The (Ad)Venture has begun

8' x 5' trailer collected 26th June  - kept for me for weeks by a kind gent :)


Now the real work can commence: wood preserver and hammerite 'at the ready'!  An interesting stroke of fate - it was located in my mother's county of birth :)




Pics of resources/components to be uploaded !

Some wood panels preserved at the ready...

to be clad internally with plywood planks!  (cavity walls of course lol)

Plywood sheet at forefront to be used for a car roof-box!

More efforts by an enterprising Pensioner lol

Broken garden trolley provides axle/wheels

Sack truck from offcuts and recycled brackets

Lightweight but strong for moving boxes of books... then also for water cannister etc

now 'wood-preserved'

Surviving now despite short-sighted local bureaucrats

Watch this space for an update re my latest plans to show what I can achieve !!!!

I have various materials* collected via Freecycle but my council gave no permission for a decent-sized shed in my backyard, let alone a lean-to :(  I needed a workshop/utility space plus somewhere for plant propagation.  

It took about 11 months to get permission for a very small shed for my garden tools.  I was told my plans to use recycled materials were not suitable neither was the use of student help!!  My small shed was made by cutting down a larger secondhand one and not constructed by a 'carpenter'!!  

See: http://www.nomorelandfill.blogspot.co.uk - "The shed that wasn't supposed to be!"

* 2 x aluminium patio doors and 1 side panel.  Timber etc  now hopefully about to find another use :)

I just need an 8 x 4 roadworthy trailer !!!  My car is a golf estate workhorse.

Surely we should all be using resources more carefully but someone who tries to do things in a sustainable way unfortunately encounters a lot of barriers...  including being labelled a 'hoarder' :(  

Councils are only interested in ticking boxes and making the public 'compliant' !

Surviving against the odds

Homestead Sept/Oct 2002:  My then 18yr old daughter (now working as a doctor in Oz) and I lived in this large Khyam tent, seen to rear, from 12th August - 25th October.  From September we had this pitch with electric hook-up.  The kind site manager had created a hook-up cable with a board and sockets for us.  He also lent us an oil-filled radiator when it got colder.  By October 25th it was water-logged and there were gales the night we dismantled!!

We had found it difficult to find somewhere to live with our 2 adorable half-siamese cats.  Brinnie visible in front of plants I had been given.  My daughter was working to fund 'gap-year' travels so the local council had decided we no longer constituted a 'family' in need of housing together :(  A council officer had visited me the day after my appearance on the Carlton 6pm news!  [I had been interviewed by Sean Conway, footage of the tent with our other cat Tiggles was shown!] My MP had supported my plea for support for people living in a large tent as opposed to a small van!

Freecycling...

Freecycle

Freecycling not only saves things from going to landfill and provides the 'new' owners with a valued resource, it is a wonderful way of meeting other people who care :) :)

My sustainable projects

The creation of a mini 'larder' foodsafe. Pine offcuts, bargain shelf handles and the top from a broken air-purifier!

      

Food now safe from insects and possible 4-legged thieves!  Also windproof for picnics/camping :)

Novel stand for old toasting fork (waiting for an open fire) crafted from pine offcuts :)  It doesn't topple thanks to top tier of stand!

Other function - base stays on thanks to splayed outer prongs!  So it can act as a 2-stage weapon of self-defence !!

Kitchen Innovations:

Customised from offcuts: a handy shelf unit near small microwave and larder fridge.  In a small badly-planned kitchen every bit of wall-space needs to be exploited!

Storage shelf made from spare piece of w/top offcut used to make folding table

Versatile trolley/storage for small cooking appliances

Other Innovations:

Laptop tray with ventilation rack

 

< underside

Strawbale Construction

Strawbale building

My most memorable book from childhood is

"The Children who lived in a Barn"

by Eleanor Graham. Unfortunately I do not have it in my copious book collection as back then I read a library copy; I remember hiding in our small larder to read the next intriguing chapter when I was supposed to be doing other things!   The other ploy was a torch under the bedclothes after lights out!!  No bedside lamp in those days!

I recalled the title now because of the famed 'hay-box'.  Looking at a possible 'eco' lifestyle and strawbale building, which I first heard of whilst living in Devon, reminded me of it :)