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.







Tuesday, October 18, 2016

New Barn

This past summer was a whirlwind as they usually are. This year's big project was an 18 X 28' barn that will serve as our summer art studio. The project began with clearing some large trees and bringing in fill and crushed stone for our poured concrete slab foundation. We then opted for 2 X 6" stud walls 16" on center. The walls are 12' high with scissor trusses on top angled at a 12/12 pitch. Inside it is 24' 6" to the ridgeline. This open space feels much bigger than it actually measures in square feet because of the volume created with the open, tall ceiling or actually lack of ceiling. In other words it is open to the roof. The roof is sheeted with 1" rough sawn pine, covered in 30lbs. felt paper, 1 X 3" purlins, and then top of the line metal roofing. The snow ought to slide off this roof nicely. Next summer we will add more windows and sheetrock for a brighter space as it will serve primarily as a painting studio. We hope to add a ten foot, "bump out" addition on the back for a framing room. A solar array to power led lighting is also in the long term plans. Once the rest of the windows are in place we will finish siding the gable ends with cedar shakes.

Driveway

Off The Grid

Off The Grid
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