The Design, Ever-evolving

I’ve been working lately to complete the design of this site. I have a few things to tweak but most of the basics are in place. The following is a summary of the design and organization of content.

We had so many ideas on the drawing board but in the end we’ve agreed that it might be fun to change the header image several times in accordance to the phases of the project. In the footer you’ll notice that the current style sheet is called “OFA - Phase One”. Moving forward, each time we step into a new phase of the project we will design a new collage for the header and swap out some of the styles. I’m still working on this but I’d like to make each phase a link so that the user can click to see what each template looked like. (So in a few years, when we’re in Phase Three let’s say, I’d like to have links to Phase One and Phase Two so the user can view the site as it looked during that phase.)

In the main navigation you’ll see a link called “Resouces”. All content listed in the center sidebar (explained below) will be formally listed as a resource on this page. This is our toolbox and I’d like to share the links and a little review of each with our readers. We’re using the internet a TON right now to find as much info as possible and I think creating a repository of goodies would be beneficial.

To the right of the main blog post column are two sidebars. In the center you’ll currently find “Short Bits” which are mini entries about interesting things we’re reading up on. Short Bits will generally encompass any info that we decide is important enough to write about but is too short to form a full blog post. Underneath you’ll find “Recent Links” which is basically a feed of links from our respective del.icio.us accounts tagged with “ofa”.

The right-most sidebar contains your basic blog navigational items as well as recent relevant photos.

I’ll explain any major changes or additions to the current template layout as it evolves.

What’s This Adventure You Speak Of?

The two of us are currently saving up all our pennies to build a cob house and start a farm in North Georgia. Since we believe in light-weight, sustainable living we will be integrating those values into our plans. Our goal is to capture and utilize energy from the sun to power our home and be completely off the grid. This may require certain sacrifices but we are excited to see what we can live without (and consequently learn how do to by hand).

The land is roughly 50 acres near the base of the mountains in Toccoa, GA. Currently, it is vacant and needs a lot of attention before we start hauling in supplies to begin the build. There’s so much to do; clear trees, make a driveway, decide on pond, farm and house location, create a budget, organize ourselves…

That’s what this site is all about. It’s a chronicle for us, our friends and family and others who are interested in such things as cob building and farming. We want to share what we learn (all the mistakes, research and little victories) with as many people as possible.

This is our dream, our big adventure. Enjoy! :)

Eeee!