My Candidate Building Site

I visited the property yesterday to do a little trailmaking and site survey. I took this picture of the site I currently favor for my cob house.

This Photo is taken looking SSE (the likely direction the house would face) down a gentle slope. It is a small clearing surrounded by deciduous trees (oaks) and white pine. The soil here is very silty with a lot of very fine sand. But there is a layer of very pure red clay about 16-18 inches down.

I spent an hour or two searching for trees that would make good roof beams for a shed type roof that would span the structure from front to rear - looking for trees that would provide good 20 ft. long poles. I was mainly looking for cedar, and I only found a couple of trees I thought would work - a disappointing result.

The property has been logged in the past, and the pickings are poorer than I'd hoped for. I guess I'm going to have to purchase roof poles.