Crane's Landing at Three Rivers

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Crane's Landing at Three Rivers šŸ‘·building a cordwood sauna šŸ›–rehabbing an old cabinšŸšļø learning, doing, teaching, shenanigans

Itā€™s been a very busy month, but we managed to squeeze in a weekend of serious mortaring. Now, the only thing that stand...
16/09/2024

Itā€™s been a very busy month, but we managed to squeeze in a weekend of serious mortaring. Now, the only thing that stands between us and a finished sauna is the gap at the top of the front wall!

Saturday was the last day of the cordwood workshops for me, before getting on the road back to Chicago this morning. We ...
18/08/2024

Saturday was the last day of the cordwood workshops for me, before getting on the road back to Chicago this morning. We mixed up a batch of refractory mortar and started working on the stone wall behind the sauna stove. We also got a visit from adorable baby goats, leading to a lot of whimsical speculation about future Goat Cordwood Classes. We finished off the day with a floating sauna on Lake Superior šŸ¤© It was absolute perfection!!

Our second set of cordwood workshops kicked off today and things are off to a great start! Charlie and Dave installed so...
17/08/2024

Our second set of cordwood workshops kicked off today and things are off to a great start! Charlie and Dave installed some tarps to keep us dry and comfortable in rainy weather. Debbie delivered and debarked some wonderful cedar logs from the UP. We made adjustments to our mortar mix to account for the coarse sand weā€™ve been working with. And all the students picked up mortaring techniques really quickly and started building some truly gorgeous walls!!

I adore birch trees so I was excited to see big stacks of birch wood pretty much everywhere I looked in Canada, includin...
17/08/2024

I adore birch trees so I was excited to see big stacks of birch wood pretty much everywhere I looked in Canada, including the lobby of my hotel! On my way out of Ontario, I visited Kakabeka Falls and enjoyed stunning views of the Kaministiquia River from the boardwalk hiking trail. I also stopped by the Pigeon River on the Canadian side of the border. Thereā€™s a little footpath just off the main road that leads to a rocky cliff overlooking Middle Falls!

After crossing the border back into Minnesota, I drove to the Grand Portage National Monument. There, I visited the North West Companyā€™s Depot, a reconstructed fur trading post. I talked with living history interpreters at the Great Hall, Kitchen, and Canoe Warehouse. I also got to see a reconstructed Ojibwe village, dock, gardens, and an outdoor stone oven. I love places where you can literally touch and feel history ā€” absolutely worth a visit!!

On Wednesday morning, I took a little road trip from Grand Marais, Minnesota to Thunder Bay, Ontario. Along the way, I s...
16/08/2024

On Wednesday morning, I took a little road trip from Grand Marais, Minnesota to Thunder Bay, Ontario. Along the way, I stopped at Judge C.R. Magney State Park and hiked to the Upper Falls and the Devilā€™s Kettle. I walked along the rocky beach at Horseshoe Bay. I saw Minnesotaā€™s tallest waterfall at the Grand Portage State Park. And I crossed the Pigeon River International Bridge into Canada and enjoyed a Maple Whiskey Sour, smoked with cedar wood chips, at The Industry Social House šŸ‡ØšŸ‡¦šŸšŸ„ƒ

We have spent a couple of lovely days in Grand Marais in between our two cordwood workshops. I got to hike the Grand Mar...
14/08/2024

We have spent a couple of lovely days in Grand Marais in between our two cordwood workshops. I got to hike the Grand Marais breakwater trail, see the lighthouse, tour the North House Folk School campus, canoe in the Boundary Waters on Magnetic Lake, and try some delicious fish, beer, and lingonberries. Five stars!!

Grand Marais Cordwood Workshop Day 3: We were fortunate enough to have beautiful sunny weather as we wrapped up our firs...
12/08/2024

Grand Marais Cordwood Workshop Day 3: We were fortunate enough to have beautiful sunny weather as we wrapped up our first workshop. We built and installed a large window box and kept raising up our walls. We made lots of progress and plans for future projects. It was a wonderful time!

