Last Spring when I moved out of my very noisy but oh so vibrant Capital Hill studio, I chose a room in a quirky sleepy farmhouse on 8 acres. I have an entire wall of windows in my room that overlooks a pond, and I frequently see deer, raccoons and other wildlife. As I’m writing this the frog song is a constant chirping of soothing background noise. I like it here. Oh, and it’s quiet enough that I can sleep! Being surrounded by farmland and old barns and wildlife soothes the noise in my head and feels more like being out in nature where I belong.
In early December I noticed a giant barn on the lot behind my room being painstakingly dismantled. If it’s called a “barn raising” when one is being built, is it called a “barn deflating” when one is taken down? I watched their slow progress as I walked the pups near their site, and I began to daydream of using some of that wood in my fairy-tale van. The van I had been hunting for since July and had not yet found. It seemed silly to store wood for a fantasy I wasn’t sure was going to be realized, but I started pouring over van build ideas on Instagram and Pinterest.
While I was visiting family over the holidays I found Apricity sitting lonely on a frozen car lot covered in snow! When I returned home I found an ad on Craigslist with the details about the barn wood behind my house. I didn’t have my van yet, it was still in Spokane waiting on better weather to bring it home, so I didn’t have dimensions or any real idea of how much or what I needed, but I called and made an appointment.
The barn sits on a low spot at the bottom of a hill. The day I showed up it was pouring and the site was a muddy mess with random towers of wood stacked everywhere. An incredibly kind Hungarian man greeted me, listened to my plans, and told me to feel free to wander around and make a pile of the wood I wanted. The next 4 hours I slipped and slid through mud while comparing countless pieces of wood for a project I hadn’t yet thought through. I ended up with a pile of 48 pieces of siding, 2x4s, 2×6’s, and some other big pieces of wood I still don’t know the size or purpose of. I tied it to the roof of my little SUV and made three trips down their driveway and into mine. I was filthy and exhausted and very very proud. The men doing the barn demolition were the first strangers I had shared my van dream with, and they were excited and thought I could do it! They gave me the world’s best deal on my pile of 100 year old boards, and made me promise to share pictures when the build is complete.
Over the past few weeks I have paid more attention to those boards than I have ever paid to wood that wasn’t standing tall in a forest. I have stacked it, moved it from the barn into my living room to dry, inspected the grain, and carted it around with me. Tonight I carried a piece into two stores in search of flooring that will match.
I learned that the trees used to build that barn were cut down on this very land where I’m currently living. Now, they will be used to build my ceiling, bed, kitchen, and shelves and driven around to wild forests and shiny deserts. I’ve been calling this new little house on wheels my nest. I want it to be full of memories and crafted with love and magic. So far, so good!
