Arnold, CA…It’s been too long since we last posted an update. What a strange winter it has been. January was basically a normal April & after a truly devastating February storm late winter & spring has been one of the dampest on record. We still don’t have the snow pack we need but at least it has been wet.

At last count we have lost approximately 50 trees and probably more. It will take through the summer to get them processed and cleaned up. They will all be used for lumber for Hewn products or firewood so we won’t let them go to waste but it will make for much different allocation of time than I had planned.

In this video it is a bit of clean up after that storm. When looking at the video I even thought I should have been moving snow faster. At the time though I was being careful do not do any more damage and not quite sure what each shovel full might uncover.

We were very lucky in that the Chainsaw Cabin didn’t get hit by any trees directly but we did have the top of the fir tree land just a few feet away. My old pickup on the property missed a direct tree hit by inches. I did lose my nice garden cart to a tree hit.

At our home across town (Yes, still have a leased house across town and not full time off grid yet but has to change soon 🙂 ). My daughter in law lost her vehicle to a direct tree hit and we had one more vehicle totaled on a property and another one significantly damaged.

It was a costly winter from not only direct cost damages but also in time as well. All in all though feel very fortunate that the damage can be recovered from and no one was hurt.

With winter now in the rear view mirror we hopefully will finally get the Chainsaw Cabin finished after years of slow progress & limbo.

It has been serving as an office for Hewn & occasional night’s stay. It is dry and with the hot tent stove running it is quite toasty even with zero insulation. It is comfortable enough even in below freezing temps that even as it is it shows how affordable and simple small buildings can provide most of what one needs.

About Hewn
At Hewn we want to provide you with the simple, elegant functional systems, decor & gear to help make your modern off grid pioneering as easy as possible.

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 is 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 is only 10 x 12 with 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 1845 is cost the tiny home pioneer $28.12 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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