Diamond Knob at Level Bottom

We did it! On February 25, 2008 Christy and I purchased a 7 acre lot in Floyd County Virginia. We're quite ecstatic over what we've accomplished. After beginning our search for property in Floyd last July we finally found what we've been looking for. It's a mostly wooded lot with quite a diverse character. From sloping to level, and cleared to heavily wooded, it's located in a very rural setting. It has two springs and a small branch (stream). The property is situated on the corner of two gravel roads - one named Diamond Knob after the quartz ledge that this area sits on. This part of south west Virginia is mostly farmland with lots of pastureland for raising black angus cows. There's tons of wildlife - deer, turkey, grouse, black bear, coyote, turkey and black vultures and various and sundry snakes to name the most common so I'm in heaven of course. The far left side of the property has a cleared strip for power lines - fortunately they're not the high tension type and are pretty unobtrusive. This is where we put our tent last weekend.

There are a few neighbors within walking distance, although only one house is visible from the property. What's quite cool is that we've already met one of our neighbors - David and Annie - a few months back at a Green Expo in Roanoke, VA. David is a master electrician that runs his own photo voltaic installation business - yes, PV! In fact, last weekend while camping on the property, Christy and I were invited to their house for dinner where we also met another neighbor couple - Ed and Randye. Everything on the menu was local - roasted potatoes, squash soup, cauliflower, salad grown by Ed and Randye, and finally roast pork. And yes, we ate pork. It was an amazing, delicious meal. And we were so pleased that everything we ate came from within 5 miles - including the pork.

Christy and I are presently living in Charlotte with Christy's parents. We're quite lucky to be in the situation we're in. Jim and Linda have opened their home to us and it's working out very nicely. Christy and I are both working at jobs in our respective fields. Christy is the Controller at the Carolina Raptor Center - a rehabilitation/education center for raptors (birds of prey). I'm working as an engineer at Alpha Security - a company that provides theft prevention devices for the retail market. Our plan is to live in Charlotte for the next few years while we save for the next phase - building the house.

One of the great things about the community of Floyd is the number of people that are into sustainability, environmental stewardship, and organic farming. There are quite a few people that have experience building "green". We've met a number of people that are builders and either have experience or want to build with straw bale. I'm completely amazed that we've found this community of like-minded people. I mean, when we go to get approval from the county to build our straw bale home we're not going to greeted with "what the heck is straw bale and why would you want to build your house of straw?"

I have to apologize to those who have been looking for updates on our blog only to find no entries after September 25th. Christy and I had hoped to have purchased our property much sooner than February. But we're so glad that things worked out the way they did. We had also planned on living on the property while working locally to save money. But it turns out that it's more practical to live in Charlotte where there are better paying jobs which will enable us to save more efficiently.

Today is my granddaughter Adriana's birthday - she's 3 years old. My daughter Lindsey is giving her a huge party today. I wish we could be there to celebrate with everyone. It's tough to be so far away. I'm missing my daughters quite a bit. It's more difficult than I had expected... sigh. So I'm hoping this year's snow accumulation will encourage them to migrate with the Canadian geese someday soon.

Living in Charlotte is quite a trip. The amount of people, traffic, and development is unreal. The contrast between here and Floyd is like night and day. The one thing I can't get past is just how many people run red lights down here. I mean we've all seen people run a red light here and there. But here they run them at every intersection. And it's so blatant. 3 or 4 cars will plow through the intersection when that light was clearly red, well before they got there. I'm just incredulous every time I see it. Massachussetts' drivers have nothing on these folks. And the thing is is that most of the people here now are not native. And I'm one of them...but I don't run red lights - really.

Having said that, there are lots of cool things in Charlotte, too. Julia's Cafe is one of them. It's run by Habitat for Humanity. It's a great place to hang out and watch some live acoustic music. There are also a number of excellent cultural events, shows/concerts, museums, and places to eat - tons of places to eat.

What else is new? Let's see... Christy, Jim (Christy's dad) and I are enrolled in a Master Composter training class. It's a 12 week course that's funded by the county to train people on how to reduce waste by composting and for us to spread the word in the community. We're learning so much like soil science, landscaping, gardening, oh and composting, too. In exchange for the free training we have to commit to 40 hours of community service utilizing what we've learned.

Next weekend Jim & Linda, Nancy, Adrian & Keith, and Christy & I will be heading up to Floyd so we can show them the property. The timing is such that David and Annie will out of town and have asked us to feed their pets and stay at the house. So that'll be a lot of fun. The week after that Christy and her college roommate, Anne, are going to Puerto Rico for a long weekend. They'll be camping on the beach - how dull is that? That same weekend I'll be in Floyd camping on the property. I'm meeting up with a local forester to evaluate the land and a soil scientist to test the soil where we plan on farming. On Easter I'll be heading to Adrian & Keith's for the family Easter dinner. The last week of this month I'll be flying with a co-worker to Dallas for a three day training class - PADS PCB layout for the curious.

Wow! It's 12:18 AM... well in another hour and 42 minutes it'll be 3 AM - Day Light Savings Time. I heard on NPR the other day that there was some research done showing that DST no longer saves energy in certain locales. The reason is that it actually causes your heating system to work harder because you're now getting up earlier when it's colder. This only applies to those who program their thermostat to be cooler during sleep hours and higher during the waking hours. I thought that was interesting.

Here are some more pics of the property:

Christy near the southwest corner. Level Bottom Rd is just visible in the background.

Same corner looking east.

Itty bitty spring fed branch that runs along the west side of the property. It's fed by two springs that originate near the northwest corner.

Small field on south side that runs along Level Bottom Rd. We're thinking this would make a great spot for soccer, frisbee, golf practice, planting a few fruit trees, family picnics, or a good old tent rivival.

Same field looking west.

The ubiquitous quartz.

Apparently this property used to be pastureland around 50 years ago. This tree with barbed wire is on the northeast corner of the property with the arrow point west.
NE corner looking south

Our potential building site just happens to have a dirt road running adjacent to it. It runs from Diamond Knob Rd and meanders west and slopes down towards the spring branch

Lazin' on a Sunday afternoon. Note the clearing for the power lines. This runs along the far west side of the property. The spring branch is just to the left of the tent (not visible).

Ricky with handmade Chilean cotton hat courtesy of Nancy Pugh

Looking southeast from the potential building site. There's a really good mix of hardwoods. The south side of the property next to the field has a grove of tall, white pine.

And speaking of pines... what might be noticeable is the amount of fallen debris. There was a storm that came through the area a few weeks ago with severe winds that did quite a bit of damage.

I'll try to make more frequent entries in the future. Das ist alles...no mas...