Grand Marais Cordwood Workshop Day 2: We are trying out a different mortar recipe for this classā€”6 parts sand, 2 parts P...
11/08/2024

Grand Marais Cordwood Workshop Day 2: We are trying out a different mortar recipe for this classā€”6 parts sand, 2 parts Portland cement, 2 parts lime, and 4 parts soaked sawdust. The sand we are using is also much coarser than the fine mortaring sand weā€™ve had in the past. As a result, the mortar initially felt very different to me and took a couple of batches to get used to. But, eventually, I got the hang of it, and Iā€™m really enjoying working with it now. It holds its shape really well and the coarse sand grains add beautiful flecks of color. Iā€™m really interested to see what it looks like after it has a few days to set.

We topped off a fun day of mortaring with the most amazing set of activities you can imagine! We visited Camp Menogyn, hung out with baby goats, took a boat ride to a sauna house, enjoyed a sauna, and went swimming in Bearskin Lake. Then, I had beer and meatballs for dinner. BEST. DAY. EVER.

Grand Marais Cordwood Workshop Day 1: I am so excited about this sauna design!!! For the first time, we are using square...
10/08/2024

Grand Marais Cordwood Workshop Day 1: I am so excited about this sauna design!!! For the first time, we are using square shaped timber cut-offs; wood ends that might otherwise be discarded as milling waste. Instead, we are turning them into a unique and beautiful cordwood building! Woohoo!!!

We spent the morning working on lots of cordwood basics, including making bottle logs, treating wood with borax, and making keys using furring strips and roofing nails. We mixed up our first batch of mortar this afternoon and got started on the bottom row of the wall. It looks so cool already, I cannot wait to build more tomorrow! šŸ’Ŗ šŸ˜ƒ šŸŖµ

Successful journey through Wisconsin and Minnesota today! Excited for the cordwood workshop tomorrow!! ...
09/08/2024

Successful journey through Wisconsin and Minnesota today! Excited for the cordwood workshop tomorrow!!

The weather was lovely and we made good progress on our sauna this weekend. Tomorrow, Iā€™m heading up to help out at anot...
07/08/2024

The weather was lovely and we made good progress on our sauna this weekend. Tomorrow, Iā€™m heading up to help out at another cordwood workshop in Grand Marais, Minnesota!

We now have a wonderful fire pit thanks to Kris and Nick! Perfect for bonfires, sā€™mores, and burning stuff šŸ˜šŸ”„
21/07/2024

We now have a wonderful fire pit thanks to Kris and Nick! Perfect for bonfires, sā€™mores, and burning stuff šŸ˜šŸ”„

While I was working on the sauna, a small family of birds decided to move in near the rafters. Iā€™ll probably need to evi...
16/07/2024

While I was working on the sauna, a small family of birds decided to move in near the rafters. Iā€™ll probably need to evict them at some point, but I feel badā€¦ we clearly share an interest in building homes out of sticks and mud!!

Rainy day cordwood activity: cutting wine bottles with a tile saw
11/07/2024

Rainy day cordwood activity: cutting wine bottles with a tile saw

The weather has been terrible. The brakes on my car almost went out. The basement is slightly flooded again. But every d...
10/07/2024

The weather has been terrible. The brakes on my car almost went out. The basement is slightly flooded again. But every day, I keep adding to this wall bit by bit. Because it sure will be nice to have a sauna next time thereā€™s a downpour šŸŒ§ļø šŸ”„ šŸ§–ā€ā™€ļø

Mixed up some mortar. Worked on the back wall and side corner of the sauna. Survived a minor bee attack (they mostly got...
06/07/2024

Mixed up some mortar. Worked on the back wall and side corner of the sauna. Survived a minor bee attack (they mostly got Nick). Progress!!

Getting ready to get back to mortaring, at last!!
03/07/2024

Getting ready to get back to mortaring, at last!!

