Rh Clark;
If you have black locust, you can use that for the first two or so layers, followed by oak, and then pine. The old saying about black locust is that it will last two years longer than rock.
That was the format for log home building back in log cabin days. Being that black locust is so rot resistant, it was used as a first layer. If you don't have any black locust around, you can do like stretch says, and use Cedar if you have it, if not then oak for the first layer, but you can raise the foundation a bit, to help with drainage, and if you are not going to have a concrete foundation, you could use a graveled footer, for drainage, but I don't know how that would be for settling and such. Anyway, there are some good books out there on log cabin building. Some you can find at Home Depot, or Lowe's, or the library.
The series about Dick Proeneke, is great. I have the book. I read it twice. But definitely let the logs age for at least a year, preferably two. There are many ways of joining the log layers.
Good luck and have fun.
Wayne
