Hello, I am Michael O’Reilly and this is my blog.

Early last year I bought 10 acres of forest, with a house and garage, in Mason County. My two best friends, Sarah and Harry, are helping me with the project we call Moondance.

We had been looking for 7 years, twice a week to find a property that would contain our visions in a most productive way; we have been following the proper stages for a single family structure, an Endurance Dwelling, we are forming up as a Master Planned Resort (Mon and Pop size).

Now we are in the first stages of pre- development.  We are meeting with Michael MacSems from Planning III tomorrow at 10:00.

Our agenda will include site conditions that will allow or disallow our project to continue. We will also cover unusual elements for our strategy that require thought outside the norm – this is not a house, it is a single family residential structure adapted for gatherings, events, exhibitions and other mixed uses. This is what we want him to know:

                Nothing gets taken off site (except when the 2 extant structures are demoed and removed).

                Excavation material from the footprints, retention ponds and Wild Sitecrafting will be used as

                hills for permaculture gardens.

Our new portal will occur off of Strong Road allowing our clients to access without using the public road and we need Michael to ok that – our private road we are calling Strong Lane.

The children’s playground will be substantial and innovative (we will chip all of our own wood for the trails and the playground).

                We will look at where the retention ponds are going and the elevations involved.

This summer we will be hosting gatherings and events on site and will need to confirm our readiness for them.

Because we are filing as an MPR (Master Planned Resort) there are significant steps we must take to confirm our plans; we are the first MPR in Mason County so the formal steps have never been used before.

Carbon footprints will be very low. Since no material is going off site there will be no trucks used and carbon will be tracked (currently no local carbon tracking mechanism exists for single families but we will start one).

Our Endurance Dwelling must be located and related to all the gardens (the food circle kitchen will not be over 2 minutes from the gardens and composting arena), Strong Lane, Infinity Trails, water features, view areas, outdoor performance center and other considerations.

Harry and I are currently cleaning out debris and under growth to begin our Wild Sitecrafting. We will leave all the big trees (designing with them in mind) and form Strong Lane by avoiding them – Strong Lane will be done by hand…that really helps deflate our carbon use (plus it’s great exercise, and fun). Infinity Trails will be conjured up while we are removing all the fire causing undergrowth and dead limbs; Strong Lane sits 20’ off the property lines, leaving a swath of passive security around the site, and acts as a firebreak for the forest.