

The garden is very similar. There is no commercial production filled with large industrial equipment, no pesticide or chemical development which had to go into our food. There is no way I could begin to describe the chemical complexity of pesticide or what it does to the soil structure and the biogeochemistry of a watershed. Not to mention the multitude of high-tech gadgetry which now constitutes large scale farming. Our garden is literally as simple as seed, soil, and water. By creating and spreading our own compost we are reminded of our waste in ways we won't see for many years with pesticide production. We have collected the rain water, transferred, harvested, and dispersed it even as it fell from the sky all over us. We planted the seeds, watched their development, and have begun collecting the seed to have the cycle come full circle. Yes, it means more labor from building boxes, hand planting, weeding, and such, but it also means I know everything that goes into my food. It is simply food.

When I watch our sour cream and cottage cheese culture, or our butter transform from cream, I am personally taking part in the processes of our food. There are no industrial food plants, no long transportation stops from one venue to the next, no commercial advertising and packaging steps involved. It is as simple as the dairy products which go into it.

So many of these thoughts have been culminating in not only my brain, but also Jules'. It wasn't until our recent trip to Georgia that many of them found the common ground to all fit cohesively together. Jules' long time mentor and friend, Jeff Hanson, owns The Book Nook and recommended Eric Brende's Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology. It is the story of Eric's adventure with is wife living in an Amish-style community for a year and a half.

Now we are not going anywhere near as hardcore as they were. They had no running motors, no electricity, no running water, the works. We are reasonably happy with our small scale simplicity. However, what struck me as so wonderful about the book was the way Eric described the culture of the people whom he lived with and around. Work and labor are the functions which kept the society going. The central focus of their social interactions and their community is combined labor to survive. You help your neighbors for the sheer factor that they need help and will then reciprocate the help later. This is just as much a cultural currency and nothing was expected in return for helping. "Many hands make light work," was a common saying and practice. This communal helping, communal work, made the tasks so much easier in that it provided social interactions and shared knowledge. The community was bound together by shared labor, experience, and all the interconnections which come with the two.

There were many times when reading that Jules and I found ourselves silently nodding and relating to the life Eric and his wife were sharing. We have experienced many of the same struggles, culture shock, and learning curve which they did. The largest example came just recently, however. With canning season in full swing, there was much to be done around our kitchen. As the cans all began to pile up, it became apparent we had no where left to put them. The Hole wasn't finished, and with so much time being spent canning there was not time to finish it. If we stopped the canning to finish The Hole, the short season for fruit would be over. If we didn't finish The Hole, we would have no where to place the cans from the fruit season. We were rather stuck.

Until one day I came home from work to find Jules' head poking out of The Hole, covered in dirt. Up until this point, The Hole had primarily been my task with occasional help from The Barracuda. In true supportive fashion, Jules had jump started my lack luster feelings about the work involved in finishing our root cellar. He approached the entire process in a completely different way with large scale excavation and then later finishing work. This monumental moving of dirt helped re-energize me into doing whatever finishing work needed and the hole was completed in over one long weekend. Together, the daunting task was significantly more manageable and actually kinda fun. Without us joining forces, and his different approach, The Hole still wouldn't be done.

With the dirt removed it was time for shelves and I was once again removed from The Hole, only to watch from the entrance. With such close quarters and large shelving, it would be virtually impossible for two people to have completed the task without a head wound. Being accident prone and not very visual, it would have been me with the head would. So Jules grumbled, man-handled, cursed a bit, and eventually constructed three sturdy, significant shelves for all our cans to sit through the winter.

The enormous task of moving all our cans down into the completed root cellar was more than I thought it would be, but now I don't know how we have managed without it. It will still take a bit more excavation for us to be able to store all of our bins of dry goods in the most ideal places, and still a bit more when our apple tree, pumpkins, potatoes, and carrots begin producing enough to warrant storage in containers other than cans, but for now we've completed one of the most major projects for our home. I know Jules thought I was crazy when I proposed the idea. I know my father (an architect) thought I had completely lost it when I had him come look at the space to discuss how to structurally pull it off. But, in the end, hand digging the root cellar with only a five gallon bucket or two was pretty cool.

Well, our Wall of Wood just keeps getting bigger. The porch now stands with four racks of wood all full, leaving our little overflow rack left to hold the kindling. Grandparents take The Spicy Barracuda every other Saturday and ever single Wednesday. These have become wood cutting days in our house. The racks have rapidly become occupied and the neighbors are increasingly thinking us insane. We are now all set for the winter to bring what it may. (Though you would never know it was coming with 104 degree heat waves!)

This last month was our fourth trip and we have now developed quite a system. The effectiveness of the day has hinged on this learning curve and proven to be incredibly useful in allowing us to still enjoy the process of wood cutting. We can go and get the firewood while still maintaining some time at home to stack before having to pick the Barracuda up. The entire trip usually takes us four hours and it is about a 45 minute drive each way. That leaves about 2 and a half hours for us to cut 1/2-3/4 of a chord of wood. By making the process quick, firewood has become a very pleasant "date" for Jules and I.

As Robert Frost so eloquently stated "The woods are lovely dark and deep, but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep." This is a bit what firewood cutting is for us. There are so many wonderful things to see in the forest. There are dried river beds to explore, and shelf fungus to discover, and trees so ancient it boggles the mind how majestic they are.












But we have promises to keep and much work to be done, so the wonders of the forest are set aside for a different time. This is not to say that the giant snail we saw crawling along a log a few trips ago wasn't interesting enough to watch for a bit, or that the crazy colored bug which crawled across my splitting wedge wasn't cool enough to take a moment and inspect, but in general we try to work the entire time at quite a quick pace. This makes the time go rather quickly and exercise to be had without a gym membership.

The first time we went out, we were duphuses at this whole process. I would stand and watch Jules cut wood not knowing what else to do. He would try to cut things that pinched the chainsaw or didn't give it enough gas and the motor died repeatedly. I tried to split wood at the same time he was and felt like a complete failure because it took me so much longer than it did for him. It was the heat of the day because we didn't get up early enough. Horseflies were everywhere. Sheesh! We were a mess. What follows is the system which we have figured out and works for us. I think everyone needs to find their own rhythm and style, but sometimes seeing what others do can aide this significantly.

