We've accepted an offer on the house! I'm not going to bore you with the details of it - but basically for us this is the start of the new way of life. Escaping this suburban box is the first step of many in breaking free from where we are at the moment. We'll just go and rent somewhere for 6 months for now to give us some breathing (and saving) space - while we work out how to get our 5 acres!!
We're also doing some business planning on the wood work stuff that Anthony is churning out at a great rate! If nothing else we need to start selling stuff just to clear some space! If anyone is interested in any of it just pop a note on here of the sort of thing you want and I can start putting more pictures up. Chopping boards, clocks, candle and tea light holders, boxes, trugs etc etc are all currently in stock and available!
Sonia
Friday, 31 July 2009
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Worms!
The worms have arrived! We followed all the instructions and put them into their new home last night. They seem to be settling in nicely already - when I checked this morning they were tucking into their food already.
This is their new house - The Wormery.
The worms are in the left hand compartment here - for those unfamiliar with worms and wormeries - the idea is that you fill up one compartment first, then start on the next. By the time you've filled the third one the first should be nice useable compost! There are holes between each section so the worms can move through them to find the food, and holes in the bottom to let the air in (which is why the newspaper on the bottom - we don't want the worms falling out!). Sonia
Thursday, 2 July 2009
This stand for the cleaver goes really well with the butchers block. 
We picked up the cleaver at Royal Cornwall Show last month - it's a really old Sheffield Steel one, with hand turned wooden handle. It was pretty rough in condition when we bought it but it's cleaned up beautifully and has a lovely weight and feel to it. Anthony made the stand from an old pallet.
This is my bread bin. It's a great size and really sturdy. My home-made bread stays fresh for ages in this.
And this is my trug. There are more of these already made but this is my one - I refuse to let this one go! It's already been used to carry bread rolls to a BBQ on the beach, and to take a picnic onto the moors. I love it. Again it's all made out of recycled bits of scrap wood and like the others treated with olive oil (but I'll let Anthony tell you more about the process side of this!).
We picked up the cleaver at Royal Cornwall Show last month - it's a really old Sheffield Steel one, with hand turned wooden handle. It was pretty rough in condition when we bought it but it's cleaned up beautifully and has a lovely weight and feel to it. Anthony made the stand from an old pallet.
This is my bread bin. It's a great size and really sturdy. My home-made bread stays fresh for ages in this. 
And this is my trug. There are more of these already made but this is my one - I refuse to let this one go! It's already been used to carry bread rolls to a BBQ on the beach, and to take a picnic onto the moors. I love it. Again it's all made out of recycled bits of scrap wood and like the others treated with olive oil (but I'll let Anthony tell you more about the process side of this!).
When it's got worms in, I'll show you my birthday wormery as well. :-)
Sonia
A few new bits
I thought I'd share the amazing butchers block I was made not that long ago. It's the perfect height for working on, and is really solid. I love it. I can't wait til I've got a whole kitchen made up of useful solid things like this. (Excuse the cat's bed underneath it! He loves hiding under there!)
More pics of stuff Anthony's made will follow soon - once I get round to connecting the camera to the PC!
Sonia
Monday, 22 June 2009
A word (or several!) of explanation
I want to add a little something about what we're doing and why. I know it doesn't sound realistic - but why not? We know that stresses still happen in life no matter how hard you try, but when it's for your own benefit it's not about someone external imposing that stress on you. That's the difference. And yes the regular 'job' income needs to stay for now - we know that - but the grand plan is to get away from that completely. This isn't going to be an overnight project. This is a lifestyle shift. This is about saying 'we don't want to be part of that system any more'. And it can be done. It'll involve a lot of hard work and energy. And at the start it'll involve that hard work at the same time as holding down a full time job. We're not under any illusions that this will be an easy thing to do. But it's something we are determined to make happen.
However there are lots of ways round the system if you think creatively. Things don't need to be bought - they can be made. Wind turbines etc can easily be made from scrap stuff if you know what you're doing. That's kind of the point. If you take the time to do it all for yourself, then actually you don't NEED to spend money on things. We know we need cash to start off - but once we've done that initial capital expenditure then actually running costs become self-sustaining.
The whole picture is more complex than we've posted here. We know that, and that's deliberate. This blog isn't to set out our life plan - it's to try and diarise some of the steps we take and show people it can be done. We're not eco-warriors. We're more 'trying to get back to what life should be about' - living off and with the land. Nothing more or less. Doing things for ourselves. Not being part of the system that says we need the latest gadget or label. Good honest hard bloody work for our own benefit rather than someone else's.
Watch this space. We WILL get there.
Sonia
However there are lots of ways round the system if you think creatively. Things don't need to be bought - they can be made. Wind turbines etc can easily be made from scrap stuff if you know what you're doing. That's kind of the point. If you take the time to do it all for yourself, then actually you don't NEED to spend money on things. We know we need cash to start off - but once we've done that initial capital expenditure then actually running costs become self-sustaining.
The whole picture is more complex than we've posted here. We know that, and that's deliberate. This blog isn't to set out our life plan - it's to try and diarise some of the steps we take and show people it can be done. We're not eco-warriors. We're more 'trying to get back to what life should be about' - living off and with the land. Nothing more or less. Doing things for ourselves. Not being part of the system that says we need the latest gadget or label. Good honest hard bloody work for our own benefit rather than someone else's.
Watch this space. We WILL get there.
Sonia
Thursday, 18 June 2009
An Honest Days Work For An Honest Wage, What Is The Value Of Money!?
Hi,
I write this as I am a little P*ssed off so please bear with my ramblings, there is a point to this!
