the homestead journal We are building a home on 54 acres of undeveloped land in northern california. Our plan is to create an environment rooted in permaculture and sustainable design. Here you will find drawings, photos and writings about our progress along the way. The journal is not only so we can share the process with others but so we have a record for ourselves. Who knows someday we might write a book about all this crazyness... heh. Jun. 5, 2007 - Rough Electrical Installing rough electrical in our bale walls and e-crete walls. Jun. 5, 2007 - Installing Doors & Cedar Siding We install our doors to make the building weather tight and locally sourced cedar siding for the window/door framing areas. May. 29, 2007 - First Coat Exterior Earth Plaster 2-day Plaster work party for our 1st coat on the exterior and some plaster prep details. May. 29, 2007 - Window Installation & a bit of Stucco Installing our Sierra Pacific Alum Clad Wood Windows and stuccoing our insulated foundation. May. 29, 2007 - Strawbale! 2-day Strawbale work party. With our amazing group of friends and family we got 95% of the bales installed within 2 days. May. 29, 2007 - Framing the Windows & Doors Stick framing of windows and doors. Jan. 5, 2007 - E-Crete Interior Walls Laying out and installing the AAC interior wall partitions. Mar. 15, 2006 - Metal Roof & Interior Bath Wall Framing Installing the Galvalume Metal Roof & Interior Bath Wall framing Mar. 2, 2006 - Porch Framing & Roof Sheathing Framing of the wrap-around porch and the full roof sheathing process. Dec. 11, 2005 - Roof Trusses Installing the roof trusses with a truss crane and bracing them. Dec. 8, 2005 - Corner Box Columns & Beams Building and installing the corner box columns and putting up the beams. Oct. 15, 2005 - Courtyard Bricks & Hardy Frames Laying out the herringbone brick pattern in the courtyard and installing the steel hardy frame panels. Aug. 26, 2005 - Porch Slab & Courtyard Footings The porch slab and courtyard footings. May. 11, 2005 - House Foundation Completing the main foundation and underslab utilities. Sep. 29, 2004 - Starting The Main House Getting Power, layout of house, form work for foundation. Sep. 12, 2004 - Finishing the Ag Building Finishing the Ag Building Walls May. 7, 2004 - Ag Building Bale Walls Preparing the Ag Building for Bales and Installing Mar. 3, 2004 - Ag Building Beam/Truss/Roof and More! The ag building beam/trusses/roof and main door Oct. 21, 2003 - Ag Building Framing The ag building box column post and beam framing Aug. 3, 2003 - Ag Building Foundation Slab Finished The ag building slab pour and completion. Jul. 17, 2003 - The Road Done - Formwork for Ag Building Foundation The road is finally completed and we are now setting up the forms for the slab foundation on the Ag Building. Pump-house wall framing goes up. Jun. 29, 2003 - The Road & Building Pads Cut - Beginning of the Ag Building The road and bulding pads have been cut and we have begun work on the ag building and pump house. May. 3, 2003 - Septic is in...we wait for the Road. The 3 bd.rm pit septic system has been completed. Now Late Spring 2003 we wait for the road and building pad to be completed. Apr. 4, 2003 - The Beginning The first entry to the journal. Its all about the land.