cag's blog

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Cottage

Here is a photo of our new shelter. the ends are made from an old tent and velcro in as does the door. It's very cosy.

New Yurt

Here are some photos of a yurt frame kindly given to us by Andrew Matthews.

We are unsure as to its final position but after some repairs and experimantation it is up and sound.

Friday, April 30, 2010

Craftwork

As well as building new stuff and managing the woodland we have started greenwood working using foot powered lathes to turn objects such as chairlegs or rounders bats.

here is a photo of one of the kids using the permanent lathe at the wood. We are hoping to be able to do bowls on this one soon.

Here is my wife turning on the portable lathe. I use this one at home and on demos sometimes

We have also got into spoon carving and have gathered a selection of knives to produce spoons, ladles and salad servers etc.

My wife loves all these activities as no engines are needed!!

Update

I know it has been a while so here is an update.

At easter we satrted building a new cabin/lodge.

The frame and first skin are done. A layer of felt then a skin of larch lap to finish.

The ends and doors will be canvas and will only be in place when we are there hopefully to discourage unwelcome guests.

I will post more photos when it is complete.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

The scene of devastation where the Yurt and kitchen once stood has now been turned into an oasis of calm. With thanks to Cara, Miranda, Damian and my Father-in-law Rick for all their efforts. They have created 1 large and 1 small perfectley level and flat tent pitches and a lovely area for barbecues etc. Grass seed has been sewn and hopefully we will once again able to use this area.

Latest

Just a quick post to show a pic of one of our latest projects. Here is our new water treatment plant. It collects rainwater from woodshed roof, runs it through a filter for leaves and needles then stores it in Top IBC. The water is then pushed by gravity through a barrel of fine sand before entering a second IBC. This method according to experts removes over 99% of bacteria etc and is used to filter water for drinking in Africa. We are only going to use this water for washing and washing up and hosing fox poo off the dog. We have to lag the blue barrel in winter as the good bacteria in the top inch or so of sand will die if it freezes. Just our luck there hasn't been a drop of rain since it was installed.

Friday, March 20, 2009

The rebuild starts

The rebuild has started. A new shelter , and some new stools along with the table and washing up station salvaged from the mess left at the old site.

Here are some photos of a bench we made we are pleased with it as it was made without screws or nails. We fixed it with oak pegs.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Destruction

From this

To this.

I am not sure what these people are thinking when they cause this level of destruction for no apparent reason.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Workshop

Here we are building a worshop where we can still use the sawmill in the rain or axe or any woodworking activity. Thee roof will be used to collect rainwater which we will filter for washing up etc.

Oven

Here are some pictures of the oven we built whilst in the woods this summer. We used it to cook garlic bread but it cooled a little quickly when the fire was taken out so further trials and modifications will be carried out to perfect it.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Using the shave horse.

Here is a photo of Ady using the shave horse which I built to make the yurt, making tent pegs.

Breakfast for three.

Here is the meat for a lovely woodland breakfast for three!

Kodah the fearless

Here Are a couple of pictures of the biggest canine visitor to date. He is only nine months old and still a little mischevious.

Friday, April 04, 2008

View

Here is a picture of the view out over the North Yorks Moors. It it blocked by crops from June to September unfortunately.

Play room

Here are a couple of pictures of the new playroom. We built it because vandals ruined the caravan where the children used to play when the weather was bad.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

logging arch

here are a couple of photos of a logging arch I made. The arch can be connected to the tractor or the car. The log shown is nine feet long and travels suspended clear of the floor.

I hope to post pics of the new sawmill soon.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Tractor test drive

This is me test driving the tractor I got for twenty quid and a trailer bartered for with a friend of a friend. Cool eh?

This video is me getting used to the handling when loaded??

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Awning over washing up

After washing up in the rain for nearly a year the addition of this nifty roll out awning (camo tarp and some sticks). I can finally stay dry whilst washing up. There are also 2 more dry seating spaces, provided I am careful splashing suds about.