A misty May week at da Swisha. We walked and walked to get to know the place and it's landmarks. This was the first time we saw the land beneath the snow. We found plenty of brush and undergrowth between tall pines, birch and cedar. We were warned the blackflies were bad in May. It wasn't so bad. The place seemed really dense at first but soon we could make more sense of it, and as it turns out the brush just falls away when you bring a Sandvik axe! We picked about 6 different spots to think about building a dwelling on, all of which are great, woodsy options. The practical realities of trying to build in a low-impact, sustainable way means we have to make some of the most important choices now, when we know the least ! First we'll build a bunkie, a small dwelling to stay in as we build the main home. Da Swisha is on an island in the Ottawa river, just barely in Quebec. Looking north from the shore, across the water, is a massive ZEC or zone ecologique.