We divide the labor in overlapping chunks so that neither Jules or I is ever idle. The work runs very fluidly and seems to really minimize either of us getting overly tired or overly worked. The only portion not shared by the both of us, is me crawling into the bed of the pickup to finish the stacking. Due to size and the camper top being on, it just works better for me to sit inside the truck bed to stack.


Our National Forest has specific rules for firewood harvesting. For this reason you will not see us felling any trees. Currently, you can only cut fallen wood or trees which the Forest Service has felled in order to do road maintenance.

After finding a spot to do some cutting, we carry up all of our tools and decide on a path to carry out all of the wood. We try to keep our impact on the ecosystem to the most minimal possible and usually carry in the same way we carry out. This is also the reason we use only our hands for this process. Somehow using a wheel barrow or other method for wood removal seems disrespectful for the forest. We wish to work for our wood and give full respect to the amount of time and energy it took the tree to grow.

From left to right we have: the hatchet, my ax (wooden handle), Jules' axe (yellow handle), and the maul.

After everything has been carried in we survey the logs and decide just what we should cut and what we shouldn't. This normally has to do with the accessibility of certain logs, the type of trees (creosote content), and the level of decay. From that point, Jules puts on his very stylish safety goggles and we both insert our ear plugs. First he cuts large sections of the log into chunks to split. I help by supporting various logs, or shifting their position so that he can cut them clean through.
One of these sections is reserved as a chop block for Jules to split the wood. The rest start to be split by me.

After about five to seven sections have been cut by Jules (and my assistance with logs is not longer needed) I start to roll the sections to a relatively flat spot to begin splitting them. When we first began, I used the hatchet to make the initial cut into the chunk I was splitting and then used it again to hammer the splitting wedge into place. As I have gotten stronger with each trip, I can now make the initial incision into the chunk of log with my axe. This cut is make as deeply as possible, as close to the center of the log as possible. I then knock the axe out of the log (because I always get it stuck) and begin hammering in the splitting wedge. The splitting wedge is a fickle instrument. It never likes to stay put. I hold the wedge in one hand and use the back of the ax to hammer it into a place where it will stand by itself. The tricky part comes in the initial hit on the wedge with the maul. You have to smack it dead-center really, really hard. There is no tapping involved. This is whomping. This whomp drives the wedge in to the point it will hopefully not flip out with consecutive hits. Once the maul drives the wedge in completely, the log will split in half and is then stacked for Jules to split it further. By having me begin using the splitting wedge before Jules has finished with the chainsaw I can get a little bit a head on splitting. Jules can cut the halves into pieces much faster than I can split them in half. So I start splitting and making a pile of pieces for him to split up when he finishes with the chainsaw. With the pile waiting for him, I can hopefully half the logs continually without him needing to stop and wait for more to cut up.

When Jules is done with the chainsaw, he takes off his exceptionally fashionable safety goggles and sets the chainsaw aside to cool. This is a very important. I mentioned we were duphuses when we first began this firewood thing. Well, due to not letting the chainsaw cool and then grabbing the manifold Jules gave himself one righteous burn resulting in a heck of a scar. Another interesting safety tidbit is about ear plugs. Earplugs are nice for the noise from the chainsaw, but what I really like them for is the sound of the splitting wedge. The loud "Pink!" of metal on metal is so very a foreign sound that it cuts right through my head. We leave our earplugs in the entire time until the end when we are only carrying the wood out. But I digress.

Once the chainsawing is finished, Jules begins splitting the halves into smaller pieces. He has gotten quite a good at this and splits them rapidly. He says that if you treat the large piece as if it were a wheel and cut your sections like pie wedges, the grain helps with splitting. I have not yet graduated into doing this as my arms weren't as strong as his were and my aim was a bit awkward. I looks to me like if you cut your wood at angles around 35 degrees, they split the best. Whatever the case, the split pieces are then thrown into a large pile for us to carry out of the woods.

When Jules first starts his splitting, I'm still using the splitting wedge and the maul to give him more material. When there are no more chunks for me to split in half and stack, I begin to carry out the large pile Jules as split up. He continues splitting the wood into nice burnable pieces and I start a pile down at the truck.

Carrying firewood out is different for Jules and I. I'm not a sprinter and he definitely is. To me, I'd rather carry a few pieces with minimal strain and carry more trips. Jules prefers to carry larger loads fewer times. Most importantly, wear long sleeves. It seems so funny to now write, but wood is covered in splinters. COMPLETELY COVERED! They are small and invisible, but incredibly annoying to find all over your arms, chest, stomach and everywhere. Long sleeves and an extra shirt to put on for the drive home will do you wonders.

Whatever the case, the wood all gets to a pile outside of the truck and I can shinny my little self (I'm 5'2"; Jules is 6'4") nicely into the back of the pickup to begin stacking all the wood for us to carry out. At this point we have a pretty good idea of how large of a pile is needed to fill up the truck. The first couple of times, we would stack and then realize we needed more wood and have to go back and cut. But eventually it all fits in, we load up the last of our tools (now having let the chainsaw cool before handling) and head back home. Jules' truck is a Toyota Tacoma and with the camper top on it can hold somewhere between 1/2-3/4 of a chord of wood depending on how big we make the pieces. It does us quite nicely, but you can definitely feel it on the way home. We surely won't be stopping too quickly and might possibly need new shocks in a couple of years!

Culturally, this cutting our own heat is a bit of an interesting conversation issue. Jules and I are both forest lovers. The harvesting of trees for timber usage is something I personally have spent time working to prohibit around our parts. Many hours have been put in with a local grassroots environmental organization to stop the decimation of our national forests for timber usage. As much as I have had friends appalled at the idea of us "killing a tree" the other option for our household is Natural Gas. The natural gas company is trying to permanently destroy over 40 miles of old growth forest in our area for the usage of cheaper energy. Our removal of two trees from the National Forest to heat our house for over a year seems so very, very small in comparison. Secondly, by working for this wood, by seeing exactly where our heat comes from, our consumption is dramatically lower than it would be by flipping a switch. Both Jules and I believe in pristine wilderness areas which are not touched by the likes of man. However, we both realize there is enough room for all of us if we control our usage and sustainably plan our forestry.

