DIY Wedding – blog notes kickoff June 15, 2009

So I haven’t started noting anything about our wedding plans.  Sept DIY garden wedding (UK legal bit first in the registry office but down-played).

So we have a host of exciting plans and bits of work/projects to do towards the event.  I won’t blog all of them because we want some of them to be a surpise to guests and some might read this…

• Build a compost toilet.  I have a site for a poo pit and a urinal pit and have started the main frame for the former.  Poo pit will basic with an approach based on sprinkling cedar wood shavings.  I’m worried about the loo-roll as an overhead.  And needing to secure it to stop items being dragged out by rodents…..?  Urinal will be based on wee-ing on a straw bale which can then nicely rot down.
• Move the chickens/pen.  A new fenced area will be around the most recent shed.  We were going to use this for chicks but til the wedding I think we like it as a store/workspace.  The fencing will be higher to stop way-ward chickens (currently they jump onto the fence then jump down). 
• Build a fire-pit and firecircle seating.  To maximise capacity around it
• Decide on marquee/shelter plans including any construction
• Plan/arrange electricity run-out and music/lighting provision
• Plan/consider heating options (chiminea offered, could hire, other?)
• Obtain other freecycle things as needed – see below.

 

Freecycle needed/wanted:

• Bins: for rubbish/recycling/drinks bins : Have 3ish so far
• Sink: to provide a washing up process outdoors
• Trestle tables: well, can ask – you never know what you might obtain
• Garden furniture: any benches, chairs etc
• Carpet: to create dancefloor-suitable-surface over hardstanding: have some offered to pickup
• Chimena/other heating options
• Garden flares/candles/other lighting

New project September 2, 2008

I need/want to rescue our ‘car port’ type building that is dying a little.  The landlords highlighted that they don’t support this ’structure’ which was put up by a previous tenant and which we use at our own risk. 

It’s quite large car port-type thing with four bays, two on the left for us.  The left-most is dying badly as it was when we moved in, but now the main beam and strutts for the back wall have lost their footing and the wall / roof is falling away.

 

So enter the new project/plan to try to rescue.  I’ll be calling on my Welsh architect friend who has helped my build a cooker for littleun, a hen house for little chooks, and tonnes of other jobs around the place.

Presume we’ll remove the majority of the back panel/wall, dig into the slope a bit and lay some concrete or something to otherwise secure a base for the back panels and re-fix some horizontal beams????  Should be a laugh and will aim to document the work.

It’s a free(cycle) world….. June 2, 2008

Wow, freecycle is pretty good – or at least the mentality behind it.  See the widget down to the right of the page for what we’ve had free.  I can’t believe people actually pay for stuff.  Especially things like sheds and greenhouses.  Ok, effort involved if you’re an old lady or something or if you’re really poncey and need a brand new swanky thing….. but come on….

So this now procured:

 (shown in it’s previous owners garden)

….. with a bit of effort to re-construct it with a bit of patching up to do but not too much.. mostly due to:

 

….. the immense amount of fun it is dismantling this kind of thing.  For a start it’s honest hard work, but so satisfactory as it’s quite quick to achieve something (as opposed to building something over weeks/months/years – like my friends doing their flat/homes that is taken them ages and ages so the benefit so long awaited and painful during the wait).  I ripped down the chicken coop last year, and this was similar.  So a few injured pieces of timber and a snapped hammer (!) but a few scrapped knuckles but lots of fun.

 

 

I commented at home too, that this whole new life since we moved here is finally making start to feel 1) useful beyond my IT techie career and 2) quite blokeish (as never previously been in a fight or had a ‘proper’ job!

I highly recommend both free stuff and trashing things.

BTW – shed is intended to be a chicken house at the bottom of the garden – target date 15 September 2008.

Part-way through weekend update…. April 26, 2008

Random wanting to post with some updates-:

- Finished raised beds with ends and top soil procured previously from freecycle.

