Raven's Roost

[RoamingGnome]

Just some photos and stories of our little place up north...

("Raven's Roost" - really likes Ravens, and there are usually a few keeping us company up there...)

It was a couple of years ago, in the middle of the pandemic when we decided it would be a good idea to think about early retirement for me. Real estate prices were going crazy and we hoped if we could sell our place in the city we could buy a little place in the countryside and have a few dollars left over to top up my retirement savings. We looked at a bunch of "handyman specials" and little "fixer uppers" but quickly clued into the games being played where properties were listed at crazy low prices hoping everyone would get into a bidding and jack up the prices...

Plan "B" was to buy some vacant land and then build a home on it... One of the first questions I asked the listing agent for the property we ended up buying was - "Is the seller actually willing to accept the listed price?" We walked the property and got to meet the owner (now our neighbour) and asked about the price - his response was - "I don't want to play no games... not a penny less or a penny more..." That pretty much sealed the deal, and we made our offer on the spot... Didn't take long and the "Sold" sign was up at roadside.

It's basically a hillside with 10 acres of hardwood bush, beaver meadow and creek close to the highway, and then straight up the hill to the back of the property where there is a patch of level ground before the hillside goes up into the ridge behind us...

The property had a roughed in laneway up the West side of the property, and an old old skidder trail that cut across the back of the property where there is a nice clearing where we are going to build house and garage.

The property is about 1000' deep, once you get past the creek and meadow there is about 100' of elevation gain over the last 600' to the back... It's pretty steep, but our clearing is hidden in the forest, almost invisible from the Hwy.

First project for the property was somewhere to sit - there really isn't a natural level spot anywhere in the 10 acres

Built a picnic table made from scrap 2x10's from work (big machines have really big skids for parts )

Hauled it up behind the Tacoma and once the screen tent was up we had a place to escape from the mosquitoes and deer flies.

Next on the list was some clean up work - bought a good weed wacker, and a wood chipper that was on sale at Princess. Once the brush was gone it was easier to follow the skidder path and imagine where our future driveway would go.

2nd project was a small shed to hold the rapidly growing collection of tools... built it at home in a "knockdown" fashion so it would fit on the trailer for the 5 hr drive to the property. Once we had levelled up a base for it screwed together quite quickly...

more to come...

[Eugen]

Very nice pictures Gerry, I am enjoying this story. In many ways you are living the adventure that some of us would like, and I'm personally glad to living it vicariously through your recounting. To me life is not passive, measured in the quantity of quality of WHAT you own. The property has great potential for keeping you busy (who am I kidding?!) for a while yet, and what a playground for power toys and tractors and such.

[RoamingGnome]

Thanks @Eugen There are plenty of stories to tell about The 'Roost,

It's nice to have the 'everything else ' section to share some of the back story. All the pieces eventually come together, if it wasn't for the property up north, there wouldn't be a reason for having the Case/Ingersoll tractors or the big Case backhoe...

[JSinMO]

Thanks @Eugen There are plenty of stories to tell about The 'Roost,

It's nice to have the 'everything else ' section to share some of the back story. All the pieces eventually come together, if it wasn't for the property up north, there wouldn't be a reason for having the Case/Ingersoll tractors or the big Case backhoe...

Well said Gerry! I’m also enjoying the story of the roost. I know you’ve got a lot of work ahead, I hope you can continue to take us along with you!

[RoamingGnome]

Keeping busy while waiting for Amazon to deliver a parcel with air filter and fuel pump for Maxine (the 222)

- We live on one of the major roads in the city and are so close to the sidewalk we literally wait in the front room hoping to hear the knock on the front door,

The chipper shed was built in slabs, at home so it would be easy to transport. Wanted to have the front wall flip down so it could act as a ramp to roll the chipper inside.
Decided to place it close to the corner where the skidder trail branched off from the laneway and goes across the back of the property.

The property had been selectively logged in the years before we bought it,

and there are piles of slash everywhere (part of why I decided to get the chipper)

No level ground anywhere, it's a mix of sand and rocks, with a couple of inches of "soil" on top - decided to make a base and fill it with sand rather than trying to dig down to level ground.

Floor gets laid on the sand,

then the side panels,

ramp/front wall and back panel

and finally the roof...