Secondly, so many people have complained about the amount of work! However, when really asked, none of them have ever cut firewood before. They seem to feel the task is enormously laborious, well unworth the benefit, and completely asinine. To us, it is time together, spent working in pace with the cycles of our life. It gives us a time to talk, to be together, to feel fulfilled in a job done well and completely. We come away with so much more than a truckload of wood.

Today I realized, not much has been written about our garden. This is honestly because I wouldn't consider myself anything but an extreme amateur at raising our food. I've been told the process is a 3-5 year learning curve and we are currently in year two. This year is much, much better than the last and I can only imagine what next year will bring.

The first summer I lived with Jules, we had three tomato plants smushed into one medium sized pot. This came along with one teensy parsley bush, one bunch of chives, and two thyme plants. Soon into the season I planted collard greens and spinach.

In the end, the parsley, chives, and thyme plants were far too small to actually do anything with. The spinach I planted turned out to be baby spinach, a cultivar that never gets more than four inch long leaves. Total bust! Our backyard fence was falling down, and the only thing we had to make raised beds out of was pressure treated lumber scraps. It was a very meager beginning. The collards did well, however, and so did the ever persistent tomatoes which yielded surprisingly well. All in all, it was enough to convince Jules to allow me my third of the yard for another go at this whole gardening thing.

By the end of the first summer, Jules tore down the old fence (since it was falling down anyway) and rebuilt our new, gorgeous, North side fence. With that came all the promise the completion a large scale building project can bring with it. Such a boost brought about the garden planning for the next season, the acquisition of proper raised bed materials, and much ordering of seed catalogs.

With such a small house, our 1/4 of an acre lot seems to have an unusually large backyard. After much measuring and a few very bad schematic drawings, we ended up with 6 independent raised beds all 9'x4'. We have composted, amended the soil, chopped up our leaf litter, added grass clippings and finally came out with something resembling good soil. There was digging, clearing, chopping, much adz swinging, aerating, and lots of exercise for my arms. Lots of loading and unloading. Then, finally at the end of it all, planting of precious seeds. This year the raised beds were made from untreated Douglas Fir in luxuriant 2x6x10 boards which mirror the pattern of the fence. There are 18 inch walk ways to allow for my little wheel barrow and a weed whacker to access rather easily but not take up too much space. It is a prim and proper garden that seems to be doing quite well compared to last year. It is quite picturesque in my humble little opinion.

The main thing that I learned the first year, and tried to fix the second, was appropriate choosing of veggies. My goodness there are a lot of different kinds of veggies. I always just thought tomato, spinach, peas, beans and such. Well, uh, no. It is much, much more complicated than that! So I pined, and I looked, and I gleefully accepted all the new seed catalogs which came in the mail.

First I nailed down just what veggies we wanted to grow. There was a very brief discussion with Jules where he reiterated his garden mantra "I don't care what grows as long as it produces food." There is sometimes a variation of "If you grow it in the garden, I'll eat it." But essentially the garden is my domain. He mows; I grow. So I thought about what we ate, what I cooked, and came up with this list:

Peas, Carrots, Zucchini, Pumpkins, Potatoes, Rhubarb,

Spinach, Garlic, Tomatoes, and Beans.

After a quick confirmation from Jules(whose care level rose a bit) he added Peppers, both sweet and hot.

The next major decision was the type of seeds I wished to grow. This one took a bit more internet research. You see, with the advent of modern science, seeds are no longer just seeds. There are Heirloom, open pollinated, hybrid, and genetically modified seeds. To give an extremely brief summation of each I will start with the most recent.

Genetically modified seeds are ones that have been scientifically modified by a seed company. These plants are patented and it is illegal to save their seeds, split the plants, propagate cuttings, etc. Many of these plants have also been altered to have what is called a terminator gene which means they will not reproduce, even if the seeds are planted. Most of the current agricultural crops are genetically modified strands so that the pesticide used by the agricultural companies will kill everything but the specific strain of plants. The seeds are genetically modified to withstand the pesticide. This way the seed company has a market on the seeds and the pesticide. 98 percent of the world's genetically modified sees are owned by the company Monsanto.

Hybrid seeds are seeds which have been bred or cross pollinated with another plant which has desirable characteristics. This isn't science meddling with genes exactly, it is much more like what you did in high school science class with Pundent Squares figuring out what characteristics your child would have with someone else in the class by working with dominant and recessive traits. An example would be if you had a tomato that routinely produced lots and lots of fruits. You would then breed this tomato with another plant that routinely had really, really big tomatoes. The result would be a few tomato plants which routinely had lots of really, really big tomatoes. However, not all the plants would be this way. Some would just have lots of fruit, some would have big fruit, some would just be weird. In this way, you can save all the seeds you want from hybrid plants but you never know what you are going to get. This is called not coming true from seed. If you want the same hybrid plant, you have to re-buy it from the company.

Open Pollinated seeds are a relatively new things. These seeds are seeds which come true from seed. You can save the seeds from these plants because they are not hybrid cross seeds. These are seeds which have been breed over and over to produce plants which will always develop the same plant every time. This means if you learn to save seeds, you never have to reorder the plants from the company. Many universities are negotiating with specific seed companies to sell these cultivars as a way to increase the diversity of our seed supply in the country.

Heirloom seeds have no formal definition, but it is generally accepted that these seeds need to be at least 50 plus years old (give or take a year or two). These seeds are only in existence through seed saving year after year, passed down through families and seed savers exchange. They will always come true from seed and have been selected year after year for various desirable traits. Amish paste tomatoes, for example, are supposedly the absolute best tomatoes for making paste. Kentucky Wonder green beans are supposed to be the best canning beans from all over. These are seeds which are sold and distributed as a way to keep heritage alive and genetic diversity high. In many instances they take longer (or don't produce as much) than hybrid or GMO seeds, but have a significantly better flavor.

In the end, I decided on as many heirloom varieties as possible. The reason for which is an entire post of its own (soon to follow), but mainly because I wish to keep the process of seed to food as simple as possible. So we tried a sampling of multiple varieties and have yielded a wealth of information this year to aid in next year.

