What's this log home sitting on?

[Carmen]

I'm a dreamer come back to drool over the log home photos. We are still one or two years from being able to take the class.

http://www.loghomebuilders.org/student_log_home10.htm

I noticed only because lately I have been pondering foundations again. I don't want a basement and it is highly uncommon to find a newly-built home without a basement in my area (eastern Missouri). All I know about foundations is they are expensive and they keep the home off the ground.

So pardon me for sounding like a dunce, but are those concrete blocks? Is that an acceptable foundation? Does that provide sufficient stability? I guess that's enough of a crawlspace to provide access to plumbing? Is that sort of foundation suitable only for certain kinds of building sites?

While we're at it, can any of you point me to books or websites addressing foundation concerns? If we have to pay someone else to pour a traditional foundation, we'll be much farther from being able to build a house; however, if that's the only thing that will work where we are, it's good to know now...

[Shark]

Those are pier blocks.
It's a common foundation that members use, because you can build the forms youself, call the concrete truck, & you have a foundation.

As long as they are deep enough for the frost line in your area, & large enough to handle the seismic loads, they should be fine.

If the land is sloped, then the piers can get to be too large, have to be reinforced with rebar etc etc, so it's generally only for fairly level building sites.