I recieved news today that my job will now basically be less enjoyable and for the pleasure of this I will also have to take a paycut. I realise there is a credit crunch happening but I work as a contractor to the Royal Navy doing an important job that culminates in saving peoples lives, both servive and civillian. The forces are not run as a business (yet) so they are fairly uneffected by the credit crunch, so why am I being forced to take a paycut you may ask??? The reason is this.....I work for a civillian contractor and they are always looking for ways to save money to keep the fat cats and the share holders happy and wealthy, at the workers (my) expence. I know for a fact that the company I work for gets paid £50 an hour to employ me and what do I get....£10 before tax. I think they have lost their way as far as fairness is concerned, but that seems to be a sign of the times. The richer get richer and the poorer get poorer. What happened to treating workers fairly? Surely a good workforce is a happy workforce!? I dont want to sound like a communist (but some of their values are making sence to me now) but this state has turned into a comsumer driven rip off and we are the ones that are paying for it. All I want is a fair wage for an honest days work, I am not interested in being exploited. After all what is the management/shareholders/fat cats/hangers on worth if the basic job at the bottom line is not done?? We are carrying too many people and the structure of modern business is too top heavy. We are told what is happening and if you fight back then you are labeled as a trouble maker and your card is marked by your employers. I am not a trouble maker, I am just an average person with a sence of what is fair and what is not. Simple. The more time that I spend lining other peoples pockets makes me realise that I am being taken as a mug and it is time to escape from it, if others are happy being treated like this then they are welcome to it. Time to move on and do something where I get a sence of satisfaction and a fair wage at the end of the day. Im not out to make a fast buck and that seems to put me in the minority so if you are reading this and do not see my point of view then thats fine, im happy to be a rebel and to persue my dreams safe in the knowlege that what I do is for ME, not to benefit some shareholder sitting on a beach somewhere at my expence!
Rant over.................!
Anthony.
I write this as I am a little P*ssed off so please bear with my ramblings, there is a point to this!
I recieved news today that my job will now basically be less enjoyable and for the pleasure of this I will also have to take a paycut. I realise there is a credit crunch happening but I work as a contractor to the Royal Navy doing an important job that culminates in saving peoples lives, both servive and civillian. The forces are not run as a business (yet) so they are fairly uneffected by the credit crunch, so why am I being forced to take a paycut you may ask??? The reason is this.....I work for a civillian contractor and they are always looking for ways to save money to keep the fat cats and the share holders happy and wealthy, at the workers (my) expence. I know for a fact that the company I work for gets paid £50 an hour to employ me and what do I get....£10 before tax. I think they have lost their way as far as fairness is concerned, but that seems to be a sign of the times. The richer get richer and the poorer get poorer. What happened to treating workers fairly? Surely a good workforce is a happy workforce!? I dont want to sound like a communist (but some of their values are making sence to me now) but this state has turned into a comsumer driven rip off and we are the ones that are paying for it. All I want is a fair wage for an honest days work, I am not interested in being exploited. After all what is the management/shareholders/fat cats/hangers on worth if the basic job at the bottom line is not done?? We are carrying too many people and the structure of modern business is too top heavy. We are told what is happening and if you fight back then you are labeled as a trouble maker and your card is marked by your employers. I am not a trouble maker, I am just an average person with a sence of what is fair and what is not. Simple. The more time that I spend lining other peoples pockets makes me realise that I am being taken as a mug and it is time to escape from it, if others are happy being treated like this then they are welcome to it. Time to move on and do something where I get a sence of satisfaction and a fair wage at the end of the day. Im not out to make a fast buck and that seems to put me in the minority so if you are reading this and do not see my point of view then thats fine, im happy to be a rebel and to persue my dreams safe in the knowlege that what I do is for ME, not to benefit some shareholder sitting on a beach somewhere at my expence!
Rant over.................!
Anthony.
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Sunday 14th June - More projects and randomness!
I write this as Im sat next to a nice warm fire in the Chiminea, enjoying a well earned glass of wine. Next door but one are having a BBQ on their big, shiney, americanesque GAS "BBQ". I sit here enjoying the warmnth and beauty of a real fire wondering why people bother having a gas bbq!? Surely its just an outside grill?? Why not just run an extension lead out and use the george foremen!!
Anyway enough of that. Had another productive day, a trip to B&Q yesterday inspired me to make a storage box (not sure what to use it for yet though!) I will make a few of these so that they will stack on top of each other and help solve the usual problem of storage. These will be made out of "scrap" wood and will be alot cheaper and alot more attractive than the overpriced B&Q version. The total cost for making the one I have already made was 28 nails and a cup full of olive oil (for preserving the wood) and the cost of approx 10 minutes of electricity.
Anyway enough of that. Had another productive day, a trip to B&Q yesterday inspired me to make a storage box (not sure what to use it for yet though!) I will make a few of these so that they will stack on top of each other and help solve the usual problem of storage. These will be made out of "scrap" wood and will be alot cheaper and alot more attractive than the overpriced B&Q version. The total cost for making the one I have already made was 28 nails and a cup full of olive oil (for preserving the wood) and the cost of approx 10 minutes of electricity.
Yesterday saw the design and completion of another little project I have been meaning to do for a while, a waste paper fuel block maker/fruit press. I was inspired to start making paper fuel blocks after almost running out of wood scraps to burn on the Chinimea, I was burning old reciepts and waste paper and remembered that my grandad used to make these little paper mache blocks to burn on his truburn. The idea is simple, simply soak waste paper and cardboard in water untill its mushy then with the aid of a press squash them into blocks and allow to dry. A good idea of how to use waste paper and provide heat for free! I am also going to experiment with putting waste sawdust into them and see how this works. Just another example of turning "waste" into something you can use!
The press will also double up as a fruit press for wine making! I will post updates on how the wine is coming along and some recipies soon. (Forgot to mension earlier on in my intro that Alcohol is number 5 on the most important things!)Anthony.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)