The very first dirt was moved this weekend for a driveway, compliments of Chad's famous grader driving brother Chris! Now Chris has been driving a grader now since he was about 14 years old. This being the reason why he is famous around these parts. I always thought it was crazy to see this little pip-squeak teenager driving around Lodgepole in one of those yellow behemoths making more money than any 14 year old kid could dream off....this being the reason for his occasional/constant ditching out of the classroom!
Before the topsoil could be removed we had to disassemble the barbed wire fence that occupied our driveway area. Chad was cursing his Uncle Kelvin for his good five wire fence that was quite the process to take down. I, being a mother of a 10 month old was extremely busy and reluctantly unable to help....cause, well you know how babies can be! But we watched and gave moral support!
This farm (it's always just been called "The Farm") located 22 km north of Drayton Valley. It has been in the family since the 1940's when it was homesteaded by Chad's great grandpa Jack Lank. As a homesteader, a living had to made off the land. 160 acres of forrest land was logged for the spruce trees that used to be abundant here. Even to this day you have to search really hard to find a spruce larger than a couple feet. We have just noticed this past summer that the evergreens are coming back. Tiny seedlings are popping up everywhere in amongst all the poplar, aspen and willow trees that make up the forrest here now.
Leon Lank, Jack's son, was the long time resident here until 1997 when he was forced to leave his little cabin, without indoor plumbing or heating, for the Lodge after a bad fall and a broken ankle at the age of 70. He still comes out every once in a while during the summer to check the house and go for short walks and reminisce. The old cabin is almost fallen in on itself after record snowfalls this last winter. The roof has collapsed and it is no longer safe to go inside. We don't plan on every demolishing it however. It is surrounded by the largest trees on the property including an ancient maple tree so burning it is not an option. We figure we should just let it be.
Wanting to build out here as been a dream we have had for 10 years. We did a lot of traveling, we had a little wee one and now its about a good a time as any. When we visited an open house about a year ago near Spruce Grove we fell in love with the design and concept of a net-zero house. This is a house that is self sufficient in heating, cooling and powering itself. We don't plan on being completely net-zero right away but we want to have the option to convert in the future. Solar power is becoming increasingly more affordable!
So we met with a design team in Edmonton at Habitat Studio and Workshop and they are right now in the process of designing our very own version of this amazing home. The one in Spruce Grove being about 6000 square feet including the basement was about twice as large as what we were looking to build. So basically they are going to take that executive style home design and tailor it to our budget (which is kind of on the puny side! ).
Hopefully we will see some preliminary floor plans soon and get rolling on this project! We will be trying to blog every step of the way so that hopefully we can spread the word that building a house that is sustainable can also be beautiful and affordable! Maybe one day this type of building will be the norm and not the exception!
