NORWAY — More than 45 volunteers raised, braced and pegged the timber frame of a 32- by 16-foot warming hut in a little more than three hours at Roberts Farm Preserve on Saturday.

Once completed, the three-bay hut with room for equipment storage will have two bays unheated for equipment such as track setters, groomer and recreational equipment, and a third insulated bay with a small wood stove to use for warming.

“This really was a magical day,” said Lee Dassler of the Western Foothills Land Trust. The large group of volunteers included the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School Viking Nordic team and experienced carpenters and timber framers.

The Preserve offers 12 K of groomed Nordic ski trails as well as 3.5 K of snowshoe trails at 64 Roberts Road in Norway.

Dassler said contractors Shawn Kane, who designed the building, and Scott Vlaun have been working since Thanksgiving when grant money was received for the combination equipment shed/warming hut to get ready for its raising. She said unusually warm weather allowed volunteers to pour the footings and gravel beds for the two equipment bays before heavy frost set in. The structure will be “off grid” using solar or a generator for light and power, she added.

While work continues to complete the structure, such as the front addition built earlier this week, Dassler said Tuesday that they hope to have the building completed by mid-February.

“It’s a dance with the weather,” she said. “It would be great if we could finish it by mid-February. I don’t know if that will happen though.”

Dassler said the mortises and tenons for the 8- by 8-foot hemlock frame were done in a warmed greenhouse in Otisfield then taken to Norway where the north and south bents were pegged and readied for the hut-raising Saturday.

“As funding allows there will be a deck built off the warming hut,” Dassler said. To date there have been donations allocated for hut doors and windows from local individuals. Dassler said the Norway Dharma Center contributed $314 to help pay for the wood stove. And suppliers such as Buy The Fire, Everlast Roofing and Maine Green Building Supply have also pitched in, providing discounts on materials for the hut, she said.

The 2012 winter event schedule for Roberts Farm Preserve will be posted on Facebook and on the Western Foothills Land Trust Trust’s website, http://wfltmaine.org, soon. More photos of the frame raising abound on the Roberts Farm Facebook page.

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