More than anything, the first year's gardening experience told me to focus on what I was planting. If anyone out there has looked at a seed catalog, it will become quite apparent it isn't as simple as just spinach, peas, and tomatoes. There are dozens, upon hundreds of different varieties of each vegetable all complete with their own benefits and drawbacks. Who knew someone had cultivated spinach that never really grew? Or tomatoes which could bear fruit in as low a temperature as 50 degrees? Or peas with edible pods, peas you shell, peas you can shell or eat the pods, and peas that dried in the pods without either eating or shelling? It is all a bit overwhelming.

A lot of seed catalog perusing and my list turned began looking more like this:

Peas: Lincoln Homesteader and Little Marvel
Carrots: Danver Half-Long and St. Valery
Zucchini: Cocoaelle Bush
Pumpkins: Jack o' lantern and Sugar Pie
Potatoes: Baker and Little Red
Rhubarb: Generic Rhubarb (?)
Spinach: Giant Thick Leaved
Garlic: generic grocery store
Tomatoes: Manitoba, Arkansas Traveler, Bonny Best, Brandywine, Mortgage Liter
Beans: Blue Lake Bush Beans and Contender Bush Beans

They were all planted, have grown amazingly well, and we are significantly happier with the turn out from this year's garden. Oh what a difference a year makes!

The process of building a garden is definitely a little more involved than I first thought, but you certainly get out of it the work you put in. Our returns have been plentiful, as well as the knowledge we have gained again. The verdict is still out on many of the variety choices, but this year looks to have been a good one.

More than anything, the garden has shown me a different kind of faith. I must constantly remind myself that 12 days without rain does not mean the rain is going to stop. Just because the beans didn't do well this year, doesn't mean we cannot grow them. The peppers will produce fruit and so will the blueberries all in due time. The spinach knows a lot more about making its own seeds than I do about harvesting them. I must be patient and breathe. All will happen in its due time; all will cycle around again whether I like it or not. The garden tends to remove your ego. I am but the cultivator; not the creator.

After a Memorial Day of wood chopping we needed somewhere to put up all the wood to dry and be stored for this fall/winter when we are going to need it to heat the house. So Family Day became a trip to Home Depot and building of firewood racks. This project is incredibly simple and I dare say that I could have done it myself. One person can easily take the project on by themselves with the help of a lovely assistant to support and carry large objects only a couple of times.

Our racks were constructed to fit just about a full chord of wood. A full chord is 128 cubic feet. This basically means the length, height, and width of your rack needs to multiply together to make 128. We used the dimensions of our covered back patio to figure out how big we wanted to make our racks, and they fit just under a full chord of wood. (It will take about one and a third racks to equal a full chord.) However, we have a smaller rack which was previous made by Jules to accommodate the extra.

We did not use pressure treated wood because we designed the racks to fit under our patio which is covered and doesn't receive much of any rain. If the racks are going to be exposed to any elements or merely covered with a tarp, pressure treated wood is a must. This will increase your initial costs by maybe $15, but will mean you don't have to replace your rack year after year.

Materials
2 2x6x10 boards
2 2x4x10 boards
6 2x4x8 boards
1 box of 3 inch wood screws
Total Cost 26.50

Tools
Power drill with Phillips head bit and pilot hole bit
Miter saw (or a protractor and a pencil)
Power saw
measuring tape

None of these tools is absolutely necessary, all can be improvised or used with manual power, but these tools make it so much quicker and so much easier. More power to anyone who would do this without the above tools. You are significantly more simplistic that we are and that is awesome.

Directions
First we constructed our base. Cut 6 sections of 2x4 (use the eight footers), each 15 inches long. Create a rectangle using 2 of the 15inch sections on each end and the 2x6 boards for the sides. The other four sections of 2x4 you will be using in a minute.
Cut 3 sections of 2x4 (again the eight footers), each 11 1/2 inches long. Drill these sections spanning the middle of the rectangle to create support. Place them at even intervals (you just need to eye ball it) and put at least 2 screws in each side since all of the weight is going to be resting on them. These supports keep the base from bowing out.

Now you will be using the other three 15 inch sections you initially cut. The firewood needs to be stilted up off the ground so that air can circulate around it. This not only prevents bugs, but it also helps the wood dry out so that it will burn significantly better and not mildew. Starting at each end, screw a 2x4 section down flat against the outside beams. The last two sections can be placed evenly across the rest of the base. When you turn the base over, you now have feet for your stand to rest off the ground.


With the base now complete, it is time to construct the top and arms of the rack. Set the base aside and prepare some ample space to lay out the rest of the rack. Cut 4 sections of 2x4 (again the eight footers) each 6 feet long. These will be the arms of the rack. Save the left over two foot sections as they will become support beams.

We laid out each arm separately, and then fastened the arms to the base one at a time. Mainly this was due to just how large and difficult to move both arms would be attached together. Screw one of the 6 foot sections you just cut onto the end of one 2x4x10 inch board. Screw the other 6 foot section to the other end of the 2x4x10 making a very large U shape. With the aide of a lovely assistant, carry the U shaped arm out to the base and attach it to the inside corners of one side. Notice that the top 2x4x10 is facing out and the beams were screwed on the inside of the base. This alternating provides more stability for the structure.Repeat this process for the second arm, using the other six foot sections and the last 2x4x10. At this point the rack is almost done.

The only things left to do are to support the side arms so that they don't begin to bow out with all the weight of the stacked wood. To do this use the scraps of wood leftover from cutting the arms. Turn each remaining 2 foot section into two 11 1/2 inch sections. You should have four 11 1/2 inch boards. Lay the rack on its side (some help from the lovely assistant is useful here due to how rickety the whole thing is at this point) and drill one section at the very top joining the two arms together and one halfway down the arms.
Lastly, construct the rest of the side supports. Move your miter saw (or protractor and pencil) to a 45 degree angle. Using the last 2x4x8 create four boards which measure 21 1/2 inches on their longest side and 15 1/2 inches on their shortest. Both ends should be 45 degree angles facing the opposite way. They should look like trapezoids. The exact length of the board is not important, but the angles are. The board is going to fit between the base corners and the side arms to help them from bowing out. As long as both angles are 45 degrees, and they alternate in direction, you can slide the board into place regardless of its exact length.

