A Walk In The Woods

We decided to take a stroll through the woods today to see what we could see, in particular, hunting morel mushrooms.  While there is no doubt spring is on it's way, no morels were to be found...it's not warm enough up here on the mountain...but soon these delectable mushrooms that look a little like a brain will be fruiting everywhere (or at least we hope so). 

I did however, spot many other exciting things I thought I'd share...

My first find was this round-leaf yellow violet.  It's the first true flowering plant I've seen this spring, and it was growing near our creek.  What excited me most was the anticipation that purple violets should be blooming soon too...and that means I can make violet jelly again...which is one of the best jelly's I've ever tasted, with a unique flavor and simply delicious!

Not long after seeing the yellow violets, I walked past this grassy fern...so lovely with the sun shining on it!

Then we found this egg, stolen from it's nest by a scavenger that savagely tore it apart and scarfed down the tiny little being that was growing inside...OK, that's my overly dramatic interpretation of what could have happened, I really have no idea, but it makes for a good story, unless you have an aversion to that sort of thing and then it's just a horrible story and sorry to put you through it.

These cool twisted vines have been in the same spot for a very long time...one of the things I love about early spring is you can see so many things in the woods that are always there but are not always noticeable...the bare nakedness of early spring is enhanced by the sun, which is hidden during the winter! 

Mountain Man and I both know we have read about this plant before and believe it might be a wild edible...it looks like a velvety leafed cabbage, but we can't recall what it is, and can't seem to find it no matter how we search.  We are on a mission to discover it and will let you know what we find out when we find out! In the meantime, do you know what this plant is?

And then, eureka, I found it!  A small patch of violets!  I'm so excited, and you will be hearing all about my violet jelly very soon!

Finally, and as exciting as violets, was finding my first among many dandelions.  We love dandelion greens for a salad (delightfully bitter and healthy), and the flowers make lovely wine and can also be eaten raw or breaded and fried.  Most people consider them a weed, we consider them a delicacy!

One of the things I love about spring is all the wild edibles that surround us...you'll be hearing all about our foraging expeditions.  One of the things I don't so much love about spring is it brings warmer temperatures, and though I am happy about not having to burn wood in the stove, and today is the first day I have kept the front door and a few of the windows cracked open, I know this means continued warming, and for me, I'm happy with the upper 60's and lower 70's and more importantly, low humidity!  I really don't like to sweat unless I am exercising...

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise

Embracing Spring!

I do believe the time has come to embrace the warmth and sunshine of spring!  I have to admit I am looking forward to the day when we don't have to make a fire in the morning to get the chill out of the cabin, and no dust, no ashes, no wood chip stragglers to clean up...Johny would say no chopping...oh yes, I am looking forward to it!

In celebration, I hung these colorful glass balls and chimes around the porch...they are my spring/summer 'sparklies' and have replaced everything about snow...soon I'll be hanging out the hummingbird feeders too!

But all play and no work makes for...hmm, dunno...and we've been busy today...

Johny's been chopping lots and lots of wood (yes, we've pretty much used up what we had and now we have to scramble to fill some of the shelves back up, even if it's only needed for a short time longer). And I've almost finished my rock wall!  I still need to collect 7 or 8 big rocks to finish the edge (you can see the post on the left corner of the picture, I want to bring the rocks to the outside of that shadow line) and a bunch of smaller rocks to fill in the spaces.

I did have a little medical emergency...ok, not really an emergency at all, but I thought if I said that I would peak your interest...I dropped a rock on my thumb and was going to post a picture but decided it was best to let you use your imagination and not force you to look at it...don't worry, it's not mangled or anything, just bloody.  I can still type, so all is well:)

I hope you are having a great Saturday and can feel spring in the air in your part of the woods!

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise

Spring Is Here!

Spring is here, there's no doubt about it.  Even if the weather and temperature are still trying to catch up with this reality, the sun tells the truth.  While the trees are still bare, the rays of the setting sun (about 8pm right now) linger long into our evening, sending beams of the sun's light and warmth through the cabin's windows that face NW until about 8:40 or so.  The good news for us is during the summer, when it is warm, the full canopy of the trees block most of those direct rays, so we get the light, but not the direct heat (well, to a certain degree).  I share this with you because I don't think I ever noticed this before!

