Pole barn might just be a New England term. Like "wicked" (and that's only in Maine and along Rte 2).

If you have your materials precut, that's half cheating. :P Thats one of the problems with primative skills, and a significant part of why I discount them as much as I do- once you are outside of your normal area, things can change radically. It's not as bad for this, but if you budget X amount of time, and suddenly realise you need 2X just to get your roofing material, that turns into a long drippy night. Have you ever tried this with something more single person sized, say 10x10, using nothing but fresh materials and seen what your time was?

My biggest concern if you are using brush piles is your fire. Dry brush == tinder + small wood. I've read about entire villages that disappeared in the night due to thatched roofs catching fire from cinders. I have a rule when I'm in trouble- don't make it worse. I've found just about everything short of catamounts, coyotes/coy-wolves and bears in my camp at night, but for some reason the roof becoming a signal fire makes everything but the catamount seem pretty mellow.

For the frozen pipe, try a plastic stem. It should freeze better than wood. A clay or metal stem would be perfect, particularly if it freezes to your tounge. Remember, this is a negative feedback program, it is supposed to suck.