When all four board are cut, place them directly opposite from the corner created by the base and the side arm. This should create a right triangle. (Flash back to sophomore geometry!)

You are done! There is your constructed firewood rack. It is heavy, but not too bulky now for two people to carry together. With the base being only 15 inches across, it allows for 18 inch logs and split wood to be stacked nicely. This should fit into the average wood stove or fireplace. We measured the door to our fireplace insert first (just in case) and I'd recommend doing the same to anyone before they begin the process. It might mean tweaking the base measurements. The rest will stay roughly the same.

With racks built we ventured into our local National Forest and came home victorious with truckloads of split firewood. The Spicy Barracuda gladly helped me stack it; growing in excitement as he watched the stack get bigger and bigger and the rack get fuller and fuller.

Now we have almost an entire rack of wood ready and waiting for the winter. Not only is there a significant feeling of accomplishment (and great exercise) when you are chopping the wood, but stacking it all up adds a finality to the whole process. You can sit back and view your work in a concrete product as well as knowing you are securely warm without aide of the Natural Gas company.All in all the entire experience was great fun! We are going back out in three weeks and plan to put together the last of the firewood racks this weekend. I'm very glad to know that The Barracuda has an appreciation of the work involved and can actively participate in the stacking. He has gotten so strong! We are very proud of him! I will say though, the success of the endeavor was mostlikely due to the expert supervision of Guadalupe.

Jules is the primary income for our house. Though I have a job, it isn't really a job. I work 3-4 nights a week in the kitchen of a local restaurant for minimum wage and tips. It isn't rocket science, or brain surgery, or police work. It is nothing compared to working with at-risk kids like I used to. Now, if I screw up or make a mistake someone doesn't get their dinner when they thought they would. I can live with that.

By no means does this imply that I don't take my job seriously or try to do it well. I really like working in restaurant kitchens with their adrenaline-based, fast paced lifestyle. I just mean that the stress is different and the consequences not quite so extreme. Our household could exist without my job (it would be very tight, but possible). My job is the latte job. It allows us to go out to eat, to get lattes, to shop at thrift stores on our Saturday walks, to go to Chuck E. Cheese or bowling for family night. It is the cushion of money that makes us feel safe.

My real job is taking care of Jules, our house, and our son. I homeschool the Spicy Barracuda because his birthday misses by 4 days for kindergarten entry. I clean (though I'm not very good at it) and make our meals. I manage the grocery lists and household projects. But most of all, I do research and look for ways for our house to run more efficiently. Coupon clipping, meal preparation, gardens, root cellars, rain barrels, these things all take time and which is at a significant premium with both people working full time. By not working full time, I can take on these various household chores with enjoyment and gusto allowing Jules to relax after work. It also means no child care and the ability to lower bills.

This last year the goal has been centered around food. Before the Spicy Barracuda and I, Jules spent about $250 a month in the dreaded task of grocery shopping and ate tuna fish and nachos as his staple meals. Oh, Bachelor food, what would the world be without you? With the onset of actual cooking, and some meal planning our grocery bill has plummeted. We purchased an apple tree, two blueberry bushes, and planted the garden. The root cellar began to be dug so that we could use the dirt to fill in the multiple large raised beds and have somewhere to store our veggies once we harvested them. Composting was used to temper the dirt with organic material so it would be good soil for the plants. The rain barrels came about to water the food we would be growing. The bulk food purchasing was to help with the food bill until the plants actually could be harvested and wound up slashing our garbage bill along with it. Along the way much more has transformed and as we walked around the yard yesterday, I was amazed at all that had been accomplished.

So, on to the next real project for our household! The bills. The grocery bill might have plummeted with the arrival of the Spicy Barracuda and I, but the rest of the bills definitely went up. With two more bodies occupying the house during the day, a lot more was being used at a higher frequency. When Jules and I sat down and discussed it there are about three main bills in our house and two miscellaneous. Electric, Natural Gas, Water are the big main bills. Cell phones and Gasoline are the two others. This next year our focus is going to shift from infrastructure for our food to infrastructure for our bills.

Electric
Our house is a 50's style atomic ranch. It is fabulous! We have tried to keep the style throughout even including furniture and colors. For this reason, energy efficient appliances aren't really going to work out very well. However, by purchasing only two a month, we can outfit the whole house in energy efficient light bulbs without one killer monetary hit.

Another big energy sucker is our dryer. It heats up the house tremendously during the summer and only adds more money drain in the air conditioner trying to compensate. Luckily our entire neighborhood has been outfitted in the backyard for umbrella clothes lines. No more dryer in the summer!

Lastly, the purchase of a solar water heater would do wonders for some serious decreasing. The main use of our electric right now (other than appliances) is the hot water heater. The current state and federal rebate/tax credit programs make the purchase ($2,500) almost break even within a year and that doesn't count the amount saved on the electric bill. I have my fingers crossed for next year's tax return outfitting our house with solar for heating the water. Photovoltaic cells for complete energy dependence is completely out of reach right now and no where near practical. Not only is it not sunny enough here, but the total cost is like $25,000. Hah! I don't know about your household, but we aren't getting anywhere near that much back in a tax return!

Natural Gas
Our Natural Gas is only used for the furnace. The local National Forest allows for firewood permits at $5 a chord. We did some talking with our older neighbors who used to heat their house solely with wood and they have said four chords was the magic number. Another declaration on their part was how wonderfully fun it was to go up and spend the day out in the woods cutting. We will see! For $20 of heat for the whole winter it will be well worth the exercise!

Turning the furnace off also allows us to store more in our root cellar because the furnace shares the space. Without the added heat of the furnace the space stays cooler and more damp, both major pluses! However, the insulation down there could use a major revamp as well. It keeps the cold down and the heat in the house where it should be. So we will be reinsulating.

Water
It takes one major weekend rain event (sometimes daily rain event) to fill up 1-1 1/2 rain barrels. This means during the rainy season here, we will have to have more than the current five barrels if we want to maximize the amount of harvest. Right now we have enough water to have disconnected our toilet from city water, and have back stock for the summer. With more water we will be able to expand our rainwater usage into the daily small loads of dishes I wash by hand and the car washing throughout the year. This leaves showers/baths, three loads of laundry, and one load of dishes a week as the only major uses for our city water.

