People tell us we aren't your average 20 somethings, and I guess they're probably right. We’ve never really been into doing things the traditional way. We’re pretty good at doing things that make us happy versus what people think we should do. And call us crazy but we’re the type of people who like to spend all of our free time in the woods doing manual labor.
Yep, we’re building a log cabin. We have no previous experience - except Mitch, is conveniently a certified arborist, who kinda knows his way around a chainsaw, and is technically a tree expert, so that might qualify us a bit more than most, but seriously, we still had (have) no idea what we are doing.
Whenever we tell people we are building a log cabin, we get some crazy looks. And a lot of questions. They look at us with awe and wonder like we are some sort of magical super hero unicorn humans taking on something so big and crazy and completely foreign to them. And sometimes I forget it’s not normal to be taking on something like this, until I talk to a stranger, or a colleague, or a friend, and they are completely bewildered.
We get questions like:
“Just the two of you??”
Yep, just the two of us. 95% of the time yes, it's been just us. We’ve put in a lot of hours and made a lot of sacrifices, but there is nothing we would rather be doing - especially with each other.
“Wow, that must be so much work” “How/where did you ever learn to build a log cabin!?!"
IT IS a lot of work! We couldn’t have imagined just how much work it would become, but that is what will make it all worth it in the end! Nothing good comes easy! Its a lot of trial and error and not setting crazy expectations you can’t meet. And finally coming to the conclusion it doesn’t have to be perfect.
“You must be at each others throats all of the time”
Nope, we’re actually a pretty great team. Obvisouly we aren’t perfect, and doing something like this puts stress on any relationship, but we genuinely enjoy spending time together and working towards common goals. We’re supportive of each other and just enjoy being in each others company in general. Doing this together is only making us stronger and teaching us so many lessons along the way! It makes me sad that people think because you are doing something difficult and stressful with your partner, the first thing they think of is something so negative! I’m super proud what we have accomplished together (with minimal visions of wanting to throat punch each other ;)
In the Winter of 2015 we started on this crazy journey of ours. It’s something we always talked about, but it was more of just a dream. Maybe one day we would build a cabin, but we never thought that dream would come true so quickly!
We entertained the idea of buying a piece of land, but we kept coming back to one place. Mitch grew up on a farm on the Northumberland Strait in northern Nova Scotia. It’s our most favourite place in the world. We spend the majority of our free time there. There’s lots of land. It just made sense. Why not build there? And so, with access to free land with an unlimited source of building materials (red spruce), we decided right then and there we were doing this for real. I think a lot of people just thought we were talking the talk and I think we surprised a lot of people when we actually started making it happen!
In the Spring 2015, we cut and debarked 56 logs. We let them dry for a year. It was the longest. Year. Of. My. Life.
In the Spring of 2016, it was go time. We had a lot of failures and lots of trail and error, but once we got into the grove of things we figured out we were actually pretty good at this! The higher the walls got the more impressed and excited we were about our accomplishments.
One of the biggest lessons we learned last year was that everything takes much longer than you expect and that you will never ever have enough logs (ok two lessons). At the end of the season last year, with some help of some awesome friends we framed up the floor before calling it quits for the winter. We realized we were short about 12 logs (3 courses high) and would have to pick back up where we left off next season.
Which brings us to now! We have a LOT going on in our lives right now. I can honestly say 2017 has been a rollercoaster year in the best way possible. Most recently we purchased our first home. A bungalow in our favourite town in the world (Truro). We are gutting the kitchen and ripping down walls and making the drive from Sackville to Truro every second night. Exhausted is an understatement but finishing the cabin is on the forefront of our minds! Remember how I said we were a little crazy? In the middle of all this, all we can think about is getting back to the woods and finishing what we started as soon as possible so we can enjoy our little slice of wilderness. So that's where you will find us this weekend. Dirty (probably wet from the rain) and happy as can be building something together we are so incredibly proud of.
Until next time!
Lauren & Mitch