We have continued work on the Cob Cottage, and are getting closer to finishing. Everything takes longer than you think, and we feel a bit despondent at times, but slowly but surely, we are getting there.Here's what has been happening over the past month at Earthstead.
Wwoofer Marc has been assisting Dave with the earth plastering of the walls. Marc worked hard to get into all the cracks and hard to reach areas around the doors.
Wwoofers Jeff and James were also great helpers with the ceiling, painting on the finishing slurry of kaolin.
With the ceilings done, next we set to work on the walls. The dynamic female duo, Wwoofers Tash and Nicole were Dave's new sidekicks, and they certainly kept him on his toes.
They worked hard, and finished the job, and then celebrated by spraying Dave with water. The resulting wall finish is amazing, we love the rustic, warm look of the walls, beautiful but practical.
Barry, the joiner has been working all hours to get the cupboards and fittings in place. He has used Australian hardwood cross-members from old telephone poles to make the bench top, table and cupboard fronts, along with our own maccrocarpa.Stunning results.
On the outside of the Cob Cottage Dave and Ali have been hard at work finishing the fencing. The gardens are growing well now with all the rain. The plants we have put in are either native or edible, making for an amazingly rich plant environment.
We also took delivery of two new calves this month. Our neighbour, Willy helped out with his trailer and bike. These little fellows came from Dave's father in North-land, and were so amazingly quiet they were totally unfazed by the big trip from up north, even when the trailer came unhitched during the quick ride from Willy's next door.
Little Bristol and his mummy made the pizzas for our Sunday night dinner. He loves to see what is happening, and is enjoying the baby rocker his cousin Lachlan gave him.
We've also done some work on our road frontage, wwoofers Anna and Jeff raked and levelled the topsoil ready for the native planting which will follow in the weeks to come.
It's also apple season, and Tash and Nicole have picked the first of the delicious fruit ready to peel, poach and bottle for winter crumbles and pies.
Picking apples is not the only thing these two amazing girls can do. Just look at what they get up to in their spare time!
Over the past weeks we have been given many litres of organic milk by a friend who's cow lost her calf. The Jersey milk is very rich and creamy, and here Tash helps me siphon the milk from under the cream layer.
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