- Admired many shoots now appearing in the potato area

- Transplanted many things including peas, brassicas, nastersiums etc

- Put up some more fencing to sort out the chickens who keep escaping next door!

- Syphoned waterbutt off to stash some rainwater for the coming anticipated dry spell

- Completed a nigeybodge/cunning solution for collecting rainwater off the greenhouse.  [another post with pics to follow shortly]

- Completed a nigeybodge to replace some glass in a shed thing here.

Busy busy busy……

interesting pea in transition to the outside world:>

 

And a funny find whilst emptying the waterbutt->

 Toddler admitted to putting a flowerpot, a small gardening kids’ rake, and an egg-box in there a few months ago!!

Hurrah some Spring progress!! April 1, 2008

Wot a busy weekend.  Hurrah with thanks to R and T from up north (tooting) we now have:

  – A pop hole in the chicken house front

  - A Greenhouse re-population of glass and some plastic sheeting

  - A reconstructed Shed

  

An excellent theme of the greenhouse relocation has been bleeding and all three of the main workforce have contributed blood to the frame, glass and floor area around it.  At least it’s good for the plants.

A second excellent theme has been the domain of nigeybodging.  Visiting londoners were treated to the unique shortcuts of nigeybodges, and actually joined in themselves.  This included bad bolt arrangements on the greenhouse, a general wonkyness to the greenhouse as shown by the illfitting door,  two broken drill-bits (now replaced Barbara!! :> ) when trying to get some old screws out by drilling around them, a broken jigsaw bit from trying to force the  cutting of the rottenish side of the shed floor.  R tried to join the club in a hurried fence construction from chickenwire and posts.  The classic moments were trying to bang a nail in with a Rubber Mallet, and in trying to saw a post vertically and then leaning on the grass.  bless….. thanks again though to R and T !!! good workers.

Productive weekend at last March 26, 2008

Wow – hurrah! A productive weekend at last, we did:

- Planted the earlies (potatoes) plus some main crop cos we just had about 9 holes left and thought what the hell….

- Relocated the greenhouse to the front garden/hardstanding area that should get total sunlight rather than the almost total shade last year!!

- Erected a fence to shield sprogs from the greenhouse when the glass is re-inserted

- Finished the wire mesh bits of the chicken house (pop hole left and nest boxes to build…. plus obtaining the chucks)

- Planted some stuff inc Chillies, peppers, spanish pimientos de padron

- Heard from regional battery hen welfare people that they can’t meet demand, and would be summer before we could get any from them!!!

- Put up hanging basket bracket (Note – did two hanging baskets the other day too and forgot to blog that!!)

- Laid some paving slabs to avoid wet socks when taking out rubbish & the recycling

 - Ate loadsa choc, cuddled new baby girl lots, went for long country walk together, met up wi lotsa friends from home town

Mention to her indoors for also planting lots and lots and lots of seeds – whilst wearing new baby girl in a sling…..

Mention to Rhys also who wanted credit for the chicken house (he has meaty power tools, less bodgeness and more rhysyperfection style and also recently bought me a sexy briefcase of screws (pic will be inserted soon).

Good news…. (but was bit knackering…) February 3, 2008

I have a shed!!! (in pieces).  For now, unless the wind gets up much more here tonight.  Holding out for the freecycle karma worked out and a local couple co-incidentally also involved with the NCT that we are stuck into.  They wanted to get rid of one that was in the house they had moved into, and it’s a nice little begger that should be perfick for some chickens hopefully.

