Added Electricity to Shelter Hut

I ran electricity out to the shelter hut this afternoon and installed a temporary outdoor light in the ceiling of the shelter.

As you can see, the shelter frame is coming along nicely. Still, the photos do not do the hut justice - it's much larger and better looking in person. 

There's still quite a bit to do, adding more branches and weaving in much more grapevine.  It was quite windy and cold out this evening, but on a calmer night, and after the additon of more branches, it should be a very hospitable gathering place.  The ability to lay canvas over the shell of the hut adds a greater opportunity for comfort.  It's a work in progress, but it does give members an idea of what they can do in their own areas.

Hope everyone has a great week!

The Sapling Shelter Hut

One of the nice aspects of Middleworld Woods is that there are saplings growing close together in almost every part of the woods.  We experimented with a small group in the common area and came up with a plan to use live saplings to construct a domed shelter hut. I will outline those instructions here.

This is the basic design concept of the hut:

We found several saplings that were growing approximately 10' - 15' apart. Using a heavy rope, we snagged the top of the saplings and pulled them over in an arc and secured them with large zip ties. We used the branches to interweave a latticework between the samplings.  In the Spring, when these saplings leaf out, the leaves will provide a natural covering for the hut.

We took other saplings that needed to be thinned out and created additional support arcs and then used branches, grapevine, etc.. and weaved these in between the support saplings.  We left two sections open for doors.  We cleared the "floor" inside the hut - there's a large enough area inside for a small rock fire ring, should one be desired.  There is also plenty of room for several lawnchairs around the perimeter of the hut.

The photo doesn't do the actual hut justice - from the inside it is much more developed and intricate. It is hard to see this in any of the photos we took.

In addition, we will be planting grapevine, trumpet vine, honeysuckle, and morning glories all around the perimeter of the hut - all of which will eventually grow up and over the entire structure, except for a opening at the top of the hut where smoke from the fire in the fire ring can escape.  The advantage of having this hut in the common area is that we can run an extension cord out to the hut to provide light as needed.  It is also possible to put a small outdoor propane heater in the hut.  The hut is large enough to accomodate 10-15 people, and eventually with the growth of the foliage around the hut, it will provide substantial protection against the cold in the winter months.

These type of huts can be easily built most anywhere in Middleworld Woods.  They make a great alternative to tents as well - I can picture a bunch of these little huts all over the woods at some point.  And the best part is that no trees have to be killed in making these "living" huts.  Hope everyone has a great holiday season, and don't forget the workday next Saturday.

Thanksgiving at Middleworld Woods

It was a holiday season here. Wednesday night we had a tornado touch down less than 5 miles from here, and by Thursday morning the ground was covered in a thin layer of ice.  We had a lot of rain, but not enough to make the waterfall run more than a slow flow.  I'm always very disappointed in the phtotos of the waterfall because the photos all fall victim to an optical illusion - the waterfall looks like it's a 1 foot drop, when actually it's more like 4-6 feet, depending on how much debris has accumulated at the bottom of the falls.  John built a 3 foot rock wall around the basin to form a catching pool, but it still isn't perfected - it still lets too much water out too quickly.

The small pond at the back of the house had accumulated quite a bit of water though.  At center it was waist deep.  This is a much better gauge of how much rain we actually received. 

I have walked the trails several times over the last couple of weeks - most of the trees have shed their leaves now and it's the perfect time to really do some work on the trails and clearing areas.  I'm looking forward to the workday on Dec 4 - there's so much that has been done since the last workday, and if we have a good turnout, we can accomplish quite a bit more.  Oakshade Sanctuary is scheduled to pick out and clear their site as well on this upcoming workday.  Please start spreading the word about the workday - we need as many people as possible.  Hope everyone has had a great Thanksgiving Holiday!

Started cutting new paths.

We started recutting the front path today - the one we had done 3 years ago before the 2 ice storms hit.  The farther we went the more trees we found toppled from the wind storm last year.  Spent the morning out and about in the woods cutting wood for wands from several different species of trees.  Sanded, carved and stained 2 special Harry-Potter type wands for my grandsons. Gage, the oldest, went around today casting all sorts of strange spells - one went something like "petrified asses" - his pronunciation of some of the Harry Potter spells is hilarious. So far I have about 20 wands cut, and about half of those have been rough sanded. 

