artistic licence

Looks like a peruvian corrugated tin toilet block but you get the gist....

Nice to see it in 3D

Self Build - Lego style

Thought we would try a lego model of the self build shelter - hmmmm

Plotting and Planning

So - are we decided about exactly WHERE then?

Starting to dig the foundations of the straw bale shelter - It feels so good! It's really happening!

Straw Bale Build Planning Day

Tues 26th Jan

How fantastic! We have had a real Boot-Up! Day today.

We had Ryan join the team.

And Jo has come along to supervise the straw bale build. Rory is here too. He is helping out with gathering materials and harvesting wood as well as everything else!

Is it spring?

Minus -5 deg, ice in the bucket and frost on the ground. But the fruit trees are budding. A sure sense of hope. How wonderful nature is.

Seedlings

The herb seeds planted before Christmas have sprouted and need pricking out already. Parlsey, Thyme and Rosemary. Basil was the least successful. They must be tough to have survived the freezing temperatures over the last few weeks. It was minus -10 degrees down in the valley one night last week. Unheard of in Cornwall!

Plans!

January 22nd

The plans for the straw bale shelter arrived today

This is so exciting

Weird weather

It seems bizare to think that only a week ago there was snow, and now we have emerging bulbs in the garden! I guess thats what you expect from a Cornish season, weird weather!!

Today I planned out some of the photographs I plan to make some information and education boards with, will keep you posted on design and images. Think it will be great to get them up and ready before for the completion of the self build. Will also be composing a time lapse sequence of the build so we can all laugh and enjoy the build again once its over!!

Freebie

Found this bag of bulbs dumped next to the dustbins at home. Will plant them and see what they come up as!

Bright Idea!

Looked in the bucket of bulbs gifted to us from the garden centre and noticed some were sprouting! Though I had better plant them up. 3 pots and 1 growbag later - Hey Presto! Look forward to the sunny delight.

Job well done

Sat 16th Jan. Spent the morning carrying 50 fence posts and 10 rails up the hill to the garden. Was worried about the wood being left in the car park, vulnerable to opportunists. Hard work. Good exercise.

Thinking about things

Thinking about our small but growing community at the garden. The value of the current team members is priceless, the love and interest they show is so welcome and so heartening. The garden feels a safe and happy place.

The ideas and discussion are always interesting and the polyHQ-discussions always useful. We laugh, we smile, we drink tea and eat. We dig and ache. We play 'camps' in our field-kitchen and feel very very lucky.

This opportunity can only be made good by time and effort and friendship. We look forward to welcoming the young people to the garden but we also value the space and time for ourselves. A place to go and sit and be, a place to grow.

Always lots to do but also time to contemplate how lucky we are.

Words

Words for this week....

Noggin, plans, sketches, pegging out, happy, cold, excited, freezing, bright, squelchy, cake, share, flowerpots, allotment, glass, tea, plastic, mist, tin, posts, robin, dig, soup, bonfire, boots, tape, snow, thermometer, straw, pegs, biscuits, crunchy, forks, water, ice, trees, autumn, berries, dig, artichoke, volunteer, joy.......

apart from tea and biscuits these are words I never use in the office! What a different world it is.

Misty Days

Snowy days

stake out!

Staking out the areas for the yurt and the straw bale building - fantastic to be visualising and walking the space

Suddenly it all seems real - how amazing!

Drawings

In time honoured Boot Up! tradition - time for tea and biccies!

Matt explaining his initial ideas

Matt shows us some images of a straw bale house he has designed

built locally - we are going to go and see it!

already the drawings are taking shape, the sketches

bring the project to life - yippee

Exciting Times

An important visitor, Matt, who is going

to design our Eco-Tect project straw bale building.

He arrived in sub zero temperatures to walk the space

and get some ideas

Matt showing the project team his portfolio

Such amazing work

Being Daff -t

January 14th. Despite the air temperature being -1 and heavy frost on the ground following heavy snowfall last week, it looks as though nature is winning through - soon be spring

Community forming...

Great day. Cold but lots of tea, talk, planning, designing, marking out, inviting and digging to warm us up.
The sound of people enjoying the garden; groups forming, atmosphere building. Robins unsure at first; so many people in their private space; getting braver as the day goes on.
Contrast to, but just as beautiful as, the calmer stillness of the morning with frozen water droplets to hold in your hand; tears formed overnight on the tree-branches.
Eager anticipation of what's to come...

polytunnel in a flap

This is my first visit since Christmas - great to be back. Predictions of heavy snow for today have become heavy rain, so most of the snow has vanished now. I'm digging in the polytunnel to keep out of the rain. High winds are causing nextdoor polytunnel repair to flap - unfortunately anchoring only lasted until next big gust.