Well, the school year is finished and therefore so is my collection period for water bottles. By estimation I have approximately 6,000 bottles to show for a little over 2 months. I could never have come close to that number without major assistance from faculty members, parents and students! Thank you all!

As impressive as that number is it is still less than half of what I needed for the original plan. With the 6,000 bottles I had two options (I don't have time for continued collection). I could have covered half the wall in the bottle blocks and used another method for the other half or change the arrangement of the bottles to allow for full coverage with lowered insulation value. As this cabin will mainly be a three season retreat, I opted to reorganize the bottles. I can always add more insulation later if needed.

The new plan is to take the bottles and attach them end to end in long rows. The long rows are fastened together with plastic wrapping and then they are inserted into the same mesh tubing that we will be using to build with (I should have plenty of extra). See the picture below but imagine the bottles in an eight foot tube.

This will considerably reduce the R-value (insulation value) since we are going to be laying the bottles against the side of the wall instead of pointing them out. The insulation thickness goes from 6+ inches of plastic and foam down to about 2.5 inches (the width of a bottle). Oh well.

There are some benefits to this method though. One, the use of the foam is no longer necessary so the cost goes down and the insulation becomes "greener." Two the mesh bags will allow better adherence of the plaster which will eventually cover the walls. All in all I feel very good about what we have done. 6,000 bottles and 18,000+ plastic bags out of the waste stream or without the energy costs of recycling is nothing to sneeze at! Keep checking back to see how things are shaping up.

We have gotten our second estimate or preparing the land for building and it is much more reasonable. Sometimes things just have a way of working out and this newest development is further evidence of that. While we were up logging the land a neighbor of ours stopped down to have a chat. He mentioned the name of an independent contractor, S. E. Rodich Excavations, which did road work for the community and also some side jobs for residents. Well we took his advice and Rodich came back with an estimate that was one third the cost of the first! Needless to say we are going with him. 
We also happened to mention to this same neighbor that we had a lot of trees still to cut down and he mentioned that he was in desperate need of firewood. With more than enough wood on our property we struck up a deal. I recently returned from a fishing trip and visit to the property and was pleased to see that not only were the trees that we needed cut down gone but that a simple cleared driveway had been pushed in to help haul out the lumber. This drive is quite useful for us for moving supplies in and out and general access of the site. Things are looking up!