MORE WOODINESS AT INVERQUIECH

FINALLY!.... after all the recent rain and flooding, and having to cancel one day and postpone another, we were able to put on a couple of brilliant woodworking courses at Inverquiech - a Basic Level One and a Woodcarving and Shaping course. 

Inverqueich is a great venue for our sustainable living events as people can see how all the stuff they learn fits into the bigger practical picture of living more lightly on our dear old planet home. 

A simple frame - but with nicely square-cut corners - great work for more or less beginners

AN AMAZING SMALL HOLDING PROJECT NEAR BRIDGE OF EARN

Here's a few photos I took at Chrissie's brilliant sustainable living/permaculture project the other day, a small holding near Bridge of Earn. (By the way, Chrissie is another woodworking student friend of mine). If ever there was an amazing demonstration of what's possible with a bit of observation and insight, lots of passion and energy, and access to land, this is it. The photos don't do Chrissie's work justice at all but I hope they'll give you a flavour of the place. 

Polytunnel, orchard/forest garden and tiny house in the background

ACCESS TO LAND

Chrissie and I chatted a lot about the issue of Access to Land. It's being discussed a lot at all levels here in Scotland and rightly so. We have a very strange situation in this country where a lot of our land is owned by just a handful of people, so where do we go from there if, like me, you feel that access to land is one of the keys to living sustainably? SEE PAGE: ACCESS TO LAND.

 YOU DON'T NECCESSARILY NEED TO OWN IT

Chrissie rents her small holding from a larger estate, they have a really good working relationship. In fact, she has been making such a great job of the area she currently manages that the estate are giving her the use of part of another field. Ruth and I have lived on two different projects in a work-in-lieu-of-rent arrangement with the farmers in both cases, more about all that here: THE LOG CABAVAN WAY

WOODWORK STUDENT BUILDS BRILLIANT SHELTER!

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!

Charlotte's garden workspace...

Woodwork at Inverquiech

 A few photos taken by a very interesting guy, Steve Smart, who visited Inverquiech recently and caught me, Mark and Mark doing some woodwork...

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.

 

HOW TO SHARPEN PLANE BLADES

 

INVERQUIECH TINY HOUSE - PART TWO

 A few more photos of progress so far - fortunately we got the roof sheets on before the really heavy rain...

BEFORE... we were donated a whole load of wall cladding from a neighbour's renovation work...

INVERQUIECH TINY HOUSE PROJECT - PROGRESS SO FAR

 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.

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.