Upon This Rock I will Build the Foundation

We'd been told that farmers in this area make an interdependent hive of busy industry that strikes into action when there is need, and late last fall we saw how this all unfolds. We had found a local farmer employed by the municipality in winter months, that as well operated a local sand and gravel company and would be happy to provide help with road construction. The mini-house would have its building permit if we took care to arrange for an entrance thereby offering the passage of construction suppliers to our building site as well. So the rough and ready driveway was ploughed through to the mini-house while in early spring of 2009, work proceeded when Paul's schedule would find his way to the property. We learned quickly that it was mysterious choreography that led to when exactly the moment would be right to bring in gravel to make our road onto our property a reality. The backhoe would appear when the gravel was crushed and available, when the farm work was in hand, when larger road work had been completed, and of course the right pile of gravel was ready for the HEAVE-HO!

After a mishap on our rough gravel road that caused a large hole in the oil pan of my little gray 2000 Beetle, there was a fresh load of smooth gravel awaiting us on the following trip. The excess crushed stone helped build our farm road running adjacent to the main road travelling south along the length of the upper portion of our land.

Paul and his new shiny 'Bib Blue', the latest addition to the fleet, brought in the final layer of gravel onto the principle portion of the footprint while Jim and Bob directed the digger to lower its head here and there to lay the final layer of gravel.

What affectionately is called the 'dumpy' owned by our carpenter Andre, is proving very useful now. It is a surveying instrument that provides information to assure that the gravel is almost perfectly level. It is a credit to Paul's skills that once he had completed his work with Bib Blue, we all remarked as to how even the gravel laying had in fact been using only his keen eye and experience.

An important step in guaranteeing firmness in the foundation bed is pressing the gravel further into the ground and for this we rented a 'thumper' that paddled down at fast speed for the balance of the afternoon.

Now the site was ready for the construction of the forms and it lay waiting for our next visit to begin that job. Call for refreshments and dinner made us all call it quits for the weekend until the next bout of labour at Headwater.