Building My Cedar Chest

Hey Ya'll! Here is a lil' video I put together about my trials and tribulations of building a chest made of cedar...
I made this chest to keep my natural fiber clothing from getting seriously moldy during the humid summers here in the Appalachian Mountains - it's really easy to make once ya learn a few tricks about putting it together. Building it myself made the $cost$ of the chest about 1/3 of the price I would have had to pay for one ($40 for the wood).
I love natural living on the cheap! ;)




Xoxoxox

Building the Bathroom Wall with Local Wood

Yay! The Luck Cabin now has a 98% finished wall for dividing the kitchen and bathroom - and because I used locally milled pine it only cost 40$ to build an entire wall. That is super affordable compared to the pain staking, time consuming and toxic sheet rock commonly put into homes now. There is something to be said for the rustic look and it's ease of construction and price - so much more tactile and warm to me. I likes it!

I have never built a wall before but noted the process as my carpenter friend Mark threw this wall up in less then 3 hours. Level 2x4 studs in first....
Some horizontal and well as the vertical ones go into place to hold the wall together, but i like it cause it made cool little box shapes - that I can use for hanging pictures, putting shelves into, a rock collection cubby... boxes are endless awesomeness.
Then I wanted wide planks to be nailed to the studs to match the 'decor' of the rest of the Luck Cabin...
Sweeeeeet!!! It's almost complete. I even have cold and HOT water running to my tub now, from the gravity fed spring. Time to go wash some undies!
XoXo

Learning To Use An Ax

Oh...Gawd... today I learned how to better split wood with a "go devil" style ax! I have not done much log splitting in my life, being that I grew up in a tropical big city that only sees the icy junk we call snow like once every 20-30 years and also thrived on central heat for the rare chilly days. I remember begging my parents to put logs in the fireplace, just for fun. :)
As you can see in the very top pic, I have to stand and meditate before i swing the ax, getting just the right position before swinging. And I can tell ya, I was doing it all kinds of wrong.
See in the pic above, my hands are WAY too far apart at that point, but my legs are not. The reason I am standing so funny is because should I miss the log, I didn't want the ax to hit my leg instead... even the thought of the chance of some possibility of this occurring terrifies me more then the worst horror movie ya eva' saw X's a million nightmares.
Because my hands were so far apart at the end and too close together at the beginning of the swing, I could not get proper momentum going to crack the log...only getting a few dents...
Once ya give it a good wack and it doesn't split or crack, the ax kinda gets stuck in there - which can seem impossible to pull out, but if you hold down the log, and then pull the ax handle down to the ground in front it will roll back out.
THEN START OVA' !!!
Hells yeah! With the right amount of force, aim and hand placement (which is not really shown below, cause i slid my hand back down after it split), it gets alot easier. The hands start out on opposite ends of the ax in order to pull the weight up over head, and when coming down they slide to the bottom together.
The thing is, I used to use something called a "wedge" to split logs and I can say for someone my size (AKA tiny as hell) using a wedge is a little easier if ya' don't have the body weight to really slam an ax down. But it is never a bad idea to have some basic skills to work with, in case you are ever in a situation where all the easier tools are not available and ya need to make a fire. (Blizzard perhaps? Zombie Apocalypse? Peak Oil? Living out in the middle of nowhere and have no car to get supplies easily? Extreme poverty?)
BTW- the logs were from trees already dead on the property here. Supa' eco-nomical. :)
XoXo

Building A Fire For Heat

It got cold here...I mean chance of snow winter winds freezing cold. I hear that each person has their own style of making a fire, kind of like everybody has their own special penmanship. It's all the same result, but your own signature way of doing things...
So here is my fire making signature! :) Brown paper or dried up weeds at the bottom (don't use bleached paper which is so grody breathing the smoke made me feel like I needed to call 911 after), then some piles of tiny kindling (I used apple tree branches) and added a few larger branches too, then thin split logs. All this I like to think I am making in a sort of subtle teepee fashion, and then add the one big log on top towards the back.
I actually had hardwood logs brought to me by some local guys who totally split all the logs by hand (very hardcore and more earth friendly.) I found them on Craigslist and they rock - if you need wood I will give ya their number!
I do best with all natural materials, otherwise the smoke bothers me alot (coughing, chest pain, crusty eyeballs) - I don't use fire starters or fake logs, EVER. One thing that does make it less sustainable or hard is how to light this thing ablaze... I usually use matches, and sometimes a propane clicker- I think it would be cool to learn to make my own fire from two sticks, jus' like boy scouts do! Who wants to teach me?
If you know some tips or methods of starting fires for heat (or keeping them burning) I would love to hear it. Also, what do you consider to be the most eco & healthy way to heat your home during the winter?
XoXo

