So much is shifting at the moment. Bad news has moved us closer to realizing our goals. A loss of one creature has opened the scene for the return of others. The infrastructure we have worked hard to create to protect our pets has resulted in an abundance of caterpillars! In short, everything is turning out different than I had planned, fortunately even better.

In the past few weeks since my last entry of "Natural Building Diary" we have had a few major changes. The mare disappeared, the birds came back, and the owners of this land we have been care-taking for years seem serious about selling the place.

I don't want to be overly dramatic about this last point. This farm has been for sale since before we even moved here. We have always known it, always felt a little uneasy with it, and always planned to move on eventually. What we thought would be a few months turned into a few years and has been both a challenging and healing experience. I must admit, I have grown roots here. My kittens were born here. Almost all of the pictures included in my posts were taken here.

As for the mare, Tila, about two weeks ago we woke up to look out the front window to see the familiar sight of her grazing on the front lawn. Instead of that we just saw an empty lawn. A few days later we found out, as suspected, that a worker at the B&B next door had taken her to his land. He had hinted he might and since the mare is a "stray" that we had taken in years ago, she isn't ours anyway. She isn't his either but, I don't feel it is wise to start a feud about it.

After starting to get used to the idea of being horse-less we began to see the bright side in the situation. The future of Tila once we inevitably moved on, to a much smaller plot of land was a regular source of midnight worrying. And, only a week or so after Tila left the gallinetas began to return.These shy, terrestrial birds were afraid of Tila's loud stomping and erratic behavior.

When I begin to stress I just look at the beauty of this place, cherish the flowers in my garden, and tell myself that we are fortunate to have a home now.

The Building of our Future Home ~

Our relentless search for a affordable, small piece of land within walking distance has proven to be a wonderful decision. After observing the climate during a year's time and fencing the perimeter we are now more motivation than ever to get to building.

This is a self build with local materials and the labor provided by ourselves and with a little help from a couple of kind neighbors. Originally we planned a small cob house that would have taken 2 or 3 years to complete on the part-time schedule we have going while we balance work and care-taking the farm. But now with the slightly higher probability of a sale we are choosing a happy middle path and building something very small to fit us, the cats, and all our possessions.

But first, the infrastructure of water tanks must be established and so that has been our main job this week.

For now we have a trickle of water that is passed to us by a neighboring cabin of which we are grateful. We use this water to make the cob mix as well as water some of the herbs I have transplanted as I week by week move my medicinal garden to our future home.

But, if we are really going to do a serious build and later on live here we need a more reliable source of water. Here is the highest point on the property and the best place to situate our water tank. There are lots of rocks which is a challenge and also a blessing. Some of these rocks included were already there and other we stuck together with cob to create this platform.

I tend to focus on making the mix, carrying stones, and watering plants. Jona is the planner, the detail oriented designer, and of course, helps me out with the heavy lifting. Here he is making sure the base is level.

This base will dry for a couple of weeks before we put anything on it. Meanwhile we have a lot of work to do digging a trench for the water connection and moving some giant rocks that are in the middle of our building sight.

Fortunately everything is aligning and a neighbor offered to lend us his time and machinery to move these giant stones in exchange for some design work and after-rock-moving snacks. Tomorrow is the big day and you can be sure I am preparing some good snacks.

And lastly, the butterflies. I am aware that no one else seems to find butterflies and caterpillars as exciting as I do. Even so, I cannot help but share how much more butterfly habitat we have noticed this year from last. As far as weather, the rain fall has been the same and the wind no less intense than last year. The only factor that has changed here is that we have fenced off this acre from free-range dogs and goats. Our intention was to build a safe space for our plants and our cats and have been so pleased to find out that this is also now habitat for important plants and insects.

While prepping the area of our future tiny house I relocated a few polydamas swallowtail catepilars to a section of the land that is plentiful with their host plant (pipevine) and will forever be forest.

Now I must do some finishing touches on dinner and get those snacks ready to break ground tomorrow morning. I will be sure to take lots of pictures for the next Natural Building Diary -- thank you all so much for following along in our trials, errors, surprises, and adventures!