We have wands from Elm, Ash, Poplar, Cherry, Mock Orange, Privit, White Pine, Oak, Hackberry, Lilac, Spruce, Rose of Sharon, Pear, Walnut, etc... I'm hoping we can find someone who excels in natural wand making and carving.

Tomorrow seems to be the last day of good weather for the week, so I will try to get as much done tomorrow as possible.  Not quite sure what's in store for Yule this year - haven't heard if anyone is going to be using the woods for Yule or not yet.  Here's hoping everyone has a great week.

Worked All Afternoon on the Common Area

John and I started working on the shelter for the common area - we bent several saplings together in an arc and secured them and added several small tree trunks for support. I cleared the ground under the shelter and we wound grapevine throughout the saplings and support trees. I also started the frame for a triangular rock table and finished clearing the trail from the common area to the pasture.  Once the shelter is complete, it will be covered in foliage and grapevine. We will also be planting morning glories at the base of each tree and support trunks which will then grow up and over the shelter walls and top.  We are both pretty beat!  Tomorrow will be another workday of sorts - feel free to come out and lend a hand if you can.  Here's hoping everyone has a great weekend.

The Harbinger of Winter Has Arrived

This morning I awoke to wave after wave of Geese on the move, all heading South. The noise was so loud that Riz was running around in the pasture looking up not knowing whether to chase them or bark at them. We see this migration every year right before the first strong winter coldfront moves in - it is indicative of very cold weather. In all there were 8 waves of Geese, spaced just minutes apart. In each wave there were 6-8 gaggle all flying in separate formations. I couldn't get a good average count of how many Geese were in each gaggle, but in total there were easily a couple of thousand Geese. 

The birds have been very active this last week as well. They have gone through about 4# of seeds in just 2 days.  Mostly I've seen Cardinals, Sparrow, Indigo Buntings, Woodpeckers... It's amazing how much these birds are eating - another indication of what type of weather is heading our way. 

This weekend is supposed to be awesome, so if anyone has any spare time and wants to come out and work on the woods, please feel free. I'm wanting to go out and take down the 2 dead trees at the OSO area today while the weather is nice.  It's a beautiful day to be outdoors.  Enjoy it!

Rainy Season Blues

Not much been going on out at the woods - we've had several gloomy and/or wet days lately. This weekend is supposed to be nice and our next work weekend is Dec 4th 11am - 4pm. Feel free to come out anytime and lend a hand. Hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving holiday coming up.   

Common Area Coming Along Nicely.

Have the ground cleared, the fire ring outlined with rocks, the grill in place and some lawn furniture scattered about - it's a start.  This will eventually make a nice meeting area with a trail leading back into the main woods.

The next workday is Saturday Dec 4 from 11am - 4pm, but feel free to come out anytime before that if you just want to help out.

New Common Area Under Construction

The new common area just behind the house is now under construction.  This will be a place to gather, cook out, hold meetings, and socialize.  I have started setting up the wood fencing and once the winds die down I will start clearing the area of leaves and build a stone fire pit. If anyone is free weekdays and would like to come help out, please do. Here are a few pics of the new area.

We Have Our First Group Area!

Yesterday members of the Order of the Standing Oak chose and cleared a designated area in Middleworld Woods for their group, assisted by Kate, John, and myself.  We got to meet a couple of new friends and finished up by cooking out and having some great conversation.  It is nice seeing the church grow - right now we have a dozen members and 3 groups in the church.

It does seem, however, that there are a few people out there who are busily making asses of themselves by spreading gossip, trying to tear other people in the Pagan community down and generally engaging in juvenile behavior fit only for those without any moral compass or basic sense of common respect.  These people will ALWAYS exist, and to be sure, will consistently go out of their way to disparage both individuals and groups with whom they have absolutely no ties, no information, no insight, and no knowledge about.  I'm sure by now that these same people have a word or sixty to say about our Church as well, and if that's the case. I challenge them to sit down at my table and face me one-on-one. I seriously doubt they will for that is NOT the way of cowards - and yes, that's all these people are - COWARDS.

