Little House: The Move- Part II

Two years has passed since the house was relocated to my shop in Worcester. It is time to move again. Lauren and I are taking it just a few miles out of the city to a beautiful piece of land in a neighboring town. Once again we will be surrounded by the sounds of nature. Even on our first night in a tent we had a visit by a curious Barred Owl. Otherwise, I have seen signs of fox, moose, coyotes, deer and many other woodland animals. Even the sounds of the train I know so well from the shop occasionally filters up into the hills. The site is situated in a small pine forest, surrounded by many acres of well maintained hardwood forests, sunny meadows, and low wetlands. But from our perch we have well drained soil, steady air movement and soft filtered sunlight. Ideal!

The first step was to make a small clearing for the house. A couple of weeks ago Dermott and I enlarged a clearing that was created by the ice storm of 2008. We dropped many of the standing dead pine trees. The logs will be milled into lumber for future building projects. They were still deep in the woods though. With the generous help of Dale (the person), and Jake and Judy (the horses), from Mesa Farm in Rutland, we pulled about thirty logs to a staging area in one of the meadows where we will have them milled.

It is amazing to watch the power of these gentle horses. They seem to do their work so happily and effortlessly. The jingle of tackle and chains, their snorts, clomps, and even somewhat musical flatulence are so much more pleasant than the din of a skidder. In the end, they leave only a clean swept path through the woods.