Preparations speeding along with new help from civilian volunteers

It's been a while since our last post yet we've had our hands full after Jay Scherder from KY3 TV in Springfield decided to do a piece on efforts to prepare Valhalla for receiving the first groups of Soldiers next spring:

 

After the story aired on December 8th another reporter, this time from the Baxter Bulletin's own Joanne Bratton in Mountain Home, arrived to interview us, and her article was published the next day. Then this morning we were surprised to find that her story has been reprinted here on the Army Times website.

Coon has another name but even
his business card doesn't actually
state it, he's a proud Louisiana native
with a name that suits him very well!

As a result of this first media coverage we have met many local civilians, and many veterans, who are pitching in their time, materials, and equipment to greatly speed up our progress here. 

Among them: Viet Nam veteran "Coon" - now a painter by trade - called to announce he would scrounge up some paint for both the interior and exterior of the house. Out of the blue he then showed up with gallons and gallons of it, then proceeded to commence work on the dreadful blue room with it's crazy flowers that required many hours of sanding to prep the walls for their eventual transformation.

Ed Harkreader and his son Andy demonstrating
safe techniques on the tablesaw they brought over
along with the jigsaw shown the background. Wood-
shop tools are critically needed to speed up progress
so we can meet our target of hosting the first groups
of Valhalla post-9/11 combat soldiers in the spring.

A Navy veteran, Ed Harkreader, contacted us with an offer to bring over some basic woodworking equipment to help build bed frames for the mattresses Valhalla has already acquired. Gordon and I had already managed to build the first prototype, yet unfortunately it was three inches too tall and therefore ridiculously difficult to get in and out of. Ed and his son Andy came to the rescue - we tore the bed frame apart and cut down each leg while replacing the sheets of plywood with cedar slats to support the mattress. One handmade original Valhalla-designed bed frame finished now, many more will follow! 

Marvin trimming the ends of the oversized cedar
boards to fit. We have been working with minimal
tools and equipment so having a little help from
local citizens makes a huge amount of difference.

Then local resident Marvin and his Lab, B-Dog, showed up to help construct the first raised beds for the garden. Valhalla's off-the-grid self-sustaining goals prominently include building the capacity to grow the vegetables, fruits, and berries necessary for feeding all the post-9/11 combat soldiers and war zone civilian workers who will be staying on the property.

That's a pretty tall order, and with the rocky ground here in the Ozarks, establishing raised beds has to be a top priority. We had some trouble with cutting the oversized 2x12" cedar boards so Marvin went home and returned with a chain saw that quickly solved the problem.

Enough nails for years perhaps,
thank you Dennis and Dianna!

Just a few of the literally thousands of nails - big bins of all shapes and sizes, as donated by Dennis and Dianna Marquis (who were also behind making sure that the infamous Valhalla Marquis Wet Room project would become a reality) - sure came in handy when building the raised bed gardening frames. We have bins and buckets of bags of nails that will be pressed into use in the coming years as Soldiers and war zone civilian workers design and build their own a series of cabins around the property.

Just some of the many pretty
curtains made by Debbie
Garrison-Deters hanging on the
new curtain rods that Marvin
helped us to put up. Thank you 
so much Debbie for all the hours
you put into this sewing project!

Many other sets helping hands have filled the month of December, and in some surprising ways. Debbie Garrison-Deters from nearby Harrison pitched in by sewing many pairs of curtains to help make Valhalla a more comfortable place to stay (if you need any sewing done then you can contact Debbie on Facebook here), and Marvin came back to help put up the many curtain rods around the house to hang them. 

Lindy Benitz - the mastermind behind the timber party that resulted in all the firewood burned here at night to help keep the house warm, and who's family also donated Valhalla's very first two beds for the bunkhouse - habitually pops in with critical essentials: a shower bench for the wetroom and a special bedroom commode chair for anyone with physical challenges who might need one - as well as country living advice, reference books and instructive magazines of all kinds.

The local people here in the Ozarks are - as a group - huge supporters of the men and women who have sacrificed all and regularly put their lives on the line to help make the world a safer place. While they do not have much to give during these hard times, the mountain communities and people here always seem to find a way to pitch in and honor those serving our great nation. Valhalla will indeed be ready by the spring with such heartfelt assistance!

An unusual "volunteer"

Chippy in the moments just before he decided to make a run
for it down the side of the fireplace, where he was unpleasantly
intercepted by Joker the cat (click the photo to enlarge).

This tiny chipmunk got into the house and Joker the cat thought he was trying to volunteer himself for dinner! Chippy made a break for it, Joker leaped about 10 feet and caught him... we made him spit Chippy out and then threw him out the back door to safety. He survived - we saw him running as fast as he could into the woods, so he's OK!

Our IRS application for nonprofit status is being processed, 
yet you can still donate to help Valhalla today!

