Animals
The chickens are doing well. Still laying a bunch. Since they got use to laying in their boxes, they still go back their to lay even though they are completely free range now. No problems with predators, but we’ll see how that goes once the cold weather comes along and food gets more scarce.
Our two new hives are doing well. They seem strong. We’ve started feeding them their winter sugar syrup. They had a huge field of ragweed and goldenrod to gather pollen from, so they should have enough protein to last them through the winter.
House
Things are moving along well at the house. We are working on getting the stairs in (with the funky angles in our house, this is a bit of a chore). They are made of Oak and Ash and I can’t wait to try them out. I know Suki (the dog) will be happy that she can finally explore the upstairs too. The plumbers are coming out tomorrow, and we hope to do the electrical at the end of the month!
I’ve been having fun scrolling through Ebay finding lights, sinks, faucets, etc. Here is the sink I got for the master bath. It’s a glass vessel sink, so it sits above the counter. Cooooool, Eh???
This is the sink for downstairs… it’s a hand painted mexican Talavera drop in sink!
I’m also making some hand made paper sconces for a few of the rooms. I bought a pretty cheap glass sconce, traced it to make a pattern and added a few inches to each side to have room to fold the edges over. Then I used a spray adhesive and attached the paper, leaving the top rough and unfolded. Then, I used some dried curly willow branches and glued them (with a craft glue) onto the paper.
Here’s the final product… Cool eh? I thought these would look nice in our bedroom, and maybe in the from hall as you walk into the house.
oooh! those are beautiful! i love the sinks.
what type of paper did you use for the sconces? they are lovely. they will add a nice touch to the areas you put them in!
less than 2 weeks until the conference!
I know! I just realized that last night! I can’t wait!!
Oh, the paper I got at a local art store. The dark brown is hand made with clover. The flowered one is with cornflowers and the other one I think is bamboo. This store has a selection of 40 or 50 types of handmade paper, so I picked the ones that I thought would look the best and show light nicely through it….
I love your Mexican sink, and the sconces are gorgeous!
Wow, those are such pretty sinks. Are you having custom built tops or are they going on stands? Very pretty.
I really like the sconce idea. I may look up some local art stores to see what they have for some of our future projects.
Great job!
We are ‘custom building’ all the counter tops and cabinets in the house. Ack!
Those sinks are fabulous and I love the sconces that you’ve made. They’ll be gorgeous!
oh, I love the scones! I want to make some. 🙂
Awesome sinks! Did you salvage those, too?
Have your chickens molted? Ours are doing … something. A few have noticeable bare patches and their egg production has been down for a few weeks. I don’t see any signs of aggression with them, so I assume those feathers came out on their own. I realized that with seven different breeds they might not all molt at once.
The sinks I found on ebay! They were both $150 total!
I don’t know if the chickens are molting or not. They slowed production a little in the past few months, but we still get between 2 and 5 eggs a day. No bare patches or anything. Ours were later to begin laying than yours, so maybe they will molt a little later…
I have a question: You said the house was going to be cob, but I see wood panelling as the interior wall. Does that mean that the cob is outside? Could one not use the wood panelling for the interior and have the cob exposed?
Christine
No, not cob… Cordwood. It’s actually just the south facing half that will be cord wood… And that will be on the inside and outside. The wood paneling shown in the picture above is actually part of the interior stairwell, so it’s not attached to an outside wall… it’s in the middle of the house
I happened upon your blog by accident while doing a search on sustainable living. Your journey is inspiring and envious! I have been enjoying reading through your posts and look forward to more! Your site has become a reference point for ideas and research. Thank you for sharing your journey with the web world!