!! RETIREMENT !! ... sort of ...

Yes, at the grand old age of 73, with creaking brain and joints - being a hippy has a different meaning for me now - I've decided to finish up my current Eventbrite teaching business. It's the last in the line of businesses I've had going right back to 1976 and includes guitar making and repairing, property development, a furniture and kitchen business, complementary healthcare, and loads and loads of voluntary work on eco projects all over the place, all leading up to running classes - 137 classes and 504 students through Eventbrite alone.

SO MUCH FUN

The best bit of the classes has been meeting all these wonderful people and showing them some useful stuff - very empowering for them, they're kind enough to say. I've met so many amazing people in the course of 50 years of work - including hundreds of crazy guitar players.... what a great bunch! 
It is a bit of a wrench to finish up, being self-employed all that time becomes part of your identity. However... I'm just packing up formal teaching and not hanging up my machete completely...

TINY HOUSE TWO - DOOR AND WINDOWS

In between storms and rain, we've got Tiny House Two at Inverquiech fitted with its door and windows. I had to reduce the height of the door, (because I'd forgotten to allow for the fascia boards and gutters), so made it into a stable door while I was about it.

Tiny House Two is becoming a very pleasant space! and it's been great to work away in the better weather.

SHED BUILDING SKILLS - DUCK HOUSE - 29TH/30TH AUGUST 2026

I've just set up another shed building course at Perth Community Farm, for the weekend of 29th/30th August 2026. Cost is £199 per place - max 5 places so plenty of individual attention and everyone can learn at their own speed. Our practice piece for this will be a duck house - which is a bit of a memory lane venture for me as this was one of the first eco projects I made way back in 2008 with Sue and Tober at Tombreck Farm on Loch Tay. SHEDS AUG 26 ON EVENTBRITE HERE 

My duck house for Tombreck Farm, Ben Lawers in the background

THOUSANDS OF BABY TREES

I remember thinking, long long ago in my guitar making days, that it would be wonderful to have a tree nursery.... and that's as far as the idea got. So it's wonderful, after all these years, to be helping out on a very special project growing native tree species from seed gathered in the wild: DARROCH NURSERIES.

Moving seedlings outside to get used to the weather - they still have some protection from the wind though

TINY HOUSE NEWS

 We grabbed the opportunity in some of the very few dry days in Jan/Feb to crack on with getting Tiny House Two at Inverquiech wind and water tight. Here it is with all its roof sheets, door and the last of the charred oak supporting posts:

I was very glad to have Mary's help with the roof sheets - definitely a two person job!

GARDENING AND WOODWORK CLASSES COMING UP...

I've set up some classes for the first few months of 2026 - they're all ideal for people with little or no experience. My big mission is to help beginners to take those first steps - it's never as complicated as it can seem and I make it all as simple and fun as possible :-) All these classes are at Perth Community Farm, an excellent teaching venue if ever there was one.

HERE'S THE DATES, MORE DETAILS AND BOOKINGS VIA THE LINKS: 

FRUIT TREE PRUNING The basic why's and how's of fruit tree pruning - looking after trees and woodland generally - insight into working with natural processes.
Saturday 31st Jan 2026, £39 per place

POLYTUNNELS  Let you grow a much wider range of food  AND are excellent as workshop, teaching and meeting spaces.

Saturday 7th Feb 2026, £39 per place

GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS Everything you need to know to get started in growing your own healthy, fresh, delicious, local food and general garden management.

1st March 2026, £39 per place

WOODWORK TWO Go over basic skills and learn some more advanced ones - from inlay and fretwork to using greenwood poles and wood finishing. 

Saturday 7th March 2026, £118.80 per place

COMPOST MAKING Find out how to convert household waste into useful material for your garden. Sunday 8th March 2026, £25 per place

BASIC WOODWORK  learn to use simple, versatile hand tools for home and garden projects.
Sunday 22nd March 2026, £109 per place

TINY HOUSE TWO - PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

We've been making this second tiny house for Inverquiech over three shed making courses, two at Kate's and one at Perth Community Farm, so it was a bit of a relief when it all fitted together so snugly. 

Brilliant volunteer, Resourceful Dave, and I were lucky to get a three day gap in the recent storms. We made the last bits for it, the trusses and purlins, then put the whole lot together.

I'm smiling because however much I draw plans and check and recheck measurements its always a bit of a relief when things work in real life.