Currently, the water we harvest with our rain barrels comes off the back porch and runs through a rather old, metal gutter. It works for getting the water off the roof, but makes for the water uncertain for use as anything other than irrigation and toilet flushing. A replacement gutter made from high impact plastic is needed along with a leaf guard system to keep the water filtered.

By surveying our yard, we think we have space for 8 more barrels tucked away in the far corner of the yard and along the unused side of the house. With small stands and a nice wooden screen (so you don't see them) the addition will be highly useful and very inconspicuous.

Cell Phones
Jules and I switched to a shared minute plan quite a while ago. This brought him over to Verizon where most all of his family and mine get their cell phone service. With Verizon, if you call or recieve a call from someone who uses Verizon the call doesn't charge you minutes. This alone made the cost of our phones dramatically decrease. When we signed up, we did what most people do and went highly safe with the amount of minutes being used. Now, it has become clear we can most likely downsize our plan without much of any change in our useage.

Gasoline
By paying attention and grouping errands I've managed to only fill up my gas tank once 10-12 days for about $20. However, Jules is a teacher. One of the cardinal rules of teaching is that you do not live in the same district that you teach. This allows you to have a personal life and not run into your students everywhere at the least opportune times. (I once ran into parents of students while buying a large amount of alcohol for a friend's college graduation party.) He drives his truck quite a ways twice a day as a result.

However, Jules loves to bike to work. This commute is 60 miles round trip, and though he used to do it at least once a week, the toll on his body and time is extreme. Luckily, in September when the new school year starts, the completion of a significantly closer mass transit system will be in place allowing for the commute to take much less toll on his body. This means he can bike/ride to work two, three, or even more times a week. Not only will this make him personally feel better, but it will help with gasoline quite a bit.

The changes for next year will definitely be a more noticeable cultural shift than this years. Hopefully, the Barracuda is young enough still for the views of the mass culture to not affect him too much. Whether all of these ideas will come to fruition the same with this last year seems to be falling into place one can only wonder, but by having a plan and writing it down the ideas are at least in place for us to slowly move toward them. This last year has (and continues) to be a tremendous success in my book allowing for high hopes for the future.

When the idea of starting a garden first was broached to Jules, it wasn't one he immediately enjoyed. Well, that isn't true. He liked the idea of a garden well enough, however, he liked the idea of a yard much, much more. Initially, I'd planted a few fringe veggies around the edges and had a three tomato plants squished into one big pot. The turning point occurred when salsa found its way into the house. Jules LOVES Mexican food. Fresh salsa from our yard definitely made this garden thing a bit more worthwhile.

Now, the garden is extensive featuring seven 4 foot by 9 foot raised beds, a strawberry patch, blueberries, an apple tree, and an herb garden. It is wonderful! I'm bouncy about it whenever something new sprouts or we visit the local nursery. With all that produce we need somewhere to keep it.
Living in only 900 square feet, storage is at a premium. We just plain don't have the space to accumulate much. I quite like it as that means there is much less to clean and it is much easier to keep life simple. The drawback becomes having places to put all our extra bulk foods, canning, and fresh produce. My first thought was the garage, but Jules put a big veto on that one. It was for the best, we have way too much in there anyway. So next came the rather radical idea of a root cellar.

The very words root cellar seem archaic, but it makes a whole lot of sense especially as times get tougher and money gets even tighter. Basically a root cellar is a way to let Mother Nature do the refrigeration for you. Good root cellars both borrow and keep the cold. By digging in the ground well below the frost level the temperature remains as fairly constant 52 degrees and is slow to be effected by the extremely cold surface temperatures. In this way the veggies and fruits have protection from frost, and extra refrideration from the warm house temperatures. You can then emitt the extremely cold night air into the cellar (via vents or windows) allowing for the temperature to cool to between 32 and 40 degrees. With a pan or water for humidity (so the veggies don't crack or wilt) and two air vents to allow cross movement of air to avoid rotting, you're basic requirements are met. This gives you an extremely large, electricity-free, refridgerator. A finished or unfinished basement, an under the stair closet, a corner of your garage, even a hole in the yard can function as a perfectly good root cellar with little to no work after the initial set up. Canning and dry goods can also work well in a root cellar with only a small partition between the foods that need high humidity and cooler temperatures. In this way you can store large amounts of food and be able to "bulk up" when various fruits and veggies are in season and significantly cheaper not to mention better tasting!

Our root cellar is being put in by The Spicy Barracuda and I hauling up one 5 gallon bucket of dirt at a time. We are hand digging it out of what Jules has coined our "Hole." I honestly don't think he took me seriously when I said I was going to dig us one. But shovel and adz in hand the Barracuda and I began digging away. It is just plain hard work, but the exercise is wonderful and all the dirt has done nicely to fill our raised beds in the garden. The cellar is now coming along very well and we are beginning to consider shelving. The space is beginning as a way to hold our canned foods (most of this year's planting) and our dry bulk storage of 2 gallon buckets. As the space widens, and our garden yeilds increase, the Northeast side will become our actual root cellar to hold the cabbage, potatoes, carrots and such. The task has really been good for my exercising, and the Barracuda can now swing a adz like a pro! His arms are becoming very strong and he is really learning the value of watching his hard work patiently turn into a finished product.

Mostly I have been amazed at how simple this process has been. Though the work is physically tough at times, and you definitely get tired, the actual complexity of the project is minimal. You are mainly just digging away. There are many books which have been written on the subject and have helped me quite a bit when I first began and now as the spaces is coming to a point of some really setting up. Mike and Nancy Bubel have written Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits and Vegetables as a guide for anyone considering such an undertaking. The book is complete with plans, explanations, crop varieties, and stories of people from all walks of life and how they have created cellars for storage. Whether you are urban (like us), suburban, or rural there is something in this book which will suit you! My copy came from Powells. As far as I know they will ship just about anywhere!