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ā€œBut arenā€™t camping bathrooms gross, dark, and scary?ā€ NOPE!! Come check out the beautiful view from our bright, clean, and welcoming outhouse in the woods. #loowithaview #outhouse #outhousesofinstagram #outdoortoilet #outdoorbathroom #ecotoilet #toiletsink #toiletsinkcombo #compostingtoilet #vermicompost #vermifilter #biofilter #humanure #campingbathroom #campsite #wastewatertreatment #wastewatermanagement #forestview #intothewoods #permaculturedesign #permacultura

(Sound on if you want the REAL experience šŸ¤£šŸ¤£šŸ¤£) We have had some huge, scary thunderstorms in Michigan this summer. And our amazing Lotus Belle tent withstood them all! It remained tethered to the platform, dry, warm, and cozy. It was undefeated! Untilā€¦ children šŸ™ˆ It seems that the kids left the bottoms of the doors unzipped when they were playing in the tent last time. None of us noticed and, as a result, we were greeted by a deep puddle of water inside the tent Saturday morning šŸ¤¦ā€ā™€ļø Right as our bathroom was flooding in the house! The good news is that we learned the tent floor is completely impermeable. The water just sat on top of it and we were able to shovel it out with a snow shovel šŸ˜‚ We then opened up all the doors and windows and let the tent dry out. By the end of the day, it was aired out, clean, and dry. Nothing was damaged and the tent interior is back to normal now! But, uh, lesson learned! šŸ˜¬ šŸŒ§ #oops #usererror #lessonlearned #afterthestorm #flooded #soakingwet #wettent #dryingout #tentlife #glamping #camping #campinglife #campingadventures #campingwithkids #familytime #tentcamping #belltent #belltents #lotusbelle #lotusbelletents #lotusbelletentsuk #instatent #michiganglamping #canvastent #luxurytent #glampingtent #glampingmichigan #swmichigan #southwestmichigan #glampersofinstagram

On Day 1 of our cordwood workshop in the Upper Peninsula, we learned how to make bottle bricks. What is cordwood construction? Itā€™s a natural building method that uses short logs stacked crosswise to build thick walls. The logs are held together by mortar and can be alternated with glass bottles for a beautiful visual effect. Our instructor, Charlie Yaeger (@cooperlakemaplesyrup), showed us his method. (1) Score a wine bottle using a small cutting tool. Charlie built a little jig from scrap wood to help keep the tool in the same spot while going around the bottle. (2) Heat up the bottle along the score line. Slowly rotate the bottle under a torch until you hear a ā€œtinkā€ sound. (3) Gently tap the bottle along the score line until it separates into two pieces. A well heated and scored bottle will come apart easily, with little to no tapping. (4) Put aside the top piece of the bottle (it can be reused or recycled!) and save the bottom. (5) Tape the bottom pieces together with duct tape to make the bottle logs. You can also wrap a strip of flashing along the joint to make your ā€œlogā€ more rigid. You will shatter a few wine bottles if you do this. Itā€™s okay!!! It takes a few tries to get the hang the of it and even when you get good, you will still break about 3 out of 10 bottles, according to Charlie. But itā€™s a very fun project and at the end you end up a low cost, recycled building material! #bottlelogs #bottlebricks #bottlewall #bottlebuilding #glass #glassbottlewall #recycledglass #reusedmaterials #winebottles #winebottlecrafts #cordwood #cordwoodbuilding #cordwoodbuildings #cordwoodbuildingworkshops #workshop #teamwork #sustainablebuilding #naturalbuilding #naturalbuildings #ecofriendly #outdoorsauna #cordwoodsauna #sauna #yoopers #uppermichigan #upperpeninsula #upperpeninsulamichigan #upmichigan #womenbuilders #womenbuild

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Our Story

It was December 2019 when we found ourselves in St. Joseph County for the first time.

For nearly a year, we ā€“ me (Monika), my husband Nick, and my best friend Kris, had been searching for a place where we could build or rehab a cabin to use as a vacation home and, eventually, as a rental property. We wanted something on the waterfront, driving distance from Chicago, big enough to support multiple cabins (if things went well with the first one!), and secluded yet still close to shopping, dining, and recreation.

But after months of poring over real estate listings, driving all over Wisconsin and Michigan, studying plats, looking at flood maps, and trying to make sense of building codes, we were beginning to wonder if the place we were looking for simply didnā€™t exist.

Needing a break, Nick and I packed up our family and drove to a lake house we had just rented for a couple of nights near Three Rivers, Michigan. It was an unfamiliar place that we selected based on the sound, well-researched reason that pretty much everything else was booked solid right before New Yearā€™s Eve.