Hawk Circle 3.0: Transformation, Creation and Renewal

The New Hawk Circle Woodshed, Fall, 2011
We got the firewood stacked even before the roof was up!

So, years ago, Hawk Circle had piles of wood around the Farmhouse, covered in big tarps.   It also had garbage cans, some with lids, some without, just far enough away from the house to eliminate the smell factor, but clearly, needing a more secure location to avoid the raccoon feeding hour!   The firewood would get covered with a large snowfall, and then it would rain, and then freeze, making the tarp a giant convoluted ice cube, leading to intense frustration for whoever's job it was to bring in firewood to keep the house warm.   Sometimes, the tarp would be lifted to get wood, and then forget to put it back over it, and it would all get covered with snow.   Also frustrating.

The Old Woodshed and Trash Shed, Summer, 2011
I know, it's scary, isn't it?

So Simon Mayer, Chris Marx, and possibly Matt Burr, built a trash shed for the trash, out of old silo boards from the old lower barn, which is now gone.   They used nails and screws and hinges and built a two door shed for recycling and trash.   It was on cinder blocks, and kept our trash somewhat secure until it was time to head to the transfer station outside of Cooperstown.   It was pretty old, but still worked.  But it looked pretty funky.

Lucas Kane makes pegs for
new Trash Shed Frame!

Abigail assembles the New Trash
Sill Beams.

The woodshed didn't happen until a few years later.   Eli Martz, another of our early campers turned instructors, built a lean to woodshed, using logs of white ash from up on the hill, sunk into the ground, and covered with corrugated steel.   It was strong, serviceable, and while lacking in diagonal bracing, it kept wood dry, and allowed us to load a lot of firewood, maybe seven or eight full cords in there at one time.   We also stored the splitting mauls, axes, sledge hammers and wedges there, as well as our old wheelbarrow.    When it was full of firewood, it looked pretty good.   When it wasn't full of wood, it quickly became filled with all kinds of wire, an old blacksmithing forge, various lawnmower parts, a snow plow, and other things that looked like if you got scratched in there you would need a tetanus shot!   Barry Keegan installed some boards to brace it along the back, to keep it from falling over, using random planks and some steel lag bolts, which added a number of years to it's redneck life...

The posts are up with braces!

The thing about a shed is that it keeps things out of the weather, and around a camp and farm, there are all sorts of things that are good to keep dry, so it fills quickly.  It also is a place to put things that we don't know what else to do with it, so in the shed it goes.  But with no walls or doors to close, it ends up looking pretty banjo, if you know what I mean!   Which isn't a terribly bad thing in general, unless the woodshed is the first thing you see when you drive up the road to the Farmhouse.   So, the funk factor was starting to become a problem for us, which I had been waiting to address for a couple of years, and in the summer of 2011, we did something about it.

Putting on the Plate Beams...

The first thing we had to do is figure out what to do with the trash and recycling.   In order to burn the old nasty small shed, we had to first build a new shed and put it somewhere more out of sight, but still close by for us to use easily.   We chose to build the new one behind the Hide Shed, which is itself a little funky, so it would be in good company.  And it would be very much out of sight most of the time. The second thing was to figure out where to get the funds to build it.   We don't usually have much in the way of extra cash, as we are a not for profit organization called the Earth Mentoring Institute, Inc. and our budget pretty much barely covers our expenses on most years.   We had to keep the costs very low to make this happen.

Watch out for the pegs!

I looked in our woodpiles for extra wood, and found that we had a number of 5x7 beams left over from a frame that we did in 2010, that had a number of worm holes in the wood, and we didn't feel we could use them in a new frame, so the sawyer had cut new ones for us, and never picked up the old ones.   I would have been able to build a shed very quickly with 2x4s and smaller wood, but since we didn't have that on hand, and we didn't want to take the time to order it from a local sawmill, and since we had some apprentices who wanted to learn timber framing, we set to work.   Abigail Liss and Lucas Kane worked on making the pegs, cutting the mortises and tenons and drilled the holes for the pegs out of the older wood.   It was white pine and it cut very easily.   It took us about three days to cut this small trash shed frame, working part time, and soon we were ready to put it up.   It seems ridiculous to make a timber frame for something so small, and so mundane as a trash shed, but hey, it's how we roll here at Hawk Circle!

Classic Timber Frame Joinery!

Putting it up was fun because it was so light and small.   Usually we need a bunch of people to help lift the beams into place, but I could have probably done this by myself and been just fine.   As it is, Abigail and Lucas did a great job, pegging it together, making little adjustments to get it to fit, and cutting off the pegs afterwards for a smooth exterior.   We got the rafters up, too, and then I ended up buying a couple of sheets of plywood for the roof and some 1x8 inch boards for the siding and doors.   I also got a few hinges and clasps too, to keep out the chipmunks, mice and rats.