Preparations Continue: Scent of Cedar Everywhere

These excellent eight-foot-long cedar 2x12 inch boards
will last more than a decade outside in the elements for
Valhalla's soon-to-be-constructed organic gardening
beds. No sales to the public though: our goal is to keep
up to fifty combat Soldiers and war zone civilian
workers properly fed with best-quality gourmet
produce they themselves help to grow and harvest
right here on the Valhalla property.

Valhalla now has two cedar "bed" projects going at the moment: constructing frames for the queen, full, and twin sized mattresses currently laying on the floors that don't have their own bed frames yet, and also making raised beds for the intensive gardening program that will be feeding Soldiers and war zone civilian workers by next year. Vegetables for ten people by next summer, and enough canned vegetables and meat to sustain up to 50 participants at a time twelve months from now!

LTC Tom Lombardo and me in spring 2008 when
the 18th Military Police Brigade was headquartered at
Camp Liberty outside Baghdad, Iraq. A black-and-
white version of this very same photograph appears
in the book "Warrior Police"; my coauthor (and now
wife) Chris Fontana have already pledged all profits
from the book to help make Valhalla a reality and a
project that might someday be duplicated all over
the United States to help combat Soldiers and
war zone workers readjust to the civilian world
while learning new skills and also having
wonderful times together in the process.

Parenthetically, our board members Tom Lombardo and Mike Stillwell have been working with the excellent public affairs staff at Fort Leonard Wood in the person of Tabitha Smith specifically to arrange a visit soon by members of the Warrior Transition Unit. These wounded Soldiers are learning how to function either to remain on active Army duty or to return to civilian life.

While we are firmly focused on the larger Soldier population as well as the wounded, this visit tracks well with our Valhalla mission and purpose which focuses on combat Soldiers and war zone civilians including all who served downrange.

When they do arrive we hope to provide them a hunting opportunity as well as a chance to do some improvement projects, many of which will involve wood working including cedar applications.

Small and friendly despite formidable sets of horns,
Scot Highlanders with a curious calf at their side
graze contentedly while keeping a wary eye on
strangers. The calves look just like little teddy
bears, but watch out for their mother's horns...

So far we're not at the point yet where we're logging and milling our own timber, however. That day will come. Now we're availing ourselves of the excellent products milled by Phillip and Marla Fouraker of Yellville. The couple runs a very efficient home-based milling operation on a large, beautiful farm not far from town. They specialize in cedar, red and white oak, and pine. Two Scot Highland cows with unbelievably cute calves at their side grace a nearby field.

I'm holding a beautifully grained future post for a queen bed.
 Keeping my fingers crossed that I measured carefully!

We picked cedar because of its natural beauty, the insect-repellant characteristics, and the glorious scent that now fills the living room where we now have a small stack of lumber drying beside the fireplace.

For the bed frame project we picked 4x4 inch posts with 2x6 inch horizontal members. Because my carpentry is heavier on enthusiasm than expertise, we decided on a very simple, functional design. Thanks to the kind assistance of Criss Blake who trucked us over to the Fouraker mill, we were able to pick up the bed materials (plus lots of extra wood for various projects constantly fermenting in my wife Chris's head). Ultimately we plan to have an old farm truck of Valhalla's very own, but not just yet.

Timely arrival of a DeWalt compound miter saw and a pair of sanders (one belt, one orbital) ordered through Amazon meant we were able to get right to work, even though the weather has turned chilly outside. The Amazon programs offer a lot for a frugality-minded operation like Valhalla. By placing items on a "wish list" we are notified automatically of special sales - sometimes only good for hours - and have been able to get these and a few other bare-essentials tools at significantly discounted prices.

My cravat from Vietnam serves as a field expedient dust mask.
It's the same one pictured above that I wore in Iraq. That piece of
cloth now has three wars and some nasty place in between in
it's history. The patrol cap is Afghanistan vintage from
our "Warrior Police" research embeds last year.

Eventually we hope Valhalla will have a full-up wood shop with table saws, drill presses, planer-joiners, and much more for many Soldiers at a time to work with, but for this early start in preparing for their arrival in the spring we're making do with the bare essentials.

Still, where there's a will.... So the first of several bed frames is almost ready for final assembly and use.

Meanwhile, just yesterday, Phillip kindly dropped off the fixin's for the raised beds. I'm very excited about knocking them together so we can get some garlic planted in the ground before the real cold sets in and the other garden beds will have a winter season to age and be ready for planting in the spring.

And it all begins with some cedar boards. Neat.

"No sweat, it's just Joker the Cat again!" 

Pausing in their raucous morning grazing-parade around the house, the Guinea fowl take time to assess potential threats (and decide, "none here") while very casually relieving themselves on the concrete steps.

"How crude, they're not even using the litter box!" Fastidious Joker has his own evaluation
while looking out the window at his most favorite insect-and-tick-eating 
feathered friends.

Our IRS application for nonprofit status is being processed, 
yet you can still donate to help Valhalla today!