slow progress

5.6.2011

BUILDING NEWS

Progress has slowed down again but last week the big arched windows for the front of the house were delivered and stacked in the shed until they will be needed. Edd has been treating them with special sealing stuff and I suppose we need to wrap them up as well. Sioux has been over to look at the parapet but Geoff says we need to fill it before it is rendered. Sioux brought over the latest edition of the owner builder magazine where her own house is featured so that we could see her work.

We do not want to hire the concrete pump more than once again so the bricklayers will need to complete the sidewalls and the chimneys before the filling is done. That means we need to order more blocks but we have not been told how many. I hope Geoff will be here tomorrow so we can sort all this out.

OTHER NEWS

This time next week we should be on the road to Queensland! Josh should be here helping Bo to look after the animals and I will be getting the first break for two years! I am really looking forward to that. Last week was very busy because as well as building we had 20 kids from the high school over for the day as part of their course work.

The idea was for them to see how our permaculture system works. Kids always love the animals but this group surprised me by enjoying the push mower. They quickly worked out that with two people on the handles they could get the blades really flying around and cut grass shooting out. They even kept mowing during their lunch hour!

They also like exploring the new house. It is still filled with scaffolding so in effect you get a giant climbing frame inside dark tunnels. Even I enjoy climbing around. We had to drag the kids out when it was time for them to leave on their bus! They were very well behaved for such a large group and although we felt fairly drained at the end we enjoyed their visit.

I have made the first cheddar cheese for the year from Donna’s milk. I find that cows milk behaves very differently to the goat’s milk during the cheese making stages, so I will have to learn how to cope with it. We have dried off a few more goats now and wormed all those that are not producing. I hope to worm all the small goats and the sheep before we go away.

Today Edd and I went to look over the hill to find out how much repair is needed to the fences before we can put the horses on the hill. I have started to hand feed the sheep but they need the paddock cleared of horses before they start to lamb. Donna will also need another large round hay bale in her paddock. She has nearly eaten all the last one. Her calf, Sharron, is really started to grow now but she is loosing some of the excess fat she was carrying. We take four to five litres of milk once a day from her and Sharron gets the rest.