I always love to see how people can pick up a few new skills and not just run with them but go off at a gallop...
Charlotte did the first and second level woodwork courses with me and helped us to build the new shelter at Perth Community Farm. Now, with help from partner Chris, she's gone on to build her own brilliant outdoor woodworking space... Fantastic stuff!
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| Charlotte's garden workspace... |
A few photos taken by a very interesting guy, Steve Smart, who visited Inverquiech recently and caught me, Mark and Mark doing some woodwork...
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| I've been started teaching woodcarving and shaping recently... lots of fun! and lots of interest in the course. Brilliant that all this hand tool stuff is so relevant. |
A few more photos of progress so far - fortunately we got the roof sheets on before the really heavy rain...
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| BEFORE... we were donated a whole load of wall cladding from a neighbour's renovation work... |
We've made a great start to the Inverquiech Tiny House project, just a part of a movement towards helping people to build their own affordable, simple accommodation, designed with sustainable living in mind. Members of Kate's Permaculture Timeshare group have been helping and learning as we go, which has been a lot of fun - sorry no photos of them yet.
Kate Everett had been looking for suitable trailers for a while but the first one that came up, though in excellent condition and very sturdy, was quite small, roughly 8 foot by 4 foot. So, a bit small for full accommodation - but a good size for a composting toilet. We've been calling it the Bog-ey... It's going to have a lot of the features of a house anyway, a door, window, sink and toilet of course, so great practice anyway, and people can see how things can be made - simply, using a minimum of tools and equipment with off-the-peg and reclaimed materials.
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| Progress so far - the basic frame and first sheets in place. The cross braces have been very handy for keeping everything square and plumb during assembly. |
A GREAT PERTH COMMUNITY FARM MOMENT...
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| A great PCF moment - me handing over my farm keys to Mark. Brilliant that Mark, Charlotte and Gary are keeping everything going so capably and developing new ideas. |
Now I'm rapidly approaching my very late teens, I've decided to back off from the everyday work at the farm so as to focus more on building up my range of courses, "ALL THINGS SUSTAINABLE". I'm still running gardening and fruit tree/woodland courses at PCF but have been developing woodwork and tiny house courses (and much more) with great friend Kate Everett at Inverqueich Farm.
The first two courses in basic woodwork I run cover everything you need to know for making simple everyday things for the home and garden, stools, raised beds, trestles, picture frames - all with hand tools. With plenty of practice, you can even use the same tools and experience to make seriously useful stuff - such as the extra sheltered space we've made at the farm. I'm very proud to say that a couple of the people helping me on this project had no previous experience at all...
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