Roof hinges up, front wall hinges down, and a lot of stuff gets crammed inside - chipper, generator, gas cans, weed whacker and chainsaw, shovels and rakes... it's a real jigsaw puzzle getting everything to fit inside.

[RoamingGnome]

Took advantage of a couple of unseasonably mild days last week and ventured up to the 'Roost with another load of stuff from our place in the city,
I really have to start allowing more time to pack the truck and trailer, as I left late, got there in the dark, I'm fortunate to have friends that live in a village about 15 minutes away from the property - headed over there just in time for dinner and socializing and then a bed in a warm house - (night time temps are mostly below freezing now and the plastic shed we camp in during the summer is getting a little frosty for sleeping)

Woke up to frosty fields but a really nice sunrise... had breakfast with my friends before they headed off to their respective jobs and then I wandered up to the property...

First job was unloading and sorting out things in the 2 containers

- one for household stuff,

- the other for garage type stuff
Got things organized and tried to figure out how best to spend my remaining time up there...

*** Background Info ***

In the Spring of '22 we ordered and received a Bunkie Kit - 10'x10' with a loft...

(Not our actual Bunkie - but this is the model we ordered)
It was one of our first major purchases and promised to be a huge upgrade over the plastic shed we have been camping in.

Unfortunately shortly after it arrived bad storms (The Derecho of '22) roared through our area and left me with a lot of downed trees and other clean up to do. In some ways it was a blessing in disguise, because a couple trees fell over in places we had considered for building the Bunkie. - That summer was mostly spent cleaning up the mess - after a couple of months we decided we should tarp the bundle for a little extra weather proofing,

and then in the fall of '22 we went back and put another heavy tarp over the Bunkie package to protect it for the winter...

[RoamingGnome]

Late last year we finally decided on the "perfect spot" for the Bunkie, - mostly around a corner and down a forest path - away from where we will eventually build our house / garage in the back corner of our 10 acre lot.
I honestly don't know where the time goes, but I blinked and another year is almost gone...
Decided it would be a good idea to finish clearing and levelling a 12' x 12' patch so that once the snow is gone next spring we can put down the base for the Bunkie, and finally see what has happened to the kit while under wraps for the last 2 years.

Late last year we cleared the area a little bit,
and removed enough of the saplings to confirm there was enough level ground in that spot...

When I was up there this summer I roughly marked out the 10x10 area with deck blocks
this was a perfect place to work on a rare 15°C (60°F) day in mid November...
Raked the leaves back and started in on the roots - that little patch of land was covered with a spiderweb of tree roots, big and small. The trees are propagating by sending up shoots from the intertwined roots... Spent 6+ hours with pick, shovel and root puller

It will easily uproot a 2"-3" sappling - if it's not connected underground to all of its neighbours - there were times when pulling on one sapling you would see a couple of others nearby wiggling at the same time...

The puller is a shameless copy of a "Pullerbear Puller" a nice Canadian made product https://pullerbear.com/ - if I was going to do it again, I would just buy one from their site, It was a fun fabrication exercise, but for the time and cost of materials I really wasn't saving much...

Pulled 3 heaping wheelbarrow loads of roots from that spot - the roots were all in the top 6" of soil, hardly going any deeper - that explains why the big trees were so easy to blow over in the wind storms - a wide mat of roots, but no real depth or holding power to them.

Almost finished clearing the area on this work trip - the forecast for the next day was wet and rainy, so I packed up and returned to the city...
Pretty stiff and sore the next day though Been a while since I've done that much physical labour...

[Eugen]

Too bad the big backhoe couldn't be used for some fun.

Looks so beautiful there!

[RoamingGnome]

Too bad the big backhoe couldn't be used for some fun.

Looks so beautiful there!

Yes, your new Kubota would be the perfect size for going down the trail to the Bunkie site...
I had hopes and dreams of using the full size Case backhoe, but just too many distractions to settle down and do all the repairs needed to make it functional... Perhaps next year! (famous last words)

[Timj]

Looks great there.
This beautiful fall weather is so nice, good temps to work in and no mosquitoes. It's so easy to get this rush of energy to get this done before winter. I can definitely see where your drive time makes it difficult.