Independence

Bayview, Maine

Five Acres and Independence

So, so much has happened. I mean it. Since I last posted to this thing, all the snow in the state has melted, the rivers rose and have started to fall again. It’s time to go fishing. I hear the silent fir groves calling. Before that can happen, however, Amy and I have a bit a work to do. For those of you who don’t know, we bought a farm – Springhill. It’s one of the largest parcels left in Boise and we feel fortunate to have arranged everything so that we could purchase it. It was an involved process which took a month or two of concentrated effort. All of that effort, of course, came exactly at the end of school and the open house I held for the LEED house. Throw in cleaning and listing our house, moving, and a vacation to Maine and you start to see our spring. It’s only now that I have an opportunity to write anything.

I’m looking forward to a couple nights out in the Bear Meadows area, a couple nights fishing on the Salmon River, and a couple nights with Amy camping near the Frank Church Wilderness. We’re planning an open house party in honor of Wendy, Jeremy and Isa, who will be returning from Alaska, on August 28th.


5205 West Hill Road Boise, Idaho, 83703

Our new home

What we have here is an acre and a half of weeds with a house, shed, and shop. The weeds are slowly exerting their power, forcing me to deal with them while I tend to fencing, moving in, setting up the shop, getting an irrigation system installed, and continually looking for our stuff, packed in boxes. Let me give you a record of yesterday and you might see how my life has changed. I talked with the irrigation contractor about the delivery of 600’ of pipe, pruned another 15’ of brush, (only about 50’ more to go) fired up and learned the levers and knobs of the riding mower we inherited (after replacing a tire and sharpening the blades) and mowed the 18” grass in the front. I met Alex to move the table saw, sketched up some ideas for a front gate, wrote a card to Mom, and put metal fencing over a rail fence gate so the dogs can no longer get under it. Today I need to build benches and shelves for the shop so I can get my stuff off of the floor.

The house is pretty nice. It was originally built in the 1800’s but has been remodeled a lot and is completely modern inside. We need a little more pantry space and bike storage, and I need to move two outlets in the kitchen, but we don’t have to worry much about changing the house. The yard is another matter. We are trying to get a new irrigation system installed and will plant the bottom half in cover crop for a year or two to build the soil. It’s been farmed before and needs some rest.

LEED Gold

First in the nation

I finished the school house and got the final score of Gold, much higher that I anticipated. It’s ready to go on the market. I have next year’s plans ready and am trying for Platinum, the highest level, next year. It means a bit more work for me. I plan on installing a solar hot water and efficient plumbing system. If I can get Platinum, I’d like to try to go beyond that the following year by trying something really advanced. The biggest differences would probably be in insulation, photovoltaics, and landscaping, while fitting it into a subdivision.
I finished my Sustainable Building Advisor program and need to take the exam this summer to become certified. It was a good experience. I’ve become pretty versant in subjects such as energy efficiency, water use and re-use, indoor air quality, integrated design, green building materials, neighborhood design, passive solar and lighting, and others.

Let me leave with a few photos from our family vacation in Maine. The little girl is my niece Addie. The white house is Amy’s idea of a nice place (and it was too – right on the water). Our cottage was right on the water as well, and the weather was wonderful. Maine is a pretty cool place.