Claire Arrives in South Dakota!

2/19/15

Food

It is the middle of February and for the first time this winter, it is consistently cold.  Claire has finally joined me at the cabin.  These first several days have been spent unpacking and adjusting to cabin life.  This includes preparing dishes with no running water and being creative with the limited food we have.  Claire brought an entire box filled with different kinds of spices and seasonings.  These tasty additions make even the blandest dish (rice, for example) taste absolutely wonderful! 

Bread

It is nice to have bread on hand, so instead of buying loaves from the store we bake our own.   Currently, we have four loaves of white bread in the freezer and take them out when needed.  We intend to restock the freezer with wheat and rye bread when the white runs out.  Obviously, this summer we will not have electricity to store mass amounts of bread.  Instead, baking will have to happen more frequently and in a Dutch oven.  Until then, we will use the luxury of an electric stove and a freezer to bake a variety of goods.  Within the three days Claire has been here, we have baked our own pizza crust, whole wheat bread bowls, rye and apple muffins, and cinnamon rolls.  The muffins and rolls were added to our freezer collection and will be of used for desserts and breakfasts down the road.     

  

Whole Wheat Bread Bowls

Veggie Pan Pizza

Sawhorse Construction

As Claire and I sit in front of our wood burning stove, we page through books about carpentry, construction, and tiny homes.  As we read and understand more, we begin to get a better understanding of what these next several months will be like and this makes us excited.  So excited that out of nowhere, we decide to begin our first building project together.  Currently, we make all of our cuts on the tailgate of the truck and we know if we are going to build a tiny home we need something more reliable.  Thus, with plans my Dad sent us in the mail, we begin to construct a sawhorse.  The plan called for two 2” by 4” by 12’s and one 2” by 4” by 10’.  We are running out of scrap lumber, however, the leftover wood from a loft my Dad build for me as a child will do just fine.  After a five minute lesson on how to use a circular saw, Claire is already making perfect cuts.  She’s a natural.  We make 11 cuts in the pole shed and then move to the garage to put all the pieces together.  After three and a half hours of cutting, hammering, and double checking, we have one sturdy, blue sawhorse.  We hope to build the other sawhorse during the weekend to come.  Ideally, the weather will warm up because as we found out, building anything in subzero temperatures is not fun.    

Fun on the Farm

Although most days are below zero with a nasty wind, Claire and I try to take a walk every day.  Misty loves this of course but I would argue that Claire and I love it more.  It is a time for us to get away from the cabin, to enjoy nature, and to be at peace.  Yesterday, we drove 10 miles to Fordam dam, a public hunting and fishing area with vast grasslands, large eastern red cedars, and a lake.  It was negative two degrees outside with a much colder wind chill but it didn’t matter.  The beauty of the orange, setting sun, the wisdom of the old prairie trees, and the expanding sea of grasses was enough to keep our minds occupied.  At least until we couldn’t feel our fingers.