As well as getting the veggie garden going, and sorting out how to water the crop, we've been working on other projects too.
The property has several buildings. By the entrance from the road there is a row of four large barns. The roof is in pretty good condition, so they are dry inside. The first one is huge, with sliding, lockable doors. The next three are smaller, and can't be locked, although they have been used for storage for years, and nothing ever seems to have been taken.
Mind you, when I use the term "storage", I'm doing so in the loosest of ways, as much of the stuff in there could be classified as "junk".
Opposite the barns is a double garage sized building, with steps up to the roof space above the ground floor.
This is also a locked building, and we've used the ground floor of this as "development headquarters". We've got a cooking stove and a BBQ, so can stay at the property for the whole day, able to feed ourselves and make tea or coffee. We've started building up a little wine store too for the evenings when we finish late.
The roof above the garage is in pretty poor condition, and will need replacing at some time, but for now it is dry, and the upstairs area is ideal as my solar power control room.
The other building is a small wooden cabin, which was 90% complete. The walls were thickly insulated, but the inside wasn't finished. We bought some cladding, and very similar to the campervan conversion, clad the inside of the cabin.
It is now a lovely little summer house with a great view of the sunset out to the west.
The previous owners have left lots of stuff, some of which is proving very useful, much of which is destined for the tip, or a big bonfire! One useful item we inherited was a trailer, buried deep under other things in one of the barns.
Out it came, and my neighbour kindly sourced a couple of new wheels, did a bit of welding, and sorted out the lights. We've now got a decent trailer to take stuff to the tip, or to buy building or garden materials.
I've completed the first solar system, which now powers several water pumps and hoses, charges phones and our sound system, and provides a bit of light, as well as providing 240 volt electricity for power tools and a planned fridge and freezer.
The concrete slab which covers the water tank was almost completely covered in ancient piles of sand and gravel, all of which had become terribly overgrown. We're currently working on clearing the whole area, which will become an ideal place to park the car for now, as the garage is used as head office, and the barns are still somewhat chaotic, filled with all sorts of odds and ends.
Finally, here are a few recent pictures of the veggie patch, which is coming on nicely. We plan on making this bigger and better for next year...