Even if you do not have a garden or a space big enough to put in more plants than you already grow, help the local farm community at your local farmers' market. The markets are free, full of great family events and street entertainers, and provide you with a sense of knowing where your food comes from. This produce is normally cheaper by miles than the produce in the grocery store because you don't have to pay for the middle man and the enormous costs of all the overhead for the supermarket chains. Can it up, support your local community, and store it away to have great tasting veggies and sauces all winter long!

Both of my boys have passed out; Jules on the couch with Bell Bell squarely on his chest, Spicy Barracuda snuggled in bed with Guadie guarding his feet. This leaves me awake to listening to the fire dwindle down and Jules' heavy breathing. I like the stillness of the nights especially with the rain falling outside. Our rain barrels have filled much faster than anticipated and have increased from two to four with another couple coming as tax returns are deposited.

The increase of our rain barrels required a trip to the hardware store, some discussion among various male employees about the right way to secure specific things (thank you Ron, Scott, and Val), and me dutifully pushing the cart because I'm way out of my element.

The hooking up of our rain barrels and outfitting them to work properly was all Jules. He was amazing! I can use the truck to acquire them from the industrial supplier, I can haul them home and wash them out, and then I can stand back and realize I'm clueless on how to make the rest of it work. Jules tried to show me plans. He tried to explain. But, it wasn't until we had all the pieces home and he was actually outfitting the first barrel that I really was able to figure out what all was going on. Now that the process has been repeated four separate times, I get it quite well and could probably do one myself. So here goes with me trying to explain...

Materials for 1 Barrel
1 3/4 inch hose bib (1/4 turn)
1 1/2 inch coupling 2 inch extension
1 package rigid sealing lock nuts (found in electrical conduit section)
1 roll 1/2 inch Teflon tape (520 inches)
2 2 inch ABS Male adapters with Lock Nut
1 2 inch ABS pipe (the really long one)
2 2 inch ABS pipe elbows (90 degrees)
1 can ABS cement
1 downspout adapter
1 flexible downspout
1 cheapo plastic garden pot with 9 inch diameter
1 roll of screen (like for a screen door)
9 1/2 inch screws
6-8 miscellaneous screws
large rubber band

Tools
Power drill with 1/2 inch drill bit
adjustable diameter wrench
Dremel (so helpful, but not imperative)
X-acto knife
Jig Saw
hose
Spoon
screwdriver
black Sharpie marker
hack saw

Drill multiple small holes into the base and 2 inches up the sides of the 9 inch garden pot. This will allow for the water to freely enter the rain barrel, but for junk from the gutters and mosquitoes to be screened out. Unroll the screen and cut two sections 6 inches high by 18 inches wide. Make an X with the screen over the opening of the pot. Press it down into the pot so that the base and side holes are completely covered (and in some places overlapped) with the screen. Wrap the screen around the lip of the pot using a spoon handle to push it underneath. Have another set of hands screw the 9 1/2 inch screws around the edges, working as you go, to secure the screen inside the pot. This pot will sit in the hole you are going to drill into the top of the rain barrels, and hold down the newly rerouted downspout.

In order for water to enter the rain barrels, you need to cut a sizable hole in the top. The most important thing to remember when cutting the holes into the barrels is that you are dealing with water. This means the seals need to be tight and in order for that to be the case, the holes need to have smooth edges that are just barely big enough. Remember, you can always remove a little more plastic, but you can never put the plastic back after you've cut too much.

Find an item in your house that has a 9 inch diameter. It can be the lid to a standard juice pitcher (that's what we used), a bowl, a jar, it doesn't matter as long as the diameter of the lid is 9 inches. Trace the outline of this lid onto the center of the rain barrel. Use the 1/2 inch drill bit to drill three successive holes about 1 millimeter from the the traced line. This will allow you a starting place to begin using the jig saw to roughly cut out the hole. Come as close to the line as you feel comfortable without going over it. Once the hole is cut, use the X-acto knife to scrape any squiggly edges of plastic. If you don't own a Dremel, see if your neighbor (father, brother, sister, mother, mail man, coworker, anyone you can think of) does. Though the Dremel is not so imperative you should go buy one solely for this project, it is so helpful. Use the Dremel to router away the last remaining plastic up to the line, leaving a smooth buffed edge. At this point, put the screened pot into the hole to check that it fits. The lip of the pot should hang over the edge enough to keep it securely fastened and prevent mosquitoes from entering.

Remove the pot from the hole and set it aside. Now that you have been sure it fits, you won't need it again until the end. Drill a hole 1/2 inch in diameter about 4-6 inches from the bottom of the barrel, making sure to X-acto and Dremel the edges of the hole. Using the 1/2 inch diameter, two inch long coupling extension and the package of rigid sealing lock nuts (they look like lock washers with a nice rubber gasket) you will next create the spout of your barrel. The basic idea is that you screw the extension into the hole sandwiching the barrel with the washers on either side. This is significantly easier said than done! If you know someone with freakishly long arms (Jules is 6'4" tall and fits this description) make them some cookies and recruit them for this mission! In all honesty, this process caused much cursing from Jules and a lot of frustration. In the end the first barrel was the only one we used the extra rubber gasket for. The later barrels still have the interior washer, but no rubber gasket. This removal increased the threadability so that Jules could really get the washer on. If you are careful with your seals, the double washer is a bit excessive for all the frustration it causes.

Whether you decide to sandwich the washers or not, here is the process for the spout. Place rigid sealing lock nut onto the coupling making sure the blue washer is facing the threads. Next wrap the threads with an ample amount of Teflon tape. Don't be stingy with this stuff, it is amazing! Using some serious brute strength screw the tape covered threads of the coupling into the barrel until you start to smuch the rubber gasket. This should be a very tight fit. If it isn't the pressure from the full barrel of water will cause a leaky spout and much annoyance later. If you are feeling gung ho and really up for a challenge, have your freakishly-long-armed friend use a wrench to fix the other rigid sealing lock washer (rubber gasket facing the barrel) to the other side of the coupling on the inside of the barrel. This is done by tipping the barrel over and having the person lay on the side, straining to reach the spout and fix the coupling. This is by far the hardest part of the process.