The rafters are up and the frame is
complete!

Putting up the siding was a lot of fun too, screwing the boards in place, and getting the doors to open correctly.  It was a good learning project for the apprentices, and the sun was warm and the weather beautiful.   Eventually we got the plywood up, some felt roofing paper down, drip edge installed and then asphalt shingles over the roof so it was water tight and ship shape.

Then, we moved the trash to it's new home, along with the recycling, and started tearing the old shed apart.  We took off the old doors, and brought them up to our burn pile, and then we rolled that old shed up to the center of the pile and filled it with wood chips and shavings from our timber framing.   They were extremely dry!   We covered it with brush from some clearing that Adam did with the Caretakers earlier that summer, near the Garden Shed, and added some of the wood from the old shed too, that had too many nails to reuse, or was rotting or broken.

The Epic Hawk Circle Trash Shed Bonfire

It was the last day of camp, and the summer session was the Wolverine Survival Camp.   We ate dinner and there was a light rain, and our hope for having a bonfire seemed dashed by many of the staff and campers.   But wait!   There was a flash of inspiration!   As dinner wrapped up, we all agreed that our goal could still happen, and be accomplished, if we just "Went For It!"   Which we did.   In the rain.   We tore up the old woodshed, pulling up old pallets that was the floor for the firewood, and took down old boards.  We pulled off the old steel roofing, and put it in a pile to be reused.   We dodged wasp nests and sorted out old metal and wire, being careful not to get injured in our moving and piling.   All of the time, the Bonfire Pile was getting bigger and bigger, as we added poles, old rafters, boards and posts to the giant tipi.   It rained hard, but our spirits were strong and there was much joy in our labors, and the rain mixed with our sweat and we were alive and awake!

Hawk Circle Summer Campers and Staff, enjoying the
cleansing power of fire...

We made an ember with a bow and drill in the barn as it was raining and kind of dark by then, and we carried it out in a nice tinder bundle, and let it ignite into the fire, which started to smolder, and flicker with small light, and thick smoke.   Then, the smoke rippled with energy, and flames began to lick along the long edges of the wood, then rising through the pile towards the cloudy skies and the dark mist.   Our fire was alive!    When the fire got to the burning of the old trash shed, it became Epic.   There is even a Hawk Circle Facebook Page about it...   That was one huge, intense, crazy fire!   It burned for about three days after the camp ended, too.  In the end, the land was cleansed of the old woodshed and trash shed, and the space for the new Woodshed was opened for business.

The Sill Beams, leveled and ready!

The First Bent goes up!

The first thing is to clear the site for the foundation and the sills.   Each corner has to be dug out in a three food circle, about four feet deep, and filled with mango sized stones, to keep the frost from lifting the frame up due to the cold.   The spaces between the stones gives room for the moist soil that expands, room to move, rather than push up.   Anyway, we dug six holes, and filled them with stones, after careful measuring, that is.   And then we sloped the soil around, to move the water away from underneath the frame.   We also covered the ground under the frame with plastic and old tarps, and covered it with gravel, about 3 or four inches deep, so that moisture won't come up under the sill beams, floor joists and floor boards which keeps it dry and helps the frame to last a long, long time.

The Second Bent is up!

Then we found some large stones, of varying sizes, to be the foundation rocks.   We had to put the sill beams up, and then try to level them, using different sized stones to make a solid floor.   We used the largest rocks we could, and it took a while, but we made it.   Once that happened, we dropped in the floor joists, which we cut from beams we had that were extra, and started on cutting and raising the posts and ties.

The Woodshed Rafters

Our Fall Apprentices Ezra Ward and Ben Gallagher cut the old posts, the tie beams and the braces, using posts from other frames that either were extra, or were two long or two short, that had been waiting to be put to good use.  We used a couple of white oak posts, and white pine and hemlock tie beams, and a mix of hemlock and pine beams for the top plates, which we scarfed together to make the 10' x38' frame.   We cut them in the barn, and then put up the beams as soon as they were finished, so it was kind of fun to work so close to home, so to speak.   The weather was good and we started putting the floor down too, using 2" hemlock boards that are strong, long lasting, weather resistant and not slippery when wet...

Putting the last few roof boards up...

Ezra and Daryl put the
Top Plate in Place.

We were able to use left over 5"x5" beams for the rafters, and those went quickly, until we ran out of extra beams.   We ordered more, and when those arrived, we cut them as well.   Putting them up felt great, just to see it come together.