 

 It did the traditional freecycle journey of death back on the car roof (a la greenhouse frame, lotsa wood, wheelbarrow, chicken house!!!) but made it.  Bloody heavy.  Four main panels, a floor section plus two roof sections.  Plus 12 paving slabs also blagged from aforementioned couple and brought home too that should form the base.  It should go somewhere at the bottom section of grass (pic from when we moved in coming when I find it!).  I need to take up the rough grass, level and put down some sand or something then re-construct with a few fixey-pieces.  Also need to treat the wood somehow as Chicks get offended by roof-felt apparently (or creosote?)

ok, maybe overdoing it on the ‘progress update’ front…… January 28, 2008

Wot a productive weekend.  A varied mix of kid-time, gardening and woodwork/bodgeness but this weekend I did:

- Collected a ’shed load’ (ah har!!) of wood from a freecycler

- Took out around 60 nails from the main timber elements of the above

- Transported wood to the allotment area

- Constructed the best part of 3 raised-beds (see below)

- Fixed a gap in the front gate

- Took down the old side gate and cut/fixed a replacement one including with a hook to secure it from baby-wandering

- Took back old wheelbarrow and blagged a replacement (due to poor wilko-quality inner tube) 

- Went and collected 3 barrow loads of horse manure which translated to 4.5 barrow loads at home down to the allotment to be spreaded

- Finished shifting the topsoil created from turf into the raised beds

- Extended the allotment further by digging over another section for potatoes

- Moved the chicken house (with help) to a more friendly location

- Took the baby for a walk (and also a ride in the wheelbarrow)

- Baked a granny loaf cake

- Watched Babel on DVD and some cracking episodes of The Good Life (piglets being born)

- Felt quite knackered and ache-y (today)

 - Got the offer of a shed from a freecycle ‘wanted’ post!!

Blimey!

sunshine and nigey-diggin January 12, 2008

Right, that’ s it. Christmas finished, weather sunny and dry…… all hands on deck to the garden to prep for 2008 season!!!! we’re quite excited now by the prospect of year 2 with a bigger plot, some experience under our belts and grand plans!! Especially fired up by Jamie Oliver program on chickens n eggs, and by progress now made in the allotment area(s) – yes – plural!!!

 So today consisted of fence building – then being able to expand the previous year’s plots again – now they should be protected from encroaching nettles, brambles, grass etc from a true nigey-bodge fence!!! Think her indoors may not actually like the fencing cos it’s quite bitty and thrown together messily!! ah well.  she came out to see but I have covered them with the weed protector!!!  Reading over my shoulder she says that it’s fine!!

Then I made progress to explore allotment area no 2 (see some of the first blog posts from last April)  – clearing the top grass, digging a little, clearing some bark and stuff as a top layer…..  bad news is that it only has an average of 2 inches of top soil – some it has zero – straight to clay/sand stone! and that the peat/soil feels pretty poor.  The good news is that it means I get to explore more woodcraftynigebodgeness with making some raised beds!!

So a great day – felt very productive.  eldest dd came out to help – littlest (at mo) dd was also out for a while this morning.  Loved the work although a rapid bit of digging up the previously-un-dug-section made me feel quite sick and heart-attacky.  :>  Decided to take it easy as a treat afterwards with a beer, in the hammock, with the moon shining and owls hooting.  nice.  :>

  

Her indoors has got out some gr8 books on self-sufficiency (from the library….!  :>)  to compliment our progress through series 1 and 2 of the good life and into series 3.  Nice input and perspectives – including the plans for a suggested 1-acre small holding which has totally taken both of our attention and become something of a not-too-distant grand vague plan.  I enjoyed a few elements of self sufficiency today with my toils – including checking the topsoil created from the extracted turf last May - lovely brown stuff and v pleased with the result.  Just need to build the beds to use it in!! Got offer of horsemanure from the farm next door and of mushroom compost from mateymikey from back home in the coming weeks!! onwards.

Nigeybuildingness – hardly any bodge at all January 8, 2008

Now-middle daughter got a Teifoc kit for her Birthday back in September.  It’s taken til now, but we managed to focus at the weekend and construct our first test piece:

 

Teifoc is some germanic or scandavian concept that is a mini-brick and cement building kit.   There are some plans for big mansions, with different roof materials, garage doors/windows etc etc.  Then when you’ve finished you can submerge the whole building in water and the cement will dissolve so that you can re-use the bricks!  We haven’t done that yet…. holding on to our first construction effort for at least a few days first…..

By the way, the first effort above is a replica of the outbuilding we have here at home.. :>