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Chop wood, carry water...
Jul. 28th, 2007 10:22 pmReally enjoying my time at TUE. I'm trying to keep a written diary, and mostly failing to keep up with it, but I'm keeping busy and getting good stuff done. Not felting so much as there aren't the facilities/space to do it comfortably but I've been doing some cooking and foraging and today I made a bellows, so yay for no more getting ash in my face when I blow on the fire to revive the coals.
I've been fishing and found chanterelles and learned to like blackcurrants (biggest, sweetest ones I have EVER seen) and cooked loads and it's all rather wonderful. There are cherries here, which surprised me. The raspberries are superb.
Yurt is slightly uncomfortable; I've learned that the compact mattress I have isn't actually any good for sleeping on when inflated. Under that there are duvets and blankets and a thick fleece pad, but these are no match for my usual mattress. Despite this I've not been having as many joint problems as I thought, probably because I have pretty much total freedom to wimp out and do something else for a bit when I start to hurt, and I'm not really doing any significant carrying at all - if I go offsite to forage I only really carry a container and whatever tools I need, and I don't have to go far.
There is a flush toilet and mains water (well, a standpipe), neither of which I really expected. Work is coming along on a water filter to get us off mains water.
We really really really need more people - special skills don't matter too much if you're willing to learn and can apply common sense and stamina to a problem. After about the middle of August it's really sparse. If you're interested in coming - even just for a weekend - please contact me and I'll point you the right direction.
We also really need a Kelly Kettle as the amount of fuel and time we go through to try to get the kettle hot for tea is frankly ridiculous. I wish I could afford to donate one but I'm afraid finances won't stretch to it right now!
I'll write more about this after I get away, I think. Right now I'm really tired and want to get to sleep; I was up pretty early this morning and after making tea/breakfast, chopping wood, fetching water, feeding chickens, helping a 4-year-old make a cake, and cooking a rather good meal for six I'm spent. I still need to do physio before I go to bed, too - tried skipping that once while I was here and it was a BAD bad idea.
I've been fishing and found chanterelles and learned to like blackcurrants (biggest, sweetest ones I have EVER seen) and cooked loads and it's all rather wonderful. There are cherries here, which surprised me. The raspberries are superb.
Yurt is slightly uncomfortable; I've learned that the compact mattress I have isn't actually any good for sleeping on when inflated. Under that there are duvets and blankets and a thick fleece pad, but these are no match for my usual mattress. Despite this I've not been having as many joint problems as I thought, probably because I have pretty much total freedom to wimp out and do something else for a bit when I start to hurt, and I'm not really doing any significant carrying at all - if I go offsite to forage I only really carry a container and whatever tools I need, and I don't have to go far.
There is a flush toilet and mains water (well, a standpipe), neither of which I really expected. Work is coming along on a water filter to get us off mains water.
We really really really need more people - special skills don't matter too much if you're willing to learn and can apply common sense and stamina to a problem. After about the middle of August it's really sparse. If you're interested in coming - even just for a weekend - please contact me and I'll point you the right direction.
We also really need a Kelly Kettle as the amount of fuel and time we go through to try to get the kettle hot for tea is frankly ridiculous. I wish I could afford to donate one but I'm afraid finances won't stretch to it right now!
I'll write more about this after I get away, I think. Right now I'm really tired and want to get to sleep; I was up pretty early this morning and after making tea/breakfast, chopping wood, fetching water, feeding chickens, helping a 4-year-old make a cake, and cooking a rather good meal for six I'm spent. I still need to do physio before I go to bed, too - tried skipping that once while I was here and it was a BAD bad idea.
