Arnold, CA…Arnold, CA…This might be the world’s greenest way to cook! Heresy you say? Well, where we are working on the Chainsaw Cabin in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California it is a high fire hazard area. There are even grants available for some to remove ladder fuels, brush & vegetation. That is all we use to cook and stay warm. So the only thing we use are in essence waste products and a fire hazard. We have enough fuel just on our parcel to probably last us several years into the future.

So every time we cook, make coffee, etc we are reducing the fuel load on our property of waste products and ladder fuels.

One large complex forest fire can produce more carbon dioxide than all the vehicles on California roads in a year. So one large fire not only matches the vehicle output it also destroys a source of wood, fuel & more.

The fire from a forest fire is also much worse for the environment that when those same fuels are burned in a wood stove.

So while it may sound a bit tongue & cheek to say we are cooking and heating the greenest way. You can make the argument for its accuracy. Cooking with electricity it still has to be generated, transmitted, etc. The same can be said for natural gas as well.

Cooking with sticks, branches and other forest waste products not only makes the forests healthier it directly converts locally sourced fuel into a useable commodity.

We are back at work on the property and Chainsaw Cabin to get it dried in before winter.

About The Chainsaw Cabin
The Chainsaw Cabin is our first building, a small 120 square feet shed/cabin on Hewn Hill. All lumber will be hand milled with a small inexpensive electric chainsaw. This is to see if anyone can build a small functional building with literally tools you can find at a garage sale and our only costs will be roofing, fasteners & glass for windows.

The Chainsaw Cabin will be single wall construction where the wallboards are a structural component of the build. Many of our primitive and pioneer building were constructed this way. The outside wallboard is also the interior board as well.

Henry David Thoreau’s cabin was only 10 x 15 and not much bigger than you can legally build today without a permit in most counties. For the Chainsaw cabin while it will only be 10 x 12 it will have a sleeping/storage loft. So if you are staying for a night or two at least you will have separate work, living & sleep areas.

In 1854 is cost the tiny home pioneer $28.13 to build his modest abode. With inflation that comes in at $962.80 in todays shrinking dollars. That is our goal to build our small structure with doors, windows and roofing for less adjusting for inflation than Henry did many years ago.

We are starting with outbuildings to get the property functional. Places to store tools, a solar shed & a place to sleep if need be. This is phase one and we hope to get that done this year starting with the Chainsaw Cabin then learning how to build a log structure on our next shed.

Next year, Lord willing we will start on our main two story, traditional log cabin built with logs from the property and probably a few other locally sourced ones as well.

About hewn.co
At Hewn we are going take you on a journey to see if it is still possible to build a functional, small homestead that anyone, even someone making minimum wage can build and own. We are going to try this in California no less. Join us as we attempt to build an off grid, solar powered, rustic, pioneer style homestead.

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