Pork Rotavators - Friday 19/08/11

An almost instant way of disposing of Rabbit entrails would appear to be feeding them to pigs. Simon and Jasmine have some 'on loan'. I felt very guilty after doing so as one of the pigs got inquisitive and made contact with the electric fence. The scream that emanated shocked me. I put down the bucket and observed them. Three great beasts, one male two females. They had churned the grass to the extent that I am certain one could sow a successful crop upon it.

Kit and I had a useful conversation that concerned the relationship of our families and the agreement that exists and allows our continued presence. Things appear to remain satisfactory for both parties.

My afternoon was occupied processing firewood and transporting three barrow loads of 'pea gravel' for use in drainage. I walked Frances to Hoppi and Pauls where she had arranged a sleep over. Before I left however, she got very emotional. Hoppi and Paul were really understanding. It was recognised by Hoppi that Frances' feelings could be attributed to the recent arrival of Erin. She related to Fran the experience of her son, Jarro, after her daughter arrived. Fran admitted to feeling pushed out somewhat and not feeling as involved as I had thought. Something we shall need to redress.

Frances did stay over, as I thought she might. She had been looking forward to it and I knew once she got playing she would most likely not want to leave.

Myself, Emma, Kit, Saara and Nick collaborated to put together a delicious evening meal. Pork casserole with wheat and veg, broad beans and fried hemp seeds, onions soaked in vinegar followed by my bread and butter pudding.

The rabbit will feed us another time.

M Jones

Sharing The Wealth- Tuesday 03/05/11

04:49 : Up and out to walk the rifle.
07:15 : Back for a coffee.
07:30 : Scythed the orchard.
08:25 : Coffee.
09:10 - 11:15 : During my coffee I learnt how to range find using my mil-dot scope. Set about measuring my shooting range. Happy to find the formula and my calculations worked and were accurate.
The theory is this:

You take a measurement of your target. This was 3". This needs to be converted to yards, so divide that by 36". Divide 1000 by how many mil-dots the sight picture spans/covers. For me, the circle sat snugly on the first mil-dot. So one. Divide the factor of magnification by 10, and tag that on the end of the equation and my sum looks like this.

(3"/36")*(1000/1)*.4 = 33.3 yards.

By measuring, not pacing 25 yards, I revealed why my range finding was so bad. I hadn't previously realised how big a yard was. Roughly 90cm. This also meant that I'd vastly underestimated the effective killing distance of the rifle.
40/50 yards is a fair old way and makes for a lot less stalking.

13:30 - 18:00 : Went a-fishing. Caught a medium brown trout. Gave that to Nick as a trade for the pellets he gifted to me. Later I caught a small Rainbow Trout. Had he had not been such a greedy beggar and swallowed the whole hook I would've been able to throw him back. The damage done meant it was kinder to end his life with a sharp tap on the head. A shiver down to the tail and he was gone. He became a gift for Simon and Jasmine who are expecting a visit from Mark Boyle (author of The Moneyless Man: A Year of Freeconomic Living) later today. Thought the trout would be a nice touch... plus I'm very much aware it is not my millpond so it's only right to share the wealth. If anything it's labour saving, as by giving everyone a fish. I don't have to re-describe ours was!

19:00 : Walked the rifle. Absolutely nothing. Nada. Zip. Was fine by me. I was pooped and nature had already provided more than enough food for my family.

21:00 : Bed

Small Rainbow Trout.

Medium Brown Trout.

M Jones

Saga Of The Boiler - Tuesday 22/02/11

The boiler saga continues. Monday, I gave it a test. Tap sprang a leak again. Ok. Ditch the tap. Shoved in a stick to bung the pipe. Turned on the water, fired up the boiler. Lots of splurting and judders but hot water came through. Success? No.
My repair soon failed and once again the boiler began to leak. This time if silicone and milliput don't work I'll bypass the damn thing. My ideas are as follows;

A coil of black pipe on the roof will serve as the first stage primary heating, this I plan to then run to a section of copper piping behind the wood burner. In theory that should suffice and provide hot water all year, but as a back up I hoped I could run it to the gas boiler. This whole circuit will be closed i.e no header or expansion tank, protected by a safety valve.
One thought was to re-use the cistern of the redundant WC toilet, but this would require an in-line 12 volt pump due to the pressure loss it would cause.
I have a vague idea how it will all come together and Simon D assures me that what I propose could work. I hope so. I want that shower.

M Jones

Kidney Bean - Wednesday 19/01/11

Had a welcome change of pace Monday. Emma was booked in for an ultrasound scan at Haverfordwest hospital. With the car insured for the day, we did our best to make the most of it and be as productive as possible. The appointment wasn't until 14:30, so we had a couple of hours of mooching in the town centre. Bought a few bits in various charity shops, then headed to the hospital. We were in and out within an hour or so, everything having gone smoothly, and came away with a picture of our kidney bean.