Sustainable Farm Chores: Gathering Kindling For Winter Heat

It's time to start preparing for winter! The less luxuries of the modern world you have the more physical work you have to do in order to keep some basic necessities going - like heat in the winter. Today was perfect beautiful warm fall weather for breaking sticks for kindling - what I kept thinking as I did it was when the winter really sets in this would be alot harder to do. This is the kind of work that is meditative, relaxing, productive and gets your body moving without being extreme. I have a hunch that it's most fun to do with another person around though. After filling the first bucket I was yearning for some conversation or Fleetwood Mac. :)
These branches are from trees already fallen or cut down by someone. Most of what I cut up here are apple tree branches - the wood is kind of papery and will probably light fairly easy. I even got all anal with it and made two sides, one for wide pieces and one for the tiny sticks.
XoXo

Primitive Sanding With A Stone and Sand

My Neighbor was getting rid of an old scratched up cutting board, made of thick beautiful wood. The upcycler in me immediately swooped up the prize and decided I'd sand it down back to new- but I didn't want to use regular sand paper on it since it's where I'll be cutting food and the chemical glues in crappy sand paper have never been declared food safe or gluten free (the stuff people with Celiac Sprue have to think of!). Not to mention sandpaper is one of those things that kinda rips us all off- you rub it around just a few times and the paper it's already shot, the sand is all gone, and your fingers are raw from pushing too hard.
So here's what ya need to sand it the old OLD school way (primitive, chem free, cheap, & EASY): A stone which has a flat side, sand, and your object of sanding desire.
Step One: Pour a handful of sand on the wood. Place the stone on top the sand.
Step Two: Start grinding ...not like on MTV The Grind- but by placing your hands over the stone and working the sand into circles. I found that you don't need alot of pressure if your stone has a good weight to it already. The stone itself will actually grind down the sand too, and make it very fine - so through the process it makes the surface of the wood smooth. The sound it makes is pretty awesome- it sounds like some sort of meditation didgeridoo monk chanting OM music.
NOTE: Stick something under the sanding project to catch the sand falling off the sides, so you can reuse that sand over and over.
LAST STEP: Once you are done with sanding buff the wood with just the stone and no sand, then wash the board off and check to make sure it's the consistency you like. Then heat up a little oil with salt and rub the board down to keep it protected. :) No more scratches, it's like brand new!!!!
XoXo

DIY: Non Toxic Wood Oil

When you have as many chemical sensitivities as I do sometimes not even the less toxic stains, paints, or varnishes will do. Many of them still contain harmful VOC's unless otherwise stated on the bottle with a seal of approval. The great thing about no VOC is it won't be outgassing half the year like most products but just when it's first applied & drying. I wanted even better then that though, I wanted to create a wood oil that never outgassed a single hazardous chemical! So when I had a raw wood table that needed some protection I cooked up my very own secret formula that has now lasted 2 years with no change.

Here is what you will need:

*Soy Oil

*Sunflower or Olive Oil

*Kosher Salt

*Vinegar (I use ume vinegar, but I think apple cider would work good too)

Doesn't it sound too simple? I came up with this theory/formula knowing about treated wood being mainly salt and oil being a time tested preservative for centuries.
Take all the ingredients and put them in a pot big enough to hold the amount you need (depending on whether you are doing wood floors or a chair...). You will use more soy oil then the others at approximately 50 -70% more in your recipe. Then add a ton kosher salt... meaning if you poured 1.5 Liters of oil in your pot, then you will want to ad at least 1.5 cups of salt. Then add a cup of the vinegar and bring to a boil. You want this to boil for at least 20 minutes or longer (the longer the better it seems), and then add a little more salt when you see that the first batch has dissolved in the oil.
The easiest way to apply the wood oil is with a sponge which will be able to be squeezed out and creates less waste. The cool thing is it won't harm your skin, your brain, or your lungs & it won't be outgassing any smell except one you might want to eat! If you would like to add a scent to your wood oil try throwing in a branch of lavender or rosemary.

I really believe there is a way to make what we need in a less toxic, chemical free way - we just need some imagination & to stop buying into the marketing BS of big corporations.