We ordered boards for the roof, using a variety of 1" boards of different widths, and staggered these across the span of the structure. I did a lot of cutting them to length and handing them up to the crew to screw down in place.   It came together very nicely!

The new Railings, freshly peeled!

Waiting for Roofing Paper, March 2012
 in the Winter without Snow.

Once the floor was up, and the roof also, we covered it in roofing paper and got it filled with wood for the winter.  In the spring season, before our school group season got started, we installed a railing of natural wood saplings, and a half wall on the back, to protect against weather and rain splash, and we were ready for action.    Lizzy Mello got in on the action, drilling and screwing in our rails, as she was doing her Senior Year special project at Hawk Circle for the month of May.

The New Woodshed, filled with wood boards
in early April, 201

The Minnesota Waldorf School's
Eighth Grade made Ash Bark
Baskets in the New Woodshed.

Heather Burrill Cuts her Rafters in the Shade!
August, 2012

It didn't take long for our school groups to enjoy their meals on our picnic tables in this amazing new space.  We also did cooking classes, made baskets, various crafts and enjoyed the shady cool breeze even on the hottest days of the very hot summer of 2012.   Heather and Ben cut many beams in the shade, and Javi and the staff played many board games and did art projects on it too.   We cured our garlic there, hanging in the beams out of direct light, and we dried herbs and tea plants too.  

Garlic drying in the loft, mid July...

In short, it has turned an eyesore into a wealth of positive uses, and the first thing you see when you drive up is it's wonderful outline waiting to be enjoyed and explored.   Currently, it is filled with a lot of firewood, but we will running youth and adult programs come spring, you can be sure.

So, Hawk Circle continues to grow and build, even as we work on strong programs that transform our youth, and we are ready for more!   Wait until you see my post about Eagle House, coming up shortly! That's when things will get crazy!

The Aurora Eighth Grade, April, 2012

Skills for the New Earth-Connected Generation: Our Sustainability and Wilderness Apprenticeship

So, you can see the direction our country, our world is heading, and the writing is on the wall. On the rocks. On concrete buildings and tall trees.

No matter which way you slice it, the bubble, as we have come to know the modern world, is beginning to burst. Or pop. Sure, it is a lot of small and medium pops that so far we have been able to weather and handle, but it's getting worse. Slowly, creeping, steadily advancing on us, we know

that it's time to pay the piper. Our debt to the animal world, the Earth Mother, to our future generations, is coming due.

You don't want to use the Ostrich Technique and pretend it isn't coming. On the other hand, building a bunker doesn't feel right either.

What you need, really, are Skills.

Experience.

Learning things that will last, that will have value no matter what the future holds. Things that can feed us, feed our families, our souls.

Skills can sustain us, and remove fear.

Skills let us breathe, to relax and feel good about our lives, our direction, our purpose and path.

Skills last forever, and can be passed down to our friends and family and community.

What to do. What to do.......

Hey! I have an idea!

Join the Hawk Circle Wilderness and Sustainability Apprenticeship. It is a powerful blend of old ways, modern skills and knowledge you can use right now to reconnect

with nature, your deeper self, and grow.

Apprentices learn about gardening, composting, harvesting foods and preserving them. They learn to make baskets and buckskin, take part in workshops and youth trainings. They learn the art of traditional timberframing, as well as practical skills of stacking firewood, basic carpentry skills, cooking and much more.

Apprentices make a four to five month commitment, and provide their own food for the duration of the program.

They participate for five days a week, sometimes part time, sometimes full time, trading their sweat equity for real experience and skills that change how they see the world forever.

The farmhouse is heated by a wood stove, and the shared commercial kitchen allows for fabulous meals, communal gatherings and potlucks. The barn is ready for all kinds of projects both building and native skills. The natural surroundings are perfect for this kind of retreat and intensive, undistracted learning.

We only need five people for the fall and winter, so if you would like to be considered, please contact Ricardo or Trista at 607-264-3910 or HawkCircleOffice@gmail.com.

We'd be happy to see if this program would be a good fit for you.

Remember: Skills Trump Fear. They are the antidote to catharsis, to just going along with the herd, and they are the key to freedom.

