Restoring Tobacco Road ..

[DevilsBrew]

So beautiful!

[TruGrit]

.. is it Spring yet?

[pa_friendly_guy]

You didn't pay attention to Phil when he predicted 6 more weeks of winter did ya? It seems like spring is very far away from where I sit up here North of the Mason Dixson. From here it even seems like a long way to St Patty's day, that is the traditional day to plant your potatoes and maybe even your peas if you are a brave soul. I have seen people out digging in the snow on St Patty's day to get their potatoes in the ground. It always seems nuts to me, but rules is rules, and that is the day to plant your potatoes.


PS I have read that if you wait to plant your potatoes until much later it disrupts the potato bugs life cycle and you have much less problems with pests. The season is still long enough to get a good crop of potatoes, you may not have them as early in the season, but they will have less pest problems. Food for thought for those who always do what they have always done because, well just because that is the way we do things around here.

[pa_friendly_guy]

You had talked about putting up some bridges across the creek for walking trails. Here is a small cheap bridge design from the old time knowledge thread here on out permasteading thread. I know you were thinking about pipe across the stream. Putting in the hard creek bed crossing with stone has some advantage because it won't get plugged with stick, leaves, and debris, Vehicles can certainly cross with no problem. The down side is crossing on foot. During high water in spring that might become difficult if not down right impossible. If you have one or two of these walking bridges at your foot paths you can always get across the creek.

Bridge for a Small Stream





For crossing a small creek or deep ditch a cheap bridge can be built as shown in the illustration. The lumber used is 6 inches wide and 2 inches thick, except for the floor and four side braces.

Saw 11 pieces the length required for each of the two sides, then bore bolt holes 1-1/2 inches from each end. Use 5/8-inch bolts 8-1/2 inches long where four pieces come together and 6-1/2-inch bolts where three pieces meet. The A-shaped supports and the pieces for the approaches are bolted on at once, and then the side braces are put on. The sides of the bridge are made entirely of triangles. The first triangle is made of pieces, a, b and c. The second triangle of the pieces, b, d and e. The piers may be posts, stone or concrete.

There is a picture of the bridge in Old Time Knowledge , good luck

[DevilsBrew]

[TruGrit]

.. nothing too exciting going on here of late .. on warm days, I'm out clearing trail, on cold, wet days, I'm dismantling the house ..

.. cleared the road on past the new barn and down onto the lower fields .. this will be a great area for gardens, and easily accessible now ..




.. tore down the little closet that stood in the back of the now enclosed carport .. only to find out that there is zero insulation in the walls or ceilings .. it's always somethin' ain't it ...








.. underneath that platform is space for our .. root cellar / guest room / dungeon ..




.. quality craftsmanship at a reasonable price ..

[matt walker]

Nice root cellar! That was hidden under there? Strange, it looks like a lot of useable space.

[SilverFlame819]

Wait, you didn't know the root cellar area was under there? Or you just didn't realize there was no insulation between the upper and lower floors?

[TruGrit]

... yeah, this is the first look I got under there, assumed is was dirt up to just under the floor .. may leave a trap door, but need the floor space more than that area .. gotta think on it awhile ..

[SilverFlame819]

So you got a secret dungeon?! Have you gone down there to see if there's anything in that space, or if there's another exit from it hidden somewhere? How exciting!! You just can NOT block that in. You've gotta have a secret door to it somewhere!!