Well I started thiking to myself, as i sat looking at my property, what next. I have been part of living history societies for about 20 years now, and have always had a interest in surviving and primitive living conditions, as far back as the Rambo movies of my youth...Well I have the space, and to quote from another movie " if you build it , they will come"...So here it goes, Ill be photo documenting sum of the different steps that I am taking, to slowly add and build a small Village. Im basing the build on the theory of , " if i was a Germanic Tribesman and was in this area, how would i build various structures with what is around the area"...

The terrain in the area is sandy , volcanic rock, light to no real vegetation, except for juniper trees, Cedar trees ( that are sparse and most have been logged)..According to legend of the local indigenous peoples the area is know as the BANISHED LANDS, it was an area that you where sent to live if you where a real bastage in the local tribe...as just below this twisted rocky land is swamps ( that has been sense tamed by the local farmers into fields), me I call it Mordor.or home.
       The first step is I wanted to have sum structure around the area I claimed as my "practice yard" or THE PIT. It is a round ring cleaned out of the rock and other debris. The only other structure was a lean too i threw up last year to climb under for shade.  I selected this area as it "spoke " to me...just far enough from house and roads I can immerse myself in a " period" feeling when i have guests over for out fighting practices and gatherings. I decided to build the hut on a whim, as I have seen  number of re creations from iceland and once you camp on my land, and try to put up a tent in the sandy ground, well might as well build a structure cause you already have all the rocks moved to hold yer tent down anyways ( spikes just dont hold in the wind ).

These are picture of the Training Pit, and the Lean Too structure ( the rocks in front are a fire pit)

So the first step I began to take was to figure out exactly where i wanted to place the hut, In my walk around there is a great area that backs to a lava rock pile, so to give the back side sum protection and also to use the pile as a foundation wall. Once Selected we began to clean out the area, remove plants and rocks and then start to dig, as we want to use the earth and set the hovel partially into the ground. The whole structure is to be roughly 7 feet wide by 12 feet long.

After we had moved the plants and marked off the area we began to dig and also build a retaining wall as we removed the large volcanic rocks in the sandy ground. We dug down about 2 feet and built up the wall about another foot. Unfortunately I would of loved to dig deeper, but unless i had a jackhammer and sum tools other then my hands and a shovel we where limited on the depth , do to the large lava plates in the area.

At this point we had layed out the stones and dug as deep as we could, so the next step was to start placing and configuring the wood structure. The wood came from a local slash pile from logging, that was left to basically rot. I took advantage of this as it was the only area i could find cut limbs w/out clear cutting my property. I decided the beams would be about 7 feet to 8 feet long pine, as it is the length of my trailer I used to haul the wood.  I decided to use a combination "A" frame Saxon styled structure, and also a partially round back using a wick up style of coverage, and also allow for a side entry door. The door was made of rough cut cedar  and made small as most structures in that age ( I believe it was to detour animals and for better heat retention and the ability to defend from the inside).
       The beams where lashed together with a hemp twine  to lock them into shape, and hold the structure together. I will revisit with strips of rawhide made from a deer hide I have acquired after the structure is up.

To create the walls of the roof I decided to use sum cedar  planks I had on hand from another project, they where cut down from cedar trees and rough hewn, from a local mill. I would of traditionally used the peeled bark from local cedar trees, but i didn't want to destroy the few on my property for this project and decide this would be a good working substitute. The boards where layed down on the sub structure and then over lapped slightly as i wove them together and secured them with a rough rope. The boards where only long enough to reach thre fourths of the way  up on the sides, as the plan is to create a thatching from pine tree branches for the top of the structure.

After the outter wood was placed i revisited the interior ro dig down a lil bit more and re secure the inside beams.

The next day was spent gathering greens from the forest a couple miles away ( again as to not deplete my immediate area, as the conifer trees that are optimum for this thatching process are not in majority on my property).  Once the branches where gathered, I began to lay them out so as the larger ones where on the bottom and layer then till smaller ones filled the gaps. The angle was such that they where all pointed down and in as in nature ( they way they grow on the tree).  They where hooked onto a simple structure of cross beams, and then woven in and out of one another as they where placed. This proves to me the best way to use the branches , as when they dry they maintain a rigid woven structure that is easily added to when placing more thatching on to replace and lost needles.  I didn't relies how much thatching or Pine Branches it was going to take , as i had to fill the bed of my truck several times to get it semi water proof, ill need plenty more  to make water proof, but the over all idea and concept is sound.   Once the Thatching was done I revisited the interior to again dig down a little more and then fold in a weave any branches back up through the roofing to make a thick mat of greenery. Once all that was done we revisited the interior, and laid down pine needles and bark fer a flooring. The interior walls then had the little holes and cracks filled with grasses stuffed into them, and finally a simple bench and bed from old scrap wood created. The bed is about 6 feet long and i put in sideways for room inside. So far we have hosted a few friends in the "village" and i keep teasing my family im going to permanently move out there ...( and with 2 teenage girls , that may not be a bad idea)...

Its been about a year since we completed this style Hut...during the course of the year we got sum pretty heavy winds and and kinda kicked over the building a little, its still sturdy ,  ( as we can get 60 mph plus winds in my area ). I also noticed the amount of green thatching from pine limbs i had to go through on a regular basis to make slightly water proof...It got to the point that making a weather proof thicket was a constant job, so we lashed a canvass inside the structure to weather proof the interior. We will be tearing down this spring ( 2016) and will try a different style of roofing. We will go with thatching. Now we had another small building structure that we tried thatching this summer. We made a simple A frame with twigs and sticks and used local weeds gathered and bundled and then added to sticks in layers as thatching...so far worked pretty good.

The real test will be this winter as we are expecting a wet one...and with any luck we will have found a good roofing material that is replenishable and local.