It’s a great feeling to see the end result of something that
you’ve invested a lot of blood, sweat and tears into. That’s what we are experiencing today here at
Marigold Meadows. We are putting the finishing
touches to our newest addition, the Martin House.
My sister-in-law, Marcia loves to bake pies. In fact, she’s known as the “pie lady” in our
neck of the woods. We don’t live in the
west, so I guess you’d say, “Her pies are the best in the midwest!” During the festivals that we hold at Marigold
Meadows, she bakes pies in a wood burning oven and sells them by the
slice. While the rest of us might like
to think that people attend our festivals to watch demonstrations of age-old
skills of sustainability and/or to listen to our music, I’m thinking that a
good number of them come just for her pie!
Previously, Marcia baked pies in a wood-burning oven that
holds only four pies at once. Needless
to say, it took a while to bake the 80+ pies that she bakes in one day! Additionally, the little log cabin that she
worked in over the past seven years is really too small for her and her helpers
to work efficiently. In order to make
her work easier and quicker, brother Art spent most of this past winter building
her an oven that will bake 16 pies at one time and designing a larger cabin!
Last spring, Art, Gary & I went to Sandridge, a nearby
forest to cut pine trees for building Marcia a larger cabin. What an experience! I’ve helped to down trees before, but never
in a forest! For several days, “our”
little corner of Sandridge was humming with chain saws, winches, a little Ferguson
tractor, pondering out loud, grunts, groans and sounds of frustration, as well
as, a lot of laughter and cheering.
While it was exciting, it was also hard work and downright dangerous!
While we hoped to use our draft horses for pulling the logs
out of the woods, our Spring was so wet that we had to keep putting off getting
into the forest. Running out of time in
order to get the cabin done before our fall festival, we decided to use Art’s
trusty ol’ Ferguson for that
purpose.
One of our music companions, Gene Martin lives near to
Sandridge. Gene, who is in his 80s, was
so excited about what we were doing and wanted to help in some way. As it turned out, Gene had a type of lift
that was perfect for loading the logs onto the trailer. So, whenever we were ready to haul more logs
home, Gene faithfully showed up at our worksite.
Once we transported the forty-some, seventy-five foot trees
the thirty miles to our property, we began to prepare lumber for the new
cabin. Using his mill, Art sawed while
Gary & I cleared away the slab wood, carried lumber to the building site,
etc. For the last three weeks, the saws
have been buzzing and the hammers ringing at Marigold Meadows. It didn’t take long for the word to get out
about what these three “crazy” people were up to. Before we knew it, there were car-loads of
people showing up to see the progress!
While Marcia isn’t too verbal about her appreciation and
excitement, she shows-up every couple of days to see the progress and to take
pictures. The smile on her face tells it
all!
- She now has more floor space for herself and her helpers to move about.
- They’ll all be cooler while they work. With the new oven having been built into the wall, its heat stays in the wood room behind the kitchen.
- They’ll be able to serve pie not only over the counter inside the cabin, but through a serving window to the outside, as well.
- They no longer have to carry the dirtied pie plates to the old washtubs outside the cabin. While there is no running water, the new cabin is complete with three sinks and a drain!
- With lots of countertop space, she and her helpers will no longer be bumping elbows while they work!
- And when the work is done and it is time to store everything away, with all the cupboard space that she now has, Marcia will never wonder where it is all gonna go!
I think Marcia is more than pleased and we’re anxious for
Gene to see the end result. Won’t he be
surprised when he sees that we’ve named the new cabin in his honor, “The Martin
House?”
Whole-Heartedly,
Bonnie
P.S. Please
feel free to contact me with questions, thoughts, topics you’d like to ponder
or to read past articles at: http://whole-heartedlife.blogspot.com/. You may also contact me at:
Bonnie
Jaeckle
In Search
of the Whole-Hearted Life
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