Should’ve built a bloody ark
Rarely in many years of working outside have I ended up as wet as I did today. It was raining when I woke at 6, and tonight its still going. Still, what better weather for working with electricity. Outdoors. Since we did the roof of the build, all the existing...
Empty nest syndrome
We’ve finally come to the end of our volunteer season until the new year, and its been a real pleasure to welcome Polly, Paul and their son Theo, who are on an amazing journey, and leaving us to head to Lammas in Wales, en route to a journey around the far east....
What a view
Sometimes I walk outside and am in awe of the sights that greet me. Some of the most beautiful times are first thing in the morning as the sun is coming up and the mist is clearing. I honestly couldn’t live anywhere else. Even without their...
May the sun shine
Today we were most fortunate to be able to go and pick up a not inconsiderable quantity of used solar pv panels – 0ver 3kW worth, together with a load of mounting rails. Although the panels are a few years old, they’re good ones, and should barely...
Preparation
Suddenly November is upon us, and with Samhain we draw breath in readiness for the coming winter. Already we’ve been battered by October winds, so our preparations are well under way, but the shortening days are a constant reminder that we need to be...
‘Proper’ plastering
We were visited by Lauren and Phil this week, who were very modest about their earth plastering knowledge but turned out to have considerably more experience than we do. They rustled up some plaster test patches on a couple of spare bales, and we (well Phil)...
Earth plaster update
Stage one of our earth plastering is now complete,and all the bales have a coat of clay slip. Some of the holes have been filled with clay slip mixed with a generous amount of finely chopped straw, and it is looking a little less undulating around the edges...
A magnificent gift
This marvellous looking thing is a fruit press, and was kindly given to us by Sally, as she is hoping to return to her native USA after many years in Northern Ireland. Now we can make good use of our apples, and hopefully next year our grapes too. Its even got...Strawbale rendering part 1..
Yesterday we began the process of rendering the strawbale walls by applying a coat of clay slip (just a runny clay and water mix) to the surface of the bales. Messy work, as transferring it from bucket to wall involves about half ending up on the floor, but it will...
Straw at last
Now that the floor is fixed down, we’ve been able to get on and get the strawbales in. First, wooden spikes made of willow are driven into holes in the floor – Then the first layer of bales is placed onto the spikes which prevent them from moving...