Stone Cottage - The Begining

The dream which was born on dark, long, cold winter evenings has begun its venture into reality. I'm not sure how long it will take to see the fruition of this dream. Knowing the amount of time I have to devote to projects, it will probably be years. Yet, I have begun. For one cannot finish what one has not started. I debated whether I should post about such a long-term project and finally decided that it would be a good way to document my progress as well as provide a bit of accountability and encouragement from my faithful friends. Eichenwald Estate* is soon to have its first stone cottage! T'will be a wee tiny cottage, in keeping with the skills and experience of its builder (in other words, I have but a wee tiny bit of either). It's intended purpose is to be a play house for our wee lassies and possibly have enough space for a bed for overnight guests.
Last night we began by going to the local stone store (aka. Our field) and picking rocks. This is going to be a LOOOOOOONG project! On the bright side, I have plenty of available materials, if I was more ambitious I could build a castle. Heidi was a great helper, but I think I'll get a little farther with the size rocks Karl was gathering.

Hannah sat in her wagon throne and applauded our endeavors.

Heidi found one of Daddy's previous stone piles - easy pickings

We got a nice load then took it home to pile by the building site.

While throwing rocks out of the truck, I commented that some of them were breaking a bit. Heidi responded, "Oh, that's so sad, now they're damaged!". Sometimes her vocabulary astounds even me.

*Eichenwald (say Ike-en-vald) is German for Oak Forest, and is the name we have given our farm and home.