Let them flap their gums. Karma has LONG ARMS, and there is absolutely nothing about our Church that is not totally above board and transparent to the general public.  When one has nothing to hide, one hides nothing.  Anyone who listens to the gossip and refuses to do their own research but swallows all of the senseless, selfish, unqualified and arrogant BS without question isn't the type of person we want in the Church anyway.  There are plenty of groups out there that cater to that kind of egoist drama - let them go indulge themselves as they see fit.  As for the rest of us - it's nothing but a thing totally unworthy of our time, attention, and effort.  Flush the toilet on the septic gossip and be done with it.


Here are links to BOTH of our registrations with the Secretary of State, proving that we are a legitimately recognized and current 501(c)3 Not For Profit Organization.

https://www.sos.mo.gov/BusinessEntity/soskb/Corp.asp?2572582
https://www.sos.mo.gov/BusinessEntity/soskb/Corp.asp?2572574

Trails Have Been Extended

2 side trails have been extended off the main trail. The first goes towards the back of the property through the back ravine, and the second follows the boundary fence with the CA heading towards the back of the property. It took me about 90 minutes to extend the trails a total of 200 yards using only a tree lopper.  We had a couple of small deer visit the trail this morning. (See above)

I'm going to start inserting short videos of what we've done at Middleworld Woods - nothing worthy of Spielberg of course - just very amateur video clips of the trails.  Hopefully I will have the first video posted this evening or by the latest tomorrow afternoon.  Keep watching, and I hope to see many of you tomorrow for the workday.

Have a great evening everyone!

Trails Update

I spent the afternoon clearing the side trail down to the ravine and clearing areas for 2 more campsites.  When John got home we walked about half the perimeter of the property bordering the CA and did a lot of the heavy lifting and clearing. There are 2 or 3 places where we are going to need to use the chain saw to clear, but clearing a path along the fenceline is going to be quite easy at this point.   We should be able to accomplish quite a bit this Saturday - hopefully everyone will bring some tools - tree loppers, rakes, etc...

I want to clear as much of the fenceline path as possible so that selecting group areas will be much easier.  Mark your calendars and I look forward to seeing you all this weekend.  Thanks.

Upcoming Workday Saturday, NOV 6 Noon-5pm

Looks like we are going to have a nice group this weekend to work on the woods.  The Order of the Standing Oak will be selecting their designated space this weekend as well - our first official group to claim space in Middleworld Woods.  This weekend we will provide a grill and charcoal for cooking out, but unfortunately everyone will need to bring their own Food/Drink - finances have been really tight lately. My apologies in advance.

I will be going out today and doing what I can to prepare and clean up the main trail a bit.  Will be taking the next couple of days after today to catch up on some reading for my Doctoral degree. 

The election was a bit of a downer with all the Republicans being elected to office, but the propositions and amendments all passed - the main cause I was rooting for was the elimination of puppy mills - I don't know about anyone else, but our animals are part of the family, and the horrendous conditions some dogs were forced to live in at some of these so-called "breeder farms" was inhumane.  I'm glad to see Prop B passed.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Of Weddings and Woods

Been busy the last week with a wedding at Drury Stone Chapel and that's been taking all of my time.  It went very well - I am very proud of the service we provided and Stone Chapel is absolutely beautiful. It was nice getting to see another Pipe Organ - this one was a 1906 Lyon-Healy - sounded awesome.

I listened to half of Pagan Perspectives yesterday when my computer went stupid again.. GRRRR.  I spend almost 25 minutes trying to get it to reconnect - finally had to just reboot and then it took forever. Come to find out there were problems with our provider but they are fixed now.  Still,  I hated not being able to stay the entire time.  Didn't want Tim to think I just got bored and left.

Just a reminder that this next weekend is a workday here at Middleworld Woods from noon to 5pm on Saturday.  Bring rakes, leaf rakes, tree loppers, pruners, chain saws, etc...  I walked the main trail yesterday - the woods are gorgeous right now. There's a lot of fallen leaves of course, but those are easily raked to the side.  I've cleared 3 campsites and 2 common areas so far.  The work isn't hard at all - it's just better when more than 1 or 2 people are trying to do it all.

It should be cooler this weekend (50s) but the forecast is for good weather.  I'm looking forward to this coming weekend.  Have a wonderful day!