Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

This afternoon I decided to take a closer look at Rob's barn. Although much of what's here appears to have been built relatively recently, it was built using very classic low-tech construction methods so it interested me.

In the photos above, from left to right, you can see the barn's third level (1). For some reason there were no ladders to it though; I assume for some reason that they'd been scavenged. But I wanted to go up anyway, so I leaned up a board against a beam (2), and jumped from Rachel's ATV to the board and then scrambled up to the third level. Thanks to a hole in the floor (3) I could see all the way down to the ground level. It's a really nice view out the window (4), Rob's really got it made out here. Uh oh! My ladder seems to have fallen over (5), I guess I'll have to jump (no big deal, it was all of seven or eight feet).

I wanted to show a closer look at the construction. As you can see, the square beams are all hand formed from rough lumber, and there are basically no nails in the construction at all. Just big wooden pegs. Those beams are massive too; at least a square foot in cross-section. With maintenance, a barn like that should stand for five hundred years without problem, probably about four hundred years longer than one done using modern construction would last.

This is actually the real reason I was back at the barn. The snow's all gone, so I figured I should go back and pick some wild mint to make tea from. I admit that I like a stronger tea than you get from wild mint, but hey, given that the choice is have some free tea or pay for tea, I'm perfectly happy to drink a milder tea. Anyway, thanks to a dumb mistake that project got put off, but it's on my weekend list assuming the weather stays warm.

This is the view from the fields about a five or ten minute walk back from the barn (I was checking to see if there were any Jeep bits lying along the track where I'd popped off the driveshaft). Blue skied an' clear, right?