Survivor part 1: Cottage edition
discovering the right team to develop the cottage was important to ensuring that the process went smoothly. We were so incredibly lucky to discover the most amazing team you might envision headed by Mike Carty (middle) of level style develop along with his sibling Ken Brake (left) as well as good friend Aaron Chychul (right).
In the situation of a super intense project like this one, it is necessary that you trust your team, as well as more importantly that you like them, since you spend A lot of time together — especially when you’re off the grid as well as water access. This team made the building process a pleasure for both of us as well as they were the perfect match for collaborating with Arriz. all of them are hardcore outdoor enthusiasts with a love as well as respect for nature as well as they completely accept sustainable practices. If you want to see what authentic ‘green’ living really looks like, these are your guys. check out the incredible camping experience they had in Minesing swamp. They didn’t touch the ground for the entire trip!
I knew that we might trust them with taking care of the land when we weren’t there as well as they continually impressed with their unstoppable energy as well as MacGyver-esque ingenuity. They even rigged up an outdoor sink for me using large flexible piping leading from the stream as well as water autumn way back in the woods to a small stainless steel sink attached at the back of the Bunkie, which meant no more trips back as well as forth to the lake getting buckets of water!
Without any type of machinery (way too challenging to bring over), Mike as well as the boys came up with some clever ideas for hauling materials up the hill from the dock to the site. The guys drew from their experiences in rock climbing to establish this pulley system using ropes, clips as well as carabiners to move large batches of materials up the hill so they didn’t have to bring whatever by hand.
The system worked in such a way that when a couple of guys ran down the hill while pulling the rope, the weight as well as momentum would pull the loads up. I am still in shock that they built the entire building this way as well as that every piece of wood as well as metal had to be hauled up with manpower alone.
Here is a large pile of lumber going up.
We had to buy a barge as well as difficult working metal Stanley boat in order to get the job done. Here’s a shot of the boat with the barge behind — loaded up with materials. The guys must have gone back as well as forth hundreds of times on supply trips.
The guys worked straight through some pretty tough weather conditions — including the winter, which can hit as low as -30. Kenny as well as Aaron continued to camp in their tents in spite of all of the snow.
They even worked in the pitch black of the night using spotlights run by a generator.
They kept working right through the chilly until the lake began to freeze. This was the last day of building in late December with Aaron driving the boat through the ice (with our tin boat dragging behind). You can see the lake was starting to get pretty frozen. If they had waited any type of longer to leave they would have likely been stranded over there.
But they went back in mid-February to continue — dragging their sled behind an ATV across the frozen water.
The very first stage was building the cottage foundation using steel piers fixed to the bedrock.
The platform stage was so interesting for me since you might get a true feel for the views as well as the building’s footprint.
I love to do yoga as well as the open platform was an incredible place to practice — way up high amidst the tree branches. I felt like I was in the treetop fight scene in Crouching Tiger, hidden Dragon, minus the fighting.
As the walls went up you got a sense of the interior space as well as lighting.
Here you can see the framing of the views I talked about in an earlier post. placing a window right here will make this lovely spot of rock face like a tactile painting. Arriz has illuminated it so that the rock glows at night.
Here is Arriz standing in the doorway of what will ultimately be the long hallway or breezeway that runs the length of the building. This is the opposite end of the building from the rockface side (above). On this side we have framed views of the trees.
In the meantime I’ve been staying out of the way to let the guys do their thing. I’ve been working on the Bunkie as well as re-staining our deck chairs … as well as dreaming about decorating the cottage when it’s done.
Photo credits: 1-2. Arriz Hassam 3-9. Mike Carty 10-12. Arriz Hassam 13-15. Mike Carty 14-16. Arriz Hassam