At this point your barrel is almost complete. The only other task is to complete the overflow valve. We had no idea how fast our barrels were going to fill up. I honestly thought the overflow valve a bit superfluous, but now see its importance. Without this valve, once your barrel fills, the water would begin back up and soon flood from any place possible. Not good. The overflow is used to direct excess water away from the foundation of your house and into a safe runoff area. The other benefit of the overflow valve is to fill other barrels. The overflow valve connects very easily into another barrel causing them to fill in succession after the initial barrel reaches maximum capacity. For anyone living somewhere with even moderate rain this is a great way to increase the amount of money saved on irrigating a garden. In our city, we also receive a generous deduction in our sewer bill with every downspout we detach into a rain barrel set up. At any rate, the overflow is necessary whether to fill another barrel, or merely to save you from flooding.

To create the overflow you will need to find the center line of your rain barrel. On most this is a simple process of finding the molding lines which run right across the top. Follow these lines down about 4 inches from the top of the barrel and trace the diameter of the ABS pipe on the side of the barrel, centered around the mold line. Use the 1/2 inch drill bit to drill a couple of successive holes in the plastic as done previously to begin jig sawing a hole. After the hole has been cut with the jig saw be sure to X-acto cut and Dremel the edges for a secure seal.

With the hole in the top and now a hole in the side, you can adequately rinse out your barrels. This is important not only for the smell (ours were used and thus had quite a pungent aroma within them) but also to remove all the pieces of plastic which have been cut, Dremeled, and X-actoed into squiggly little bits. These are not things you want clogging up the spigot of your barrel when it is full of 35+ gallons of very cold rain water. So remove both caps from the top of the barrel and take a hose to the inside. It took about three different rinsings and shakings for the barrel to really be rid of all plastic and smelly remnants. Though they look big the barrels are very, very light. They are merely bulky. However, you will most likely get a bit damp and dirty doing this so keep that in mind.

The overflow valve is a very simple attachment consisting of two Male ABS adapters with lock nuts. The adapters sandwich to either side of the rain barrel and create a place for a piece of ABS pipe to securely fit and maintain a nice seal. The adapters should have a white washer inside of them which also helps form the seal. When coupled with Teflon tape and a liberal slathering of ABS Cement, the entire connection is quite watertight. If you are wanting to hook up successive barrels, the overflow would fit directly into another male adapter on the next barrel creating a bridge for the water to flow across. The length of this bridge is determined by the size of your rain barrel stand. Our stand was designed to hold five barrels making the overflow pipe about six inches long. Between four and six inches is a good size.

Wrap the threads of one male adapter with Teflon tape and screw the adapter directly into the barrel. Just as before this should take an output of some brute force as the connection should be very tight. From the inside of the barrel, screw the lock washer over the threads sandwiching the barrel in between. Use the hack saw to cut a 4-6 inch section of ABS pipe and fit the pipe into the male adapter so that it sticks out from the barrel at a 90 degree angle. Use the ABS cement as directed to liberally slather the connection. This stuff dries fast and doesn't like to come off of your hands. If the overflow is fitting into another water barrel, the second male adapter would be sandwiched around the second water barrel and the ABS pipe would fit across. Both connections would be covered in ABS cement to ensure no leakage around the seals.

To have the single barrel set up, fit one of the 90 degree ABS elbows onto the end of the ABS pipe and point the opening toward the ground. Measure the length from the opening of the ABS elbow to the ground and subtract 2 inches from that length. Use the hack saw to cut a section of ABS pipe to this measurement. Fit the pipe securely into the elbow and attach the second 90 degree elbow to the end of the vertical pipe. Point the elbow in which ever direction you would like your water to overflow. At this point you can either fit another section of ABS pipe out of the elbow on the ground, or you can let the water run off from there. Cut a 6 inch by 6 inch square of screen and fold it over the end of your overflow pipe (or elbow) securing the screen with the large rubber band. This is to ensure that mosquitoes don't fly through the pipe and lay eggs in your rain barrel. Do not use the ABS cement on your overflow connections. If you ever decide to add onto your rain barrels you will have to buy completely new pipe. The cement does not come off. It was designed by NASA or something and is crazy adhesive!


You now have a complete rain barrel set up that merely needs to be connected to the gutter. Unhook your current down spout and set it aside. We haven't really figured out a very good thing to do with the old downspout so anyone out there who comes up with a neat idea, let us know. Attached the downspout adapter to the base of your gutter system with a few miscellaneous screws and the flexible downspout to the other end of the downspout adapter with a few more miscellaneous screws. The flexible downspout will probably have to be shortened, just be sure you allow for enough tension that it is pushed taught into the water barrel. Line your water barrel set up on the stand and place the screened in pot (from the beginning of this process) back into the top hole. Manhandle the flexible downspout into the screened in pot so that there is enough tension for the downspout to keep the pot in place and the pot to keep the hose in place.


The learning curve on this process was very rapid. By even the second barrel, Jules was moving at a much more rapid rate. The repetition of drilling, jig saw cutting, X-acto trimming, and then Dremeling the holes is exactly the same for each incision and thus leads itself to some significant muscle memory. Secondly, as we have begun such projects as the rain barrels and their stand we have slowly acquired the necessary tools and workmanship to be able to attempt future endeavors. Combined with the added bonus of Guadelupe's expert supervision, we have been able to accomplish much more than I would have felt comfortable with alone.

The entire project (and indeed our complete lifestyle simplification) has been a process of slowly gaining more and more knowledge to be useful in the future. We are relying on each other and talents we never knew the other (or ourselves) possessed. The moral, I guess I'm trying to convey, is to not be intimidated by the magnitude of a project such as this. Make a list, take it to the hardware store, talk about it with guys like Ron, Scott and Val. Get to know your neighbors by asking if anyone has a Dremel, power drill, or hack saw. Tell them what you are doing, let them know they can come and help. Strike up interest not only for yourself, but to make social connects with others. We did not know what we were doing before this and are learning as we go. If you take your time and thoughtfully progress through, you'll come up with great results.

Another great resource we discovered was Instructables. Type in rain barrels, green house, deck, or whatever else you might have been fantasizing about building. The directions are great, with pictures and process explanations all along the way. Be willing to surprise yourself and your family; Jules certainly did with us. (Can you tell I'm really proud of him!)