Roundhouse Rafters Go On

Roundhouse Progress

A 'slab layer' foundation pad

Flagstone Foundation Pads

Stripping bark from the logs

Matilda stripping bark from the logs

Katy cutting logs with reciprocating saw

Using Plasticine to work our the best kind of joints to use

An experimental joint that didn't really work - wood is not as squishy as plasticine!

The first uprights go up - a very exciting moment!

Working on the joints

A completed joint

The henge three quarters complete

The completed henge

We Are Here

Really sorry of the delay in communication.  It took us a while to get set up and to have internet access.  But, we’re now back on line.  I’m sitting in an enormous barn in the dark.  It’s a little bit chilly with only the scuttling sounds of small rodents to keep me company.  It’s really quite weird but also kind of great.  Here are a few photos of progress so far:

The kids' final day in Liverpool. This is Matilda and Sonny surrounded by boxes eating their lunch on one of the few remaining spaces left

A Chicken - what else can you say?

The Moon and Trees

Techno-wizard Leander sorting out the solar panel electrics

Washing on the line

Moving

Caravan Compost Toilet

A spring camelia to accompany the toilet photo - a bit like putting a bunch of flowers in your bathroom!

After much debate about the nature of the toilet we will use when we first go down to Pembrokeshire, we decided on this simple design based on the charmingly titled “loveable loo“. It’s for indoor use and is a basic bucket system. The contents of the bucket, when full, will be put on a compost heap in a careful and methodical way as shown in this YouTube video here. We are going to do our wees in a seperate toilet – maybe the original caravan toilet with adaptations but as I can’t even remember what the caravan toilet is like this can be a design job for the near future. It will be something along the lines of attaching a length of tubing from the toilet to our recycled industrial mango chutney container with fitted tap. (“Don’t mix up the home brew bucket with the chutney container”, advised the man from the container shop)

Farewell Munchman Flapjacks

Munchman Flapjacks - the pride of Birkenhead

Every morning for breakfast for the past 8 ½ years I have eaten a Munchman Flapjack. For the three years I worked at World Museum Liverpool I bought one everyday from the Spar and when I got the job at Manchester Museum 5 ½ years ago I was very delighted to find that in the Spar by Oxford Road station you could buy them too (but not in the Spar by the University) I have to say they are very fine flapjacks and, for me at least, unmatched in their excellence. I have tried many other brands of flapjack but none does it like a Munchman does it. My favourite flavours have been Chocolate Flavour covering, White Chocolate Flavour covering, Raspberry Jam and for a long while, but latterly I went off them a bit, Fruit and Nut.

However, it slowly began to dawn on me that I couldn’t go on like this. How many more years was I going to carry on eating Munchman flapjacks? Five? Ten? Fifteen? even Twenty? Had the whole Munchman thing got out of hand? As my father used to say, “moderation in all things”. My immoderate consumption of flapjacks was starting to bother me intensely. I realised that I would have to break this cycle. So, if for no other reason, it became clear to me that I had to leave my job.

Of course giving up your job and moving on to something else is a complicated thing and there are many reasons for doing so. In my case the desire to live in the eco-village and the desire to live the sort of life we hope we will be able to lead is the strongest motivating force. However, embarking on this project has been, and continues to be, an emotional roller coaster. We have been plagued with doubts and concerns about whether or not we’re doing the right thing for the family. However, the thing we have clung onto is the vision that ultimately the eco-village will be as fabulous as we hope it will be.

So, that’s it no more Munchman flapjacks for me. I shall have to grow my own oats and plant a chocolate flavoured topping tree.

Leander

p.s. I have another Munchman tale to tell but I’ll save that for a later date.

Our House

Our House

This is our house now in Liverpool and below is the house we are intending to build. Both houses are units in a terrace.

This is the section of the terrace that is ours:

Our New House (not yet built)

We will be building the new house ourselves but in the meantime will be living in a static caravan. We’re just looking at all the stuff in our house at the moment and wondering where it’s all going to go.