outdoors life – Christy Wetzig Ceramics

Summer Kitchen

In which we build a kitchen that doesn’t heat our house.

December, 2017 I took a walk in the woods yesterday. The snow is ankle deep now and fluffy, the air cold enough to flush the cheeks but not cold enough to send me inside for cocoa. I followed deer trails and found the place three of them had slept last night–these were the ones whoContinue reading “Packing it in for the Winter”

Racing Old Man Winter

November, 2017 The heady glow from our house-raising faded quickly, as two inches of rain fell the next day on our lovely, unroofed house with a very vulnerable floor. J. quickly developed a nasty habit of pacing the floor at home as rain fell; he was worried both for the oak flooring we’d laid downContinue reading “Racing Old Man Winter”

The House-Raising

Sept. 30, 2017 The day dawned bright and clear, the exact day I had imagined when we first said the words “house-raising” to each other. The day before, I had joined J. in the woods for the final preparations. In short, we had to reconstruct the four “bents” from the timbers lying like pickup-sticks allContinue reading “The House-Raising”

Timber-framing (With Bugs)

Aug, 2017 Picture this: you enter the woods in August. You’ve put on long pants, boots, and a hat, because you know the bugs can be bad. Also, it’s August and the weather is hot and still, so you can’t bear to put on long sleeves. You wear a T-shirt and, throwing your principles toContinue reading “Timber-framing (With Bugs)”