POLYFACE DESIGNS IS HERE

            It finally arrived.  Friday morning POLYFACE DESIGNS arrived in a tractor trailer, all 25,000 pounds.  This book weighs a smidgen under 5 lbs., folks.  If you don't want to read it, you can use it in your weight training program.

             In a wonderful providential confluence of events, homesteading guru Justin Rhodes was here to film the arrival and my first glimpse of the book.  Yes, that means cutting off the plastic wrap from the pallet stack, opening up a box, and pulling out the book.

             And as if that weren't good enough, the brains of the book, former apprentice Chris Slattery, was also here so we got to see it for the first time, together.  Neither of us had seen a physical copy until that moment.  You can see it all captured on Justin Rhodes' Youtube channel.

             Now that I've had a chance to thumb through the physical copy, I realize even more just what a monumental project this is.  Chris recorded his time on it (isn't that just like an engineer?) and it was 2,000 hours.  Folks, that's 50 weeks at 40 hours.  I have no idea how many hours I spent on it, but it wasn't nearly that much. 

             Those of you who have been following this saga know that I've said "this could be a coffee table book."   Well, it's true.  Even little children sit mesmerized by all the colorful drawings.  How many books are equally appropriate for a coffee table and the fabrication shop or the backyard construction zone?

             It contains not only our homemade electric fence building techniques, but also all of our various livestock gate latches.  Chris even names them:  The Bored Hole; the Gravity Latch, etc.   They all have different functions, but if you've never been introduced to them, you don't know the options.  Fortunately, Chris did not grow up here, which made every piece of infrastructure novel and interesting.

             Placing my name on this book seems almost deceptive since I did so little compared to Chris' contribution.  But in essence, he captured my family's lifetime of experience in drawings; it's quite profound, really.  Even your kindergartener will be mesmerized by the beautiful diagrams.  A children's book too?  Yes, I'd say so based on the feedback we've already gotten.

            I will not bore you with any more postings about POLYFACE DESIGNS, but I felt like with all the postings about its development, you deserved closure to the story.  It's here.  It's beautiful.  It's a legacy book, for sure.  All 568 pages. And to all of you who have already purchased it, thank you.  We will not offer it on Amazon until January 1.  Until then, you can get it through the Polyface website site gift store, through Justin Rhodes, or Homesteaders of America.

             Chris and I sat down Friday afternoon and Saturday morning and signed 800 copies.  He had to go back to Kentucky, but I'm still signing.  I've agreed to sign them until we go public on Amazon, so a few more hours with a sharpie are still on my horizon.  I don't know when I've been more grateful to have such good partner friends in this earth healing endeavor.

             I know it's early, but has anyone seen it yet?