Skills you can choose from to learn while in the Apprenticeship:

Tanning Deerskins using Braintanning

Fire by Friction, without matches

Natural Fiber Rope and

String

Bark Baskets and Containers

Basic Stone Tools

Knife Sharpening and Care

Useful Knots for the wilderness

Cutting, Splitting and Stacking Firewood

Bread Baking and Herbal Butters

Campfire Cooking Skills

Wilderness Shelter Building

Traditional Timber Framing Cabins and Barns

Bow Making

Deer Hunting Skills

Organic Gardening

Harvesting, Identifying & Preparing Wild Foods

Tree and Plant Identification

Community Living Skills

Winter Snow Shelters and Survival Strategies

Earth Philosophy and Personal Ceremony

Animal Tracking and Nature Awareness

Working with Youth teaching Native skills and crafts

Raising Cabins and Barns

Okay, there are probably a ton of other skills I am forgetting to list here, but these are the first ones that come to mind that past apprentices have wanted to focus on, so here ya go! If you want to learn some other skills not on this list but that are listed on our website, give us a call and we will see if it can work out!

Timberframing: Strong, Sustainable, Longlasting and fun to build!

As I am sure you probably already know, I have been doing a lot of timberframing lately. We started building cabin frames about eleven years ago, and made a few as part of our workshops in framing. Simon Mayer, Chris Marx and a few other staff members carved wooden pegs by the boxload one winter, selling them to other timber framers for food money. There were mounds of shavings all over the farmhouse floor. (Once you have made a few hundred pegs yourself, you really don't get the same thrill at making pegs, frame after frame! Buying them isn't always a bad idea!)

Anyway, learning to cut frames has been really important here at Hawk Circle. Not only have we used it for our garden shed, our staff cabins and three student/camper cabins, we have also built our bridge using framing techniques, and lately, cutting frames for people who have wanted one for themselves or their families. This has helped support our Earth Skills Apprenticeship, and our camp scholarship fund, too, by providing income to offset housing/utilities and all kinds of different expenses that come up at a wilderness education program. Plus, it gives us more wood for carving, making bunkbeds, cabins and other framing projects that really help teach the art of framing to our students.

We put our first set of bunkbeds up this summer, with a lot of help in the making of them from many caretakers and Abigail Liss, who carved almost a full set by herself in the three weeks she was here last summer. There were lots of students making pegs and helping out in a lot of different ways.

Lately, the Apprentices are making their own timber framed beds, for the farmhouse, so we can get the mattresses off the floor in some rooms, and replace some shaky old frames on others... Joel, Virginia and Miles are doing great work and the beds are coming out great!

Timberframe structures are amazingly sturdy. They are cut from local wood, so they are super sustainable, and they are made using very little power, as we cut and shape them with mostly hand tools. They bring a community together in the raising, and the buildings are more than just an amalgam of wood and shingles. They are a home, be it for animals, or artists, or a family.

The barn here at Hawk Circle is full of beams, shavings, sawdust and finished braces and posts. It feels good to be in there, with our great view out the barn doors looking down the valley, listening to some good music, and cutting massive wood.

Framing is hard on the body, though. I go home tired, sore and ready for bed. Elbows, shoulders and back muscles get used a lot in sawing, chiseling or lifting. It is definitely not something that I can do every day, day in and day out. It helps to take a day here and there to teach skills, mow the lawn or gather hickory nuts!

Last weekend we raised a frame in the southern Adirondacks, well, actually, it was the base of the frame as the structure is being built on the side of a hill. We were just making the first level, so we can put up the full frame/roof on top of the deck. It was great to see it come together without a hitch, and it felt immensely satisfying to see the heavy oak beams pegged together, solid and strong.

We are cutting the rest of the frame now. Much of it is white pine, so after the white oak, it is almost like cutting the frame out of a stick of butter. Seriously! The white oak builds up some serious strength and muscle, which makes it great to work with pine.

I love cutting frames. It is awesome working with wood and it is great sharing it with others, both in teaching and in building. I like it because, honestly, after nearly twenty five years of teaching wilderness skills, it is great to be doing something different. It is great to take one beam at a time, and see my work done at the end of the day, there, stacked neatly and ready for some future assembly. It is great to just experience a change, in some ways. It also keeps me strong, as I need to be able to lift my son, Javier about four or five times each day. And it is cheaper than going to the gym!

Don't get me wrong. I still love teaching wilderness skills, and I do it almost every day. But it is really nice to cut wood and be part of this other skill, and learn new things, too.

If you get a chance, come to the raising of the full cabin in a few weeks. I would love to have your help, plus it is an amazing experience to see it all come together... If you want to be part of it, let me know. And if you are in the area and you want to come check out our frames and our workshop, please do.

Okay, back to work....

And if you are interested in having us make a frame for you or your family, either as an addition, or as a barn or retreat cabin or whatever, give us a call. I would be happy to talk to you about your project!

Enjoy the fall!