fruts, huts and snails

my snail treasures. last week at the beach, as we were walking under the pelting rain and increasing tide, i looked at Bob and said "Why don't we ever find like treasures at the beach?" and within a few steps i found sunglasses and gathered 6 large, fully intact snail shells. i think it's worth explaining that in all the years we've been here, and walking the beach almost daily...that finding this onslaught on shells is rare. it must be the time of year, tide and weather. the best part is now it's time to clean them, shellac them and sew teeny little felt snails to nest inside. viola! sammy snails.

the changing faces of the "Frut" free-hut. Bob frames up the third wall and gets it ready for some free windows we have salvaged from in town.

second wall is now complete with window and thimble for the stove pipe.

temporary blue tarp until we secure some more free stuff for that segment of wall.

cook area enclosed and cozy

free materials!

dinner prep after a long days work of clearing & building

just because i live in a frut + van does not mean i need eat like it.

sundried tomato soup, Israeli couscous, kale & french feta

night scape of frut from outhouse

anderson lake trails

we are really fortunate to have access to such a trail system with 3 miles from our home. Anderson Lakes has a plethora of seemingly challenging bike trails, with jumps, stumps and bridges. we left the bikes at home and instead hit them by foot for a quick hike before work.

sweet jump

with all the strange tree crossings, bridges and jumps the trails make almost an agility course for a dog. Daphne makes short work of balance and stability -

drugs, pooh & plants

well, this sign pretty much says it all. since bob's return from Ohio we've noticed a 100% increase in traffic on the shop's end of Black Bear Road. Same vehicles, sometimes 5-6 times a day for 5 minute visits...hmmm. Here is a little humor from our neighbor Jan. Just letting these guys know that we know what's up with their meth habit...well, and so does the sheriff.

we have had some clear weather the last few days, perfect for doing some clearing on the property. Below are some shots of the area we cleared for the new compost bins and composting toilet.

Bob bangs out some simple pallet style bins with chicken wire on the inside of the "to-be" bin for humanure. all in all under $ 10 to make this structure.

bob digs a well in the middle about 18 inches deep, then surrounds it with organic matter.

X marks the spot. literally. here lies are nice new area for "eh-em" business. i cleared out all the under brush, brambles and sawed off all the lower branches of the trees. i put down some solid boards and then covered with straw and fern leaves. viola! pleasant pooh station.

nothing but the best for our cover material - sawdust of mahogany, cedar & walnut.

bob dumps the first bucket of vintage humanure

i think it's best for me to explain this photo properly. what you are seeing is sawdust that now contains the moisture from humanure. we emptied two 5 gallon buckets of humanure mixed with sawdust & toilet paper, toilet paper rolls. what came out was already semi composted humanure! ZERO smell, ZERO matter, just soggy sawdust. genius!

cleaning out old buckets with a long handled brush, water and bio-soap, all to be dumped back in the pile. It takes 1 gallon of water to clean 2, 5 gallon buckets that were full of humanure. Just think of how much "drinking" water you waste each time you flush the toilet.

all photos below are taken around the property. we finally have started walking the game trails on our 5 acres, we've barely even penetrated the woods. but below is a good depiction of what it looks like. Lots of old trees, mushrooms, ferns, ferns & ferns!

one of the biggest coolest trees, actually growing on an existing stump that must be hundreds of years old

ah, reward for a long days work of manual labor. PBR and firing up the rocket stove for some heat