Pictured above/right are Chris and Stu hanging joists, real hard workin' women!

   Meanwhile, we ran a second crew in the shop by the Farmhouse operating our Logosol planer, running rough-sawn oak planks through the machine 3 or 4 times to bring them into a uniform width and thickness. The Logosol screeches and grinds away, shooting out sawdust through our blower and into our haywagon. We use the sawdust to carpet the Bardic Circle and Stone Circle. Whatever the blower doesn't suck up sometimes gets in your eyes, and definitely into your dreadlocks. Permanently.

    After the April work weekend, the live-in staff continued to lay the oak decking. Laying the deck was hard work, but when the next work weekend rolled around, we were ready for it! We had constructed 3 "bents" on the ground, to be raised Amish barn style. The bents provide the basic framework for the rest of the building. It takes about five people to push a bent up into the air, and another few to scurry around bracing it in. Pictured above are the three risen bents and a closeup of the support braces used to increase rigidity.

    With the bents in the air, we turned our attention to milling zillions of boards on the Logosol. Ideally 3-4 people are on the Logosol crew, running boards through to be planed and receive tongue and groove fittings. It takes two passes to finish one board. Toward the end of our Logosol-heavy workdays, we were running as many as 30 boards in 15 minutes! Pictured above is Herschel enjoying his perch 18 feet in the air. Also a corner view of the dorm with all of its siding completed.
    Movin' on to the roof-we call it the high wire act. Imagine being 12 feet in the air, standing on nothing but a joist, handing up 16 foot boards to the guy another 8 feet above you. The roof was constructed from the same tongue-and-groove boards we used for the siding. It's tough work to do in the heat of the midday June sun!

        Pictured left is a view to the east standing in the dorm, almost all of the roof completed. To the right, a view of the dorm, the tar paper creeping up to the peak of the roof!

We managed to enclose the building and screen out the windows just in time for SpiralHeart Reclaiming to use from July 22nd to August 3rd, '09. We have plans to install the windows and doors in time for next season. We are also planning to insulate the building with blueboard for use during late fall and early spring in addition to summer. We are so proud of our (not-so-little) dormitory!

Pictured above is the dorm in use by SpiralHeart. Why a dormitory, you might ask? Why not cabins-they're more private, after all. At Four Quarters, we place a large emphasis on communal living. We feel that sharing space is a good thing for the human tribe. Sure, it can get frustrating sometimes, but you always have a network of human support right down the hall, through the sheet serving as a wall or waiting for you to get out of the bathroom already! It brings us together in a profound way.