On a brilliant Saturday morning this past weekend, several dozen family members, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and acquaintances of Krista and Devin Karlson gathered behind their home, up a Thetford hillside, to raise their new barn. The Karlsons had been working since April, 2025, to log trees on their property, mill the lumber they’d need, prep the “bents”—the structures you see lying in the first photo below—with pegs and notches, cut posts, beams, and supports, lay down a foundation, and get everything ready. They were determined to erect the barn entirely by hand, without cranes or heavy equipment, as would have been done years ago. Here’s how they managed it:
The scene before most people arrived, with Krista Karlson’s grandmother and aunt, Nancy Karlson and Kristine Karlson, in the center. Photos by Krista Karlson and Rob Gurwitt
The first bent goes up.
Devin Karlson (with the big honking mallet) and crew place the first beam.
And the second.
Mike Sundstrom pressure-sprays concrete dust out of a bolt hole for the metal plate that will help secure an end of the second bent.
The second bent goes up…
And up…
And up.
By late afternoon, it looked like a barn.
Wayne Chin, a colleague of Devin Karlson’s (in the white hat, above), has created a three-minute timelapse of the entire day, which you’ll find here.
