Happy and Healthy 2010

The Lowry Family Team make a major effort to be calm and serene (ha ha i hear you say!) and to work together. It seems to be working, putting an effort into not raising the energy... dont forget, we live in pretty rough conditions, making the best of it, caravans dont have lots of space!
five days ago i backed up everything except my emails and reinstalled the system software. oops. just wiped out all my wwoofers/helpx/ and so on contacts, let alone my friends. oh well, the main drive was taking 10GB more than it is now so.... i'm glad i did it!!! anyway, with things like facebook around, who needs an address book! makes me wonder what the 10GB was being used for... hmmmm dont think i've got that many friends ha ha! start a new year with a clean computer, not a bad idea eh? hope it will work faster too.
Ivor was eleven weeks old last sunday, the age Tituan (who has gone skiing!!! ok, probably sledging!) was when Ivor was born. he is just starting to take the things in his hands and bring them to his mouth, so is starting to taste new things! Fabien and Salix are learning hygiene, if you don't do up your laces and you walk around (especially outside on the farm chickens, dogs, cats...POO), then touch your laces, touch your mouth, your baby brother/sister... ugh the consequences are unthinkable. a cycle that the children now appreciate! WASH YOUR HANDS!!!!! 'n do up yer laces too!

2010
As we move into the new year, our priorities are (i think i speak for the whole family) to start building the agricultural hangar, inside which will reside all the tools and our family life. phew. i wonder how long that will take...
First stage will be to dig a geothermal trench, which will help to keep the building at a constant temperature. There will be a cold room for storage of farm produce, and lots of drying space i hope. Alongside the tractors and tools!
The foundations will be rubble, old tyres, and concrete. i think justin wants to build with concrete blocks for the first level, and face them with local stone, the second storey would be wooden frame with straw on the south side and some kind of brick on the north - possibly monomur, this is open to discussion! Apparently the straw has no thermal capacity (or very low) whilst the monomur is supposed to have very high. this means that when you open the door in the winter, it stays warmer with the brick than with the straw.
I am trying to convince him that we could build just in stone, or even wattle and daub! Anything that we can go and fetch ourselves, free. it is interesting as the diametrically opposed ideas of building for eternity or building for the here and now are both so appealing, surely it is better to build for your grandchildren? maybe not, when we consider that we have no idea what the world will be like in twenty years time! the way i feel about modern society makes me think i may as well stay in the caravan! or build like a hobbit and hope that after 2012 my bit of land can still access the air! ha ha. There are lots of different possibilities, and i think we will see what our resources are when the time comes to building the walls and so on. the insulation for the roof is another important question, i think hemp would be great.
I wanted to dig the foundations by hand, and terrace... (click here for some lovely images of terraces!), but after a few days digging, have realised the unlikelihood of completion, so i have been convinced that we need to buy a mini digger. despite my aversion to vehicles, engines and large heavy things on the soil.
The use of the mini digger to landscape is going to be brilliant, we would like to terrace the whole area, incorporating some water features - a grey water system(reed beds...); ponds (ducks and pleasure) and hopefully a watering system for at least some of the gardens. Drystone walling here we come! oh, and hedges of course.
Our other main priority, which is also partly dependent on the mini digger, is the creation of six camping spots, and a toilet and shower area for eventual campers. we can then fill those spaces with lovely holiday people, and sell them eggs and so on, possibly offering table d'hôte when we feel like it. perfect! dream on emanwela!!!
The mini digger is extremely important to the project, and i can happily say that we are close to buying justin's dream machine... so it should become a reality in the first couple of months of 2010, with a lot of help from special people.

Phew! that was my longest blog! written over a few days, between boobing ivor!

It looks like 2010 is going to be another year with lots of changes and hopefully important advancements at the Funny Farm @ Fa, and we will be honoured to welcome again lots of beautiful people to share some of this experience with.
'table d'hôte' is when you share the meal with the farmer.

Here are some rather lovely photos, and some blurry ones, hope yours are better Tana! i hope the ones of the boys are on your camera...