The idea of living, or partly living in a log cabin, liberated from ‘the grid’ has always appealed to me. A log cabin is authentic, it is cozy, it is alive and it breathes - plus it looks damn good. On my regular trips to Switzerland (a country where I have many roots and I love very much) I am always attracted to the many wooden chalets and other timber houses that adorn the beautiful countryside. Timber architecture is something I adore. On my many trips to Namibia (another country I love very much) I am always attracted to the incredibly attractive and varied timber and thatch structures that welcome you to the multitude of camps sites and country lodges strewn across the entire country.

So, why this blog. It serves three purposes really:

1. to keep a historical record of the process and the build of the log cabin;

2. we wish to keep the blog as informative as possible for others who have similar dreams. In the blog you will thus find interesting, and hopefully useful information on tools and jigs that we used. Also, you will find information on some of the machinery we used such as Bessy, our tractor and the Green Mamba, our saw mill;

3. we also wish to enable the blog to be as interactive as possible. So please contribute under Guest Posts. These entries can be questions, critique, advice and affirmations (we need these as this is a big experiment for all of us);

4. to hopefully demonstrate that it is possible to build a house in a sustainable manner using mostly materials from the immediate surroundings.

   Please note that this blog is not a static document - it is a work in progress and changes continuously. We will be updating it at regular intervals until the log cabin is complete.

   Please ignore the dates on the individual posts. They are fictitious and simply ensure that the posts appear in chronological order. It is anticipated that the log cabin will be complete towards the end of 2021 through to 2022.