Help with the Romance

The foundation went in last fall. We’ve been making plans all winter. From now till late fall we’ll be building the outer shell of our rammed earth – solar powered home. The building project is attracting folks who want to help. You’re welcome to...

What Goes Round

Maple sap collecting season. Spring is here! We’ve had some crazy weather in the past even as the sap flows, but usually the snow is gone by the time we boil our last batch. Adjusting as the seasons change is so much a part of our life. These days I’m...

Back to Soil and Light

Blog 18 of the Romancing our Way series. January was slow on the house building front due to the passing of our father. He taught me so much about taking on projects with gusto. There’ll be no end of projects this year. February has already been busy....

Obituary of our Dad – Werner – Jan. 2017

Obituary of Werner (Vern) Neufeld for his Celebration of Life Our father was a gentleman in the old fashioned way. He loved to be active and he expected everyone around him to contribute to the common good. He was also a life-long learner – a role model for so...

Everybody’s Power

Yes. It’s a privileged thing we’re doing. Planning a home with an off-grid electrical system. It’s not something everyone can afford.  We hope to live in the new house long enough so we get paid back for the investment. With rumours that Hydro rates...

How The Light Gets In

How will the light (and energy) of the sun get into our new home – heating the space, cooking our food, warming the water and lighting the dark places? The past few weeks were dominated by the question: Where will we place our new solar panels? We thought we had...

Real-Time Decisions

It’s been a while. Apparently life happens! I’m happy to be back. Maggie and I enjoyed visiting a modern rammed earth (RE) home last weekend. The photo is a representation of the same style used by the Winnipeg family (I & L) we visited. The final look...

Surely on the Level

One image, or rather video, sums up this blog. Jonah did the stop action photography/editing.   Did you catch the on-lookers in the easy chairs to the left, or the pastor asking for blessings at the end? It was a good day. We achieved two major aims this past...

Seeing the Path. Blessing the Way.

Maggie says she knows where the hammock’s going now.  Whewh. That means we’ve moved from dreaming and planning to visualizing. With the foundation forms going up, it gets easier to see ourselves living in this special place. Our big news – we have a...

Spiraling inward.

Like a kid on Christmas day. Henry and I fashioned a 12 foot 6″ x 6″ post today – the first of many we’ll need. He’s quite the master taking one layer off at a time as he rotates the log – finding the highest quality wood and making...