More spring evidence...my rhubarb has sprouted!  I'm so excited...I thought I killed it last year, so I'm happy and relieved to see the sprouts.  I love rhubarb...when I was young, we used to eat it fresh with a little bowl of sugar for dipping, oooh yum, I'm salivating just thinking about it!

And the maple leaves are opening; I do recall they were the first to sprout last year!  I showed you the buds not too long ago, but look, sprouting leaves!

Also, in anticipation of enjoying spring and in celebration of our 1 year of log cabin living, I ordered a fire pit for our new deck (on sale and free shipping, woo hoo!)  I put it together today, and now it has to be just a little less windy to get the first fire going...but I can't wait!

Are you doing anything special, in anticipation of spring?

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise

Wow, ONE YEAR of Living Our Log Cabin Life!

Today is our 1 year anniversary of log cabin living...in many ways I can hardly believe the year has already passed!  And in others, it's like this has been our life, forever.

It's funny, if we had arrived here last year in weather like we are having today, it would not have been a very warm welcome.  In fact, it would have been a cold, slippery mess...it's been raining all day, and the temperature keeps dropping...we even have a winter storm watch!  Everything is covered in a thin sheet of ice including the ramp heading up to the door, the deck floor, and every branch, leaf bud and rhododendron leaf.  Little icicles are forming as the rain drips from the roof, the railing and the branches.  Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying this last bit of winter, though I do admit I am looking forward to spring temperatures!

The photo of the view today is very different from last year on this day, when the grass was already green and new leaves had sprouted.  Click here to read the first post of my blog...interesting to look back on that day!

I'd like to share a few of my thoughts (kind of like an interview with myself, LOL!) about our life here over this past year...

• What do I like best? 
• That's easy, though there's more than 1 thing
• the peaceful, natural, somewhat self sustaining mountain life
• the kind, selfless people who live in these mountains with us
• living a simpler life
• What do I like least? 
• No doubt about it, hand washing the dishes every meal
• What has been the most important thing I've learned?
• That I can do anything I set my mind to (well, I've really always believed that about myself; this applies specifically to things I'd never done before coming here, like creating a large vegetable garden, making jam, baking well, creating new recipes, writing a blog every day, felling trees, chopping wood, hunting wild edibles, building a deck...I've done so many things new things, learned so many new things...and I'm not done yet!)
• What has been the hardest thing?
• Missing my daughters Erin & Jessica, my grandson Liam and being so far away from them
• What will we do next?
• Keep on living this log cabin life unless something else comes up!

Is there something you would like to know about my thoughts on living this log cabin life?  Please leave a comment with your question(s), or send me an email at liseslogcabinlife@gmail.com and I'll respond.  I'll also capture any additional questions and answers in a future post.

I do want to thank all of you for reading, following and commenting on my blog...without you, this experience just wouldn't be the same.

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise

Lichens, Wildflowers, & 365 Days!

Today marks the 365th day that we have been living our Log Cabin Life and tomorrow will mark our 1 year Anniversary.  Time has flown, life has been good, and to celebrate with you today, I share interesting lichens and wildflowers (ha ha, maybe not what you thought...tomorrow, on our 1st Anniversary, I will share more of my personal thoughts about life this past year).

Yesterday, while we were felling trees, Johny noticed these Southern Soldier Lichen, which, if I understand correctly, have been newly identified for the Southern Appalachian/Blue Ridge area.   They are interestingly beautiful and teeny tiny (these are about 1/4" - 1/2" tall).

 

I also came across this interesting little lichen type growth on the trees we felled, and thought I should share, in light of the logs we cut and our life here.

Then there was this interesting little wildflower (what you are looking at is about 3/8" max in diameter), which I just discovered in our yard; it's the very first flower I've seen so far this spring, and as such, a celebration of our life here.

Today, ABCWednesday highlights the letter 'L'...in addition to lichen, Lise's Log Cabin Life is a perfect association for the letter 'L', and I hope those of you who visit this page will visit my blog and love what you see.  

I am publishing a little early, as we are off to begin our 1 year celebration of living our log cabin life (seems we've been out more lately than ever!). 

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow (for my Log Cabin Life anniversary post),
Lise

"Let The Sun Shine, Let The Sun Shine In..."

