Oct. 19, 2024
Saturday 12 - Friday 18 October
Saturday
I’m off to my field this morning, I should hurry up and get there. Will do some more bean planting, not hugely excited about the effort required, but keen to try my new twister tool, which has now arrived. Let’s see how it goes…
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Verdict is… Will be focusing on the trees from now on and give them their best chance. I just won’t be spending hours planting beans. Planting trees means getting good stakes, digging wide and deep holes, and adding compost and mulch - all things I need to think about before the bare roots come. I was finding it difficult in the beginning in part due to the large blank canvas that is an empty field. There aren't many anchor points to build off, meaning I need to rely purely on my creative planning and making those initial moves.
While Googling I came across an awesome idea. I could build a tent. Like a teepee thing. That’s temporary right! (no permission required). I’m not sure how it’ll hold up if I leave it up for the whole time, maybe best not in winter. But one review said it takes 10 minutes to put up…
Woodworking going well. Tomorrow I plan to do a bunch more cutting. If I worked all day I could potentially get the entire casing done. My only concern is that it's Sunday and not ideal to use loud drills and saws…
Sunday
Today is a chill day. I wanted to plough ahead with woodworking, but it feels inappropriate to make loud noises. So… I probably won’t…
I completely reworked my land plan yesterday. Spent lots of time thinking about it. I bought a storage bin and a trolley that can carry large weight (500kg). I’m going to focus on just the trees and start digging holes.
Monday
Made a lot of progress on knitting yesterday. I’d say there is about 6cm of the last sleeve to go before the final cuff. My next woodworking challenge in make rabbets and dados - which are grooves in wood to slide in other pieces. Going to borrow my brother’s “Palm Router”, I think that does the job. I know it’s another power tool, but it turns out there’s not much choice anymore. The other options are hand planers, but they don’t really make them anymore, so you have to find an antique one. So unfortunately I’m heading towards the power tool route. In the end, I probably don’t mind too much, as long as it’s relatively safe.
Tuesday
I finished the jumper yesterday, I think it turned out nice, will be blocking today. I've already published a finished project post here. I'm straight onto the next one - number three of three in Nordic series (Zipper Sweater Light). Otherwise, going to be sawing for the tool cupboard. Will try to progress as much as I can this morning.
Wednesday
All my medium thickness pieces are cut so today I can put in the door panels. I’m keeping it simple for now, not even fake door panelling, just a plain board. I still need the inner door feature, but then I’m ready to start on the custom internal hanging stuff and drawers.
The weight distribution is currently terrible. If you open the doors the weight of them makes the whole cupboard fall over.
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Busy day, I successfully got my new large storage bin into the car and to the field. I set it up there, and it works perfectly. Super cool. I mapped the wastewater pipeline, which runs under the field, so I know not to plant trees there. I’ll go back on Friday and build the trolley, which is already loaded in the car. Successful trip. Next, I’m going to make some fabric labels to go on the sticks I’ve been putting in the ground to indicate the oil pipe, sewage pipe, and the tree layout. Otherwise I’ll soon get confused in the sea of sticks that is now my field.
After all that, with the trees laid out, I’ll be pre-digging the holes. I still need to figure out how to protect the hole once it's open… or rather protect the wildlife and people that might fall in it. Maybe it's not such an issue if the hole is wider than it is deep… Maybe the stones I dig out can be a border around the hole to mark it out. Maybe I'll put a stick in the middle of the hole with a flag on it… Yes, I think I have a plan. Someone could still fall in, but it’s mitigated, they shouldn’t be walking on my field anyway. I’m most worried about the deer and their skinny legs - would they break? Plan formed.
Thursday
Family visit today, paused my life of crafts.
Friday
Another slow day. Didn’t have time to drive to the field to build the trolley, I guess that’ll be a weekend job. Signing out for the week. Overall, good progress made on the tool cupboard, nice pivoting on the field towards trees, slowly making progress.
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Hi there I'm Charlotte from London and I am a Millennial hobbiest. By that I mean I love making things, for both the process and the outcomes. On this blog I talk about all the things I'm working on and learning each week. On some projects I will go into a bit more detail on what I did and my experience through it.
Some facts about me:
- I am not a perfectionist, preferring to complete something than to attempt to make something flawless.
- I am in a constant cycle of building up inspiration, executing the ideas, then winding down to reflect and regenerate.
- I am interested in almost anything that can be made from scratch using nature / natural materials.