Back in the swing of it...

It has been a looooong time since I have posted here and progress on the house has been slow but steady over the past few months.  We are still experiencing a long and dry summer, in fact there has been virtually no rain for over 4 months - not the best news for an off grid house which depends on rain water harvesting.  Our neighbours have been really helpful and continue to help us with our water shortages and we have taken steps to ensure that we wont be stuck in this position again.  We now have several more water tanks and could effectively live for 2-3 months with no rain just relying on our stored water - but it does still have to rain in the first place!


On one hand, lets hope it doesn´t rain so we can get the roof on before the water gets in but on the other hand, its sad to see everything yellow and dry and know that only a few of the plants are going to make it through - apart from the orange and lemon trees which are flourishing! Rabbits and hens are also doing fine although the summer egg production is not as good as the winter it seems.



Since I last posted, all the walls are up and the roof terrace is on top of the kitchen.  The walls are all rendered, the garden wall is finished and we´re waiting for a builder to get started on the roof hopefully this week or next for the remaining part.  The carpenter us supposed to come and measure for the windows and doors this afternoon and a guy who cuts trees is going to come and tidy up the forrest then use the branches for fence posts to finally close off our garden.

We just got back from a month visiting the family and so have a new enthusiasm and energy for the project which hopefully will carry us along for a bit.  We also have a visit from Tony´s family planned for February so it´s great to have a real deadline to work to. Hopefully you´ll see some real progress in the next few posts!