The wet room starts to take shape

keeping out of the weather

May 13 2015

It was mothering Sunday last weekend and I had a day out with Bo and her daughter looking for teacups and other pots for the restaurant. Bo had a firm idea about what she wanted and eventually we tracked down a suitable product. To make it fun we had a great lunch in the Moroccan place in Croyden and Bo brought me a papyrus plant in a garden centre. I lost my papyrus after the fires and this was the first time I had found the full sized variety again.

On Sunday Al gave me the best present ever by working all afternoon with us in the shower. Edd mixed up the render and Al started at the top by the skylight whilst I worked from the bottom up. There was just enough space for the two of us and the ladder but another person would not have fitted in.  After several hours work we had a first coat of render over everything and for the first time the whole room had a homogeneous surface. Next day I did a little more work on the bath wall and the corners. We are really pleased with the shapes that are emerging.

We will have to apply another layer of render and then a waterproof membrane. The inside of the bath and the shower base are to be mosaic but we are un-decided about the rest of the wall finish. We could go for something like a tadelakt or use pool paint. We conferenced with a friend who has a similar project and found that she is weighing up all the same options that we are. Mean while I am working out how I want the mosaic work to look.

It is a good time to do indoor work because the weather outside is horrible. It is very cold with frequent heavy showers. There was snow on Mt St Leonard a few kilometres away but it was not visible from here. The goats are all staying in the shed munching hay and bedding down in thick straw. The chooks braved the weather but looked very bedraggled and there were no eggs today. 

working in the wet room and glorious fern trees

May 6 2015

We now have the first layer of shaping on the wet room floor, and today we started filling in behind the curves with foam. It was a bit of a jump in the dark because we have never used the foam in a spray system before and had no idea what would happen. The foam continues to expand for an hour or more so I have had to scrape off any excess as it pushes out through the wire netting. We need the foam in there so that when we render, the mix will stay at the shaped surface.

In the kitchen I am  processing more olives with salt and storing them in jars of oil. We still have eggplants, capsicums and lettuce from the garden but I have now moved the remnants of the tomatoes and pumpkins. The tomatoes are frozen for soups, and the pumpkins are piled up in wherever there is a space. It is cold enough now to light the wood stove every evening. I really enjoying cooking on it and we can bake the pumpkins and the root vegetables in the oven.

The last two Sundays we have been busy hosting site visits for the  Permaculture Design courses. Everyone gets to taste our produce and have a guided tour of the house and land. Usually everyone brings a dish of food to share and we all sit down for lunch together. Last week Indi contributed honeycomb from her bees, which was a big treat for us all. The students are all motivated, amazing people which makes work a pleasure. Al and Pip are also harvesting honey on a grand scale from their hives at Warburton.

The goat kids need weaning but we have not yet found calves to rear. Our plan is to have a short holiday at the end of May so we have a lot to sort out to make the work easier for others to take over.  The problem is that time goes so fast!  Only 4 weeks now until Wayne’s baby is due. Wayne is taking some great photos. The fern trees on this post come from him,