Spring is in full swing, which means I’m running from task to task to ensure that we’ll be ready to kick off our workshop season. We set (another) high bar for ourselves this year. The Japanese Carpentry Real Construction Workshop and guesthouse build is a significant project for us in all the senses of the word — time, resources, labor, and $. Fortunately, we’ve been making steady progress these last two months…
Japanese Guesthouse Site Work
We’ve been busy readying the guesthouse site for the last month — grading the site itself, digging trenches, and getting ready to set stone piers. I’ve moved dozens and dozens of tractor buckets full of soil from the site. (The soil is an incredible resource for other projects, including plaster and landscaping work.)
As is typical, the grading was far more intense than I initially imagined. Even 12-24″ of slope across 30 feet is an enormous amount of soil to contend with, but this was even more slope than that. Let’s just say I’m thankful to be past that point in the process. The prospect of building (another) retaining wall to protect the newly exposed soil embankment is not exactly thrilling… I’m years behind with finishing our other existing retaining walls. One day…
For better or worse, we’ve been in a very odd drought for the last month or more. Any kind of excavating in a rainy season can be pure hell, but we’ve been so lucky to avoid those consequences. The soil has been bone dry for weeks on end. It’s great for building, terrible for the garden and trees.
There’s much more to tell, between the countless deliveries of timbers, slate, and other materials. We’re officially in the final month of prep before the Japanese Carpentry Workshops kick off, so there’s a lot more to accomplish in a short period of time.
Having said that, I have to run and take care of some things, so I’ll leave it at that. Keep an eye on our instagram for regular updates. We look forward to greeting all the new and old participants here this summer.