Next stop, top up shop at the supermarket. Kit arrived at the train station not long after and we gave him a ride home. Stopped in Clunderwen to pick up the last item - paraffin.
With the return of Kit has come a break in the weather. Sunshine and clear skies, forecast to prevail until Saturday.
It was an absolute pleasure to be back outside in glorious weather, marking out an orchard then constructing a woodshed. We didn't complete the shed as we ran out of light. And screws.
Sourced some screws from Simon D, so our job today is to finish off and perhaps even extend the woodshed. The clear skies resulted in a bitterly cold night, but as always, this had given us a beautiful crisp morning thankfully with more warm sunshine.

Andy and Janes unveiled house.

M Jones

Bricking It - Thursday 16/12/10

The North wind has returned, bringing rain and snow. Not the best conditions in which to start laying bricks and mixing lime mortar...
Despite the mix coming out far too wet and sloppy, we have nonetheless laid four corners of the building and shall leave them to dry and observe what happens. More snow forecast of Friday and Saturday and some cold nights. Luckily, with this night forecast as being the coldest, Frances has by chance been invited to sleep over at Simon and Jasmines. A very lucky little girl, on one count for being able to stay in a beautiful hand built house, and another for being warm and able to sleep well in that house as opposed to our static caravan.
My Lantern is now running low on paraffin, so I shall sign off and turn in.
Good Night.

M Jones

Mouldy Brew - Thursday 30/09/10

More plastering, but only two hours today.
Tasted my hawthorn brew today. Definitely alcoholic but rather watery. Noticed the other day the scum that has been sitting on the top had developed a few patches of green mould. Rather hastily grabbed the sieve and scooped that out. Spoke to fellow brewer Simon D about it and to my surprise he told me he'd brewed a damson recipe that had stipulated to wait until such a mould appeared. Don't think i'll leave it much longer before bottling. Am still undecided whether to treat it as a wine and rack it off into demijohns or, or add 80g/3oz of sugar for carbonation and bottle like a beer. Am leaning towards wine due to the high alcohol taste and wateriness.

My Eco-Dishwasher being harassed by the cat.

The bales go on Katy and Leanders Roof.

M Jones

Don't Misidentify Your Balls - Saturday 25/09/10

Took a walk up the top past Simon D's. A beautiful spot apparently owned by a Belgian couple. Rather selfishly if you ask me. You could fit another Lammas again up there. Plus, it kind of goes against the eco principles being that they've bought 28 acres. The common notion is that roughly 5 acres is enough to support one family. Anything more than that cannot realistically be managed by one household without the employment of mechanical assistance.
Still. We wandered down through the woodland coming across a wonderful variety of wild flowers and wild produce. Mistook an Earthball for a Puffball! Well, only for a split second. After squeezing the top i revealed a chamber of spores and with the help of my new RSPB Wildlife Of Britain book, i learnt the differences and the fact the Earthball is in fact poisonous.
After showering at Ayres' I found myself reading a great little book called Keep Calm and Carry On: Good Advice for Hard Times. The inspiration for which, was the third of three wartime posters, the last of which was never issued. This final poster with this simple message, was to be plastered in tube stations should the Germans have invaded. I love its Britishness.
Tried to watch Yes Man but our charge controller put an end to that with a low battery warning. Had a hunch the shorter days were taking their toll on our solar panels. Had an idea to hook up a bicycle to a washing machine motor and a rectifier. Half to an hour a day on that should provide all of our electrical power...In theory.

M Jones

Wild Cherrys? I hope so as i ate one...

Tinkers Bubble - Wednesday 08/09/10

Mist hanging in the valley.

Cool date! No work due to weather. Finished reading Earth-Sheltered Houses which i borrowed from Simon D. Interesting, but the author uses far too many modern materials and cop outs for my liking. The techniques are good though as well as the explanations and illustrations.
Ayres went off to collect his mother from Cardiff. Exciting stuff as she's coming from California!
Have been researching our options and looked more at Tinkers Bubble in Somerset. Seems like a definite possibility. Am mindful of the distance and the fact there are so many communities here in Wales that it would be silly to leave and come back. Would be useful to spend a rainy Saturday/Sunday visiting local places.

M Jones

Colin McRae Mode - Monday 06/09/10

Rain. Kind of useful for everyone judging by the busyness of the clamp. There are no days off. Just different jobs that need doing.
Got a call around 13:00 from Ayres to ask for a lift back from Laurence's Garage due to his brake pads wearing out and grinding the discs. Was then time to pick up my truck load of kids, made interesting when Paul drew up exclaiming "Follow me!". Cool. Colin McRae mode, welsh rally stage. Doubt Monsieur McRae ever ran into a Freelander that was incapable of reversing... Was still a cool route which brings the school run into a loop. Have made a mental note to take more photos to liven up the blog. No excuse now digital photos are free. Borrowed 'Earth Sheltered Houses' - Rob Roy,  from Simon D

M Jones