Well, we are on the home stretch. We got a lot accomplished this weekend and hope to be moving in over the next week. Here are some pictures from this weekend:
All the plastic goes up around the insulation (the insulation is from the house toby helped tear down last fall and the plastic is from that house and from the local insulation dumpster)
The walls upstairs go up. I know, it’s not that pretty, but it was free, and once we paint it the walls will be just lovely 🙂
Here’s Kaia, helping out with the walls downstairs. She provided constant entertainment! Yes, that is a mask she is wearing on her head!
Here are the walls downstairs. It is tongue and grove flooring that was water damaged by a hurricane flood. So, we are using it on the walls and plan to paint it. We got it for pretty cheap!
Here are the new outside stairs. We still don’t know what we are going to side the house with, but the tar paper will hold up for a while while we try to find something.
We also caulked all the joints, and put in the new ladder/stairs inside. This week we will paint and put in the windows and then we should be ready to move!! Yahoo!
Ice cream break!! We all loved the ice cream!! But Kaia spazed out for ~5 hours after this! I don’t know if it was the sugar, or the soy, or both, but wow did she completely lose it!
Toby checked on one of the hives this weekend. It is definitely a laying worker bee, and no queen. We are supposed to be getting another hive today, so we may try to combine the two.
Oh, and since we have no power at the little house, my posts may be pretty sporadic. But, please stay tuned, cause there will be lots of fun things to follow… cob oven, chickens, strawbale house…..
Looking good! And wow, Kaia’s looking a lot more like you these days! As for the chickens, I don’t know much about which ones are good with kids, but a friend of mine had Buff Orpingtons that would climb in her lap and cluck to be petted. I think the key will be to get them used to people. I suspect you’ll have to do some serious thinking about predation living up there — our nighttime duck house has hardware cloth screen on the windows and the attached 8′ run has hardware cloth walls/ceiling and has chickenwire attached to the bottom and buried underneath the ground so nothing can dig under to get at the birds — might be worth thinking about something like that for night time. I hope things work out fine with the bees!
I love your progress! And to be able to use recycled material is awesome!
Chickens have very small brains and are not trainable (at least all the breeds we’ve had- mostly layers or dual purpose)!! They will however get used to being around humans. If they are hungry, they will peck at your feet thinking its food! If they are thirsty they will crowd you thinking you have water. But a good swift kick cures everything! Roosters can be pretty aggressive, but if you’re aggressive back, they’ll back off!
I agree that you will have to protect them from predators and make sure they get into their coop at night.
Job well done on the cottage!
you guys are rockin’ on your house!
what are you doing for a bathroom?
i’m so excited that you’ll be moving in soon! that must feel great knowing that you’ll be there full time soon.
The bathroom?? What bathroom??? 🙂
Right now, it is a bucket… we are going to compost our “humanure”. But, I already have plans with the money I get from selling the business. I am going to go to the local quarry and get a nice piece of marble. Then I will have a whole cut in the top.. that is where the toilet seat will go. Then we will build a box under the marble for the bucket to go. I figure, if I have to shit in a bucket, I am going to do it in style 🙂
Hey Maria,
I think you should look into some nice vinyl siding to cover your house. Never paint again! Also, for a toilet, might I recommend a Clivus Multrum composting toilet instead of a slab of marble? I took a dump in one this week (I’m totally not kidding. I have pictures… of the toilet! I’ll show you when we return). You go up some stairs (or in your case you could just position it below the house) do your business, throw in some leaves, and in a bit you have the best compost around. http://www.clivusmultrum.com (or google for “clivus multrum”). I have no idea how much they cost. Maybe you and Toby could build one with wood and plastic sheeting for cheaper.
Wow, what progress you have made. I am so excited for you. What a wonderful experience, I will definately be checking back for updates. You Rock, Mama
I Love Kaias ice cream “beard” sweet little goddess!
Blessed Be, Lj
Haha Mark! No we are not getting vinyl siding!
I’ve looked into the ‘composting toilets’. They actually use a lot of energy because they use a fan to basically dehydrate the poop. So, if we just use a bucket and then dump it into the compost pile, then it heats up and kills any pathogens through thermophilic composition. Plus, no power required. I know, it all sounds gross… but I am learning not to be a ‘fecaphobe’ since it seems like the best thing for the environment 🙂