The log cabin.

The log cabin.

Posted on 10 Aug, 2008 6 comments

The log cabin.

When we began farming we had some paddocks for cattle. We lived in the hills, of which some were quite steep. Most paddocks and the orchard were on the slopes, where a tractor could still safely drive without toppeling over.
From the house we looked at a quite steep hill, which had some gum trees and bracken and native bushes. Farmers like to get all of their land into production, after all, you have to make a living off the land. So we decided to change that view and plant pine trees. We fenced off a triangle, so the cows would not go up there and eat our seedlings. The pine trees were no taller than one foot, cute little single stems with a needle here and there. They virtually needed no looking after, we had fertilised them as they were planted in and the neat rows soon began to look like little trees. I might be wrong, but I think after 7 years they were so big, they needed thinning out. We hired a crew with pruning secateurs, those strong long ones, and they set to work. My hubby took the lead and he loved working there, it smelled beautifully. Every somanyeth tree was cut off at the base and just left there. A machine would come and pick them up. Tricky business, as I said, this hill was steep. When the first harvest was over, I went to have a look. I noticed quite a few pines were left on the ground and then I had a brainwave….why not build a log cabin with those? One in the pines, where we could sleep some summer nights, just for fun. It didn’t have to be big, just big enough to lie down in it, like 8×8 feet. I suggested it to hubby. ” Yes, great idea, get the kids involved and we have a family project”, he agreed. So, one morning we set off with some tools and I took my meat chopper, you know the one with a squarish blade. It had been my mother in laws and would be a good way of making use of it. We would need it to hit the bark of the pines, so that it would come off easily. The kids had carried water, food, gloves and whatever else we could possibly need. We started enthousiastically as soon as we were in the shade of the pine trees. Here and there were small paths worn by the kangaroos. Those were good to use for putting the trees on, as they were flat, cause the roos were always running on the contour of the hill. Bang, bang, bang, we all had a go at it. But it didn’t seem as easy as we thought. It was quite a job to get the bark off the tree. In strips we pulled them off. After an hour or so we had about half a dozen debarked trees. My gloves were wet from all the sap and gum, very sticky. My hair was stuck together in places from the splashes of the sap. I felt hot and sweaty. The kids lost interest. “O.K., we have a break”, I said, not sounding too convinced I would carry on after. My husband smiled. I think he was having me on, agreeing to build this log cabin. But we gained strength after a drink and cake. Finally we had 24 trees ready to build with. Hubby had cut them with the chainsaw to the required length. We started to build, just to be able to keep our goal in sight, lol. A few bolts and nuts and washers and we had the first square on the ground. My enthousiasm increased. It started to look like something. We had actually find a nice spot, which was flattish, had cleared it from its slippery pine needles and there it stood. But we still had a long way to go. Our backs were breaking. We got hot and sticky, bothered by flies. The romance had gone. “Let’s go back tomorrow”; hubby spoke those magic words. “O.K.” we all replied in one big sigh of relief.
The next day we did some more, but it got too hot to stay after lunch. So, we called it quits and went home. I discovered I had left my chopping knife in the pines. I went to look for it the next day and could not find it. I could not find it the day after either. In fact, I never ever found it back. The next weekend we went up there again, but it was already too hard to get that bark loose from the pines. We abandoned the whole project. Some time later I went there and saw fresh wild pig tracks and diggings. Glad we never slept there in the log cabin. Years later we tried to find those pines, which once were going to be the cabin, back, but they had almost all integrated in the ground. Pine needles over them, soil had been pushed by the rain onto it and worst of all, the white ants had had a feast on them. All the other pines had also rotten away. Good compost, good mulching. I just stood there laughing. When you are young, you do silly things! But we had fun doing it and it was a family effort, even if it was a failure!

More blog posts by Marguerite