Wonderful Wiring

After a great tree planting season with a super duper crew, I'm back to building and making my house livable. Ideally by the end of August. Now that big things like the roof and windows are done, it's incredible how quickly you can see the progress inside. It's a very exciting time on Pritchard Road.

I have lights! And wires that won't burn the house down. Yay! This means I can keep working on the house throughout the night.... though I haven't yet. Walls have gone up giving me a separate bedroom and bathroom (still no water yet though).

Still a lot to do, but it's starting to look like a home. It's comforting to be able to sleep in my house now (who cares if it's a construction zone) and have the ability to make coffee in the morning. I'm very excited and look forward to being able to welcome friends to stay in the future.... or now should anyone want to help with drywall.

Stay posted.

Progress Report

I have a bedroom! Well closer to having a bedroom. The stud walls went up this weekend thanks to the help of some incredible friends and now the bathroom and my bedroom are different rooms! Yay! The pictures don't really give it justice, but can give an idea of what the house will eventually look like. 

Bathroom.

My bedroom!

Now I'm working on getting the wiring sorted to have done over the spring as well as the well and septic to get this beautiful tub working. Ceilings can go in after wiring, I'm thinking painted plywood. I feel like ceilings will give it a more polished look...

Though the floor in the kitchen still has to be laid, I brought in my new (ReUse store) cupboards to get an idea of how the kitchen will be split up from the open concept living space. It looks awesome if I do say so myself. The free counter tops unfortunately didn't work out so I guess I'll just have to do some butcher block style counter. Fine with me!

It's really nice to see the house coming together. I hope you enjoy the pictures and all come to see it real life some day! There's still plenty to do... in August.

Kitchen... now just imagine cork floors and counters.

The pièce on the left will have a stove beside it and a breakfast bar.

Pallet Produce

The garden projects have started. During my searches of Pinterest (I'm not proud) I came across directions to make a vertical pallet garden. I have seen these before and with two pallets just hanging out in the backyard, it only made sense. I'm not sure I used the best design as since I've talked to some people at Northey Street City Farm who showed me pictures of what they made, but it's a good first attempt.

I planted lettuce in it and so far the birds haven't plucked the seedlings out yet. I don't trust those birds.

Hopefully we'll have tons of lettuce overflowing it soon for delicious salads!

I guess it's time to decide on my next project for the yard.

Partners Planting

Nothing says romance like planting bags, your partner and a waste water treatment facility.

Over the weekend, Ben and I went to Byron Bay. Instead of seeing the beautiful sights that bring tourists to the area, we spent our time planting an assortment of grasses on a waste water treatment facility. Though the smell was a bit unsavoury, at 40 cents a pod, we were happy to be there. It wasn't all straight mud, sometimes there was some debris underneath, but nothing we couldn't handle.

Here's a little video clip Ben put together.

So that's what we've been up to. I could get used to this.

A picture of the first planting job I went on here in Australia.

Urban Again

Our house.

Here I am in Brisbane, finding myself in the world of urban agriculture again. Back to a shared house, but this time with a slightly bigger yard than I found myself with in Toronto (which really just means I have a yard). As I'm here trying to learn more about permaculture, I thought I might take this opportunity to start growing some vegetables in my own space. 

Garden.

The space gets a lot of sunlight and already has a good base, with some raised beds and fruit trees already established. So far I've found dragon fruit (the cactus like plant), a mango tree, some lime trees (some of which might be oranges and grapefruit that are currently just green), a potential cherry tree and some recently planted apricot trees. There is also a great rain water harvesting system in place with big barrels.

The canvas

I don't want to get too out of control as I won't be around forever to take care of the garden, but I'd like to leave this house knowing that there is a food system that should maintain itself relatively well. 

Therefore my goals for this space are:

1. A good compost system-- I found compost bins, but they're filled with all sorts of wires... weird.

2. An herb spiral.

3. One raised bed worth of veggies.

So time to get back to experimenting... Fun!

Winter Worthy

So here it is. The end of renovating for this year.

I love my house.

North side.

I'll be back in March to attempt to do some interior work. The exterior is basically where I want it to be. Still some details to finish up, but you get the idea of what it will look like. Just add on a wrap around deck, gardens and hops vines.

Probably doesn't look much different than my last posts, but I can see it.

Be ready for an August work party gang to get me moved in!

South side.

not quite done, but no animals can get in!

Almost winterized

Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of how the house is doing now.

Hopefully will have one more post before I leave for the winter of a completed exterior. The well, septic and wiring will have to wait until next year, but such is life. This could be home this time next year!

almost there....

the new tub... claw feet awaiting attachment.

the beginnings of a kitchen floor that isn't trampoline-like.