We felled 6 huge Tulip Poplar trees today, to make way for the sun to shine on our vegetable garden (during last year's gardening process, we realized we needed more sun).  A task I thought would take hours took our friends Ed and Ronnie 75 minutes...I'm so grateful to have their expertise to get those big'uns down (the largest was about 80' tall)!

This is before felling (it's a little dark because the sun hadn't crested the mountain yet)...

...and this is after. 

The NE side, before...

...and after.

The SW side, before...

...and after.

Ronnie (looking up, watching the limbs for movement) and Ed (sawing).  Ed was a lumberjack back in the day!

Tree #1, down it goes!  The sound of a falling tree is really amazing, first you hear it start to tip, and then it swooshes through the air, gaining momentum, and CRASH, it hits the ground with a thud and the sound of crackling limbs. 

A wedge was used after a cut was made into the trunk to try to "encourage" the trees to fall in a certain direction.  We did have one tree decide to fall differently than we had hoped, but we could cut it and get it off the road (at least it wasn't the power line!).

Ronnie spotted poison oak (bad stuff, don't want to be near that, not even during winter) so we removed that from the tree first.  I never realized those particular vines climbing the trees was poison oak, but now I know!

After all the trees were down, Ronnie cut them into 10' pieces so Johny and I could get them off the garden and ready to transport for cutting into firewood. 

It took Johny and I a couple additional hours to clear the garden of all the trunks and branches, and create piles of "firewood making material".  Now the garden has some time to recover from today's trauma before we are ready to plant!

It was a good days work...I think the coming of spring has given us a little spark of energy!

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise

Rustic Deck Railing, Part 3

Progress with the deck rail has been slow since I posted Rustic Deck Railing, Part 2...we had rain, big (yay) snow and a few design challenges along the way...so we were like turtles, slow and steady.  When I say we, I should clarify that Mountain Man is doing most of the wood working, I am more the aesthetic and design adviser...and there's a lot more wood working activity than anything else:)  

A little over a week ago we had the shell of the first section completed.  Eventually, naturally growing rhododendron branches (by naturally I mean not straight) will be secured between those posts and rails making a random decorative design (they will have a skip peel finish).  Also, the flat top of each post will be whittled/carved so that the width matches the top rail.

The next step was preparing the corner post for installation.  Mountain Man (Johny) used a chain saw to make the initial cuts of the triangular section that needed to come out, a chisel would be used to get deeper into the wood...because this post would be on the corner, it would be attached on two sides of the deck (little did we know how challenging this would become).

Johny used a drill to make the initial cut (like a perforated piece of paper) on the top part of the triangle (we were concerned the chain saw would cut too deeply too quickly)...

...and then used a mallet and chisel to cut that piece (this was a very long process...chip by chip) off the log.

And then, without warning, while he was chiseling, we hear that crack sound you know means the wood just split...drats!  Keeping it clean here, that's not exactly what was said.  The piece had not been completely removed when it cracked, so Johny kept working slow and steady, until the piece released.

We decided we could fix that crack (after much debate about starting with a new post, which meant going on a hunt for one because we had just the right amount of post logs for the entire deck and this particular one had the largest diameter) to use a bolt to try to decrease the width of the crack, but also to secure it for the long term.  We figured that because the post would be attached with a total of 4 - 5" screws, two on each side of the deck, that this could work (worst case scenario, we'd go log hunting).  This is the crack before surgery...

...this is the 4" bolt inserted into pre-drilled holes...

...including washers to have a larger surface for the bolt to grip...

...and the nut on the other side... 

...this is the repaired crack; yes there is still some space (once the wood separated it was not possible to get it to fit back together perfectly), but is bolted together and strong.

In order to install the corner post, Mountain Man prepared the post mortise for the foot rail tenon connection and inserted the foot rail with the skip peel finish to test the fit.

This meant a lot of maneuvering, chiseling and repositioning of the post, so it would be as close to the deck floor & girders as possible.  All this had to be done with the foot rail installed in the mortise and tenon connection on each post, leaving little wiggle room.  We also had to line up the pre-drilled screw holes, that was a challenge!

Finally, we had a match and good fit.  We used 2 - 5" screws were used on each deck girder; a total of 4 - 5" screws are holding this post up, I do believe we are safe and secure! 

And here you have it, making progress...now we must hunt for the next hand rail!

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise