Wecome to Dragonwood Chronicles

Tucked away deep in the woods at the southern edge of the Tug Hill region of New York. Dragonwood is our off-grid sanctuary. Six acres of pond and gardens bordered by forest on three sides.







The project began in 1995, when after a long search, Debe and I purchased the property from a local logger. To date we have built a cabin, a bridge, out house, two sheds in addition to expansive gardens and stone work. We have a generator, propane lights, refrigerator and grill, a wood stove and modest solar system. A dug well and small stream suitable for watering gardens and other needs and a nearby spring for drinking water.





The Dragonwood Chronicles will serve to document the project with photographs and notes. Future projects will include additions to the cabin, a root cellar and a studio building.















Comments and questions are always welcome.

We enjoy hearing from people who visit Dragonwood Chronicles. Please feel free to leave a comment or ask questions.







Sunday, January 4, 2009

A Winter Afternoon




The sun came out for a while today. A fairly rare occurrence in these parts in January. That being the case we strapped on the snowshoes and ventured in to check on the place.

Evidence of a lot of deer activity as always but otherwise things seemed to be fine.

The picture on the bottom shows Deb making her way up the driveway. We don't plow it for two reasons. Number one my snow plow bill is plenty high enough as it is. Also we don't use the place much during the winter and keeping it somewhat inaccessible helps keep unwanted visitors away. We are also fortunate to be well away from any major snowmobile trails.

The top photo shows Deb walking along the north side of the pond. The bench in the foreground faces the pond and almost due south. This is a good illustration of solar radiation. The small hill there and the area where the bench sits are open and face south. That hillside will be bare in early spring when there is still several feet of snow in other spots. That bench would not have been visible today, but for maybe the top railing if it were on the other side of the pond.

Even in this area solar gain is a very tangible asset.

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