It's up!

Well the tipi is finally up! I've been bringing all the elements together since late April when I purchased the new cover and liner. The majority of time was spent on the poles. I harvested them from our property in Norwood (south of Charleviox) on Mother's Day weekend with my son's Ben and Nathaniel. We cut balsam firs, peeled the bark and cut all the branches off that weekend and left the poles to dry up north for 5-6 weeks before Veronica and I returned to bring them back home. It then took me about 2 months to do the final trimming of the branch stubs, sand them and apply an oil finish to them. They turned out very nice. I had a blacksmith friend of mine up in Norwood hammer out the stakes for me. They are about 12" long and are made from 7/16" bar stock. The lace pins (all the little sticks you see above the door were carved by Ben, Nathaniel and I around the campfire on mothers Day weekend out of ash branches. I have a double thick floor this time around. I put a heavy duty polytarp on the ground and then covered it with some nice outdoor carpet. I will now start to assemble hides and rugs to cover the carpet. I cut a 3' hole in the floor for the fire pit and lined it completely in medium to small stones. All in all I'm pretty happy with the set-up and look forward to many nights out there just hanging around. I will start inviting friends and family over as soon as I get it furnished.