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Nik set about organising volunteers for rock moving. We desperately need to repair much of the stone wall terraces but we first have to find additional rocks. Once again a perfect job to do when there's lots labour and a 4x4 with tow bar on hand.
Jack & I start the process of erecting the angle iron poles that were to support the chainlink fencing. Not very eco I know but goats are savage and I knew they would simply eat through any vaguely eco solution.
Internet research came up with this gem about goat fencing. If you can blow smoke through it - it won't contain goats.
Katie sets about working off her lunch and a few layers of clothes but ...
sorry guys ... it wasn't really that warm :-)
It took Den & I a good twenty minutes to unload these tiles onto a pallet but it was now in the way :-( Problem solved in 20 seconds when you have enough help! We need to organise more of these working weekends :-)
Nik, Den and I have since started the next section of chainlink and proved that the electric fence poles and charge unit work OK. Pictures to follow soon.
With the boundary cleared attacks of giggles took over as I realised I had no idea how the hell we were going to be able to erect a chain link fence along this edge.
I wanted to experiment with the electric fence unit that was as yet unboxed but I didn't have any fence poles. With a number of budding welders around we decided to make up some fence poles from lengths of rebar and thick plastic piping.
Nicky and Blazo got the spit roast fire underway.
Side note to flickr friend oldspice - did you notice the tyre wall you inspired. It's not finished yet but we're getting there - what do you think?
By the time I found my way to the food it had almost all gone so I just sat down where they were stripping the last of the carcass and got stuck in.
Alexa was espousing how tasty the brain is but then proceeded to prove that he wasn't quite sure where it was or how to get at it.
Carpeted living space and seperate (un)dressing room with clothes rail - well naturists need somewhere to hang their street clothes.
Elizabeth Mukwimba is a 62-year-old Tanzanian woman who now has solar lighting and electricity in her home at the flick of a switch, thanks to a scheme backed by UK aid.
Elizabeth has had an M-Power solar panel and lights fitted in her home by Off Grid Electric, a private sector company dedicated to providing sustainable, affordable energy to people in developing countries who aren't connected to the electricity grid.
It means that she now has lighting at home at night, which means she doesn't have to buy expensive kerosene. The money she's saved already has helped her put a new tin roof on her house. It also means her grandchildren can read and do their homework in the evening.
UK aid, working with the Dutch NGO SNV, is providing support to help Off Grid Electric expand its business to reach more and more people who live in remote, rural areas, through two international partnership programmes - Energising Development (EnDev), and the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund Renewable Energy and Adaptation to Climate Technologies (AECF REACT).
The UK's support to EnDev is a 'results based financing' facility - this provides a financial incentive for companies like Off Grid - meaning they only get access to finance if they meet a given target (increasing the number of people who have access to clean energy) over a fixed period of time. This acts to boost the market returns for private sector companies providing services to poorer consumers, thereby attracting investment and enabling continued market expansion after the project (and financial incentive) ends.
In less than 2 years, Off Grid Electric has installed solar power systems in over 22,000 homes across Tanzania, meaning many more people now have access to cheap, renewable electricity - a vital step forward in a country where less than 14% of the population are connected to the electricity grid.
Picture: Russell Watkins/Department for International Development
Here's the solar panel controller showing our battery is 100% charged and supplying power.
A big thank you to Spela Vidic of Domsolar in Slovenia who supplied the system and provided remote help with the installation. www.domsolar.com/
In order to ensure that our compost toilets have sufficient air for aerobic decomposition of the waste and thereby keep everything smelling sweet, we needed to install a small solar system to power fans that would constantly draw air down into the composting chambers and push it out through stench pipes above roof level.
We anticipate needing a total of 5 baths to filter and treat our waste water sufficiently before it is piped to the raised beds in the garden but for now 2 and a long length of pipe will have to do.
D-Day minus 10. We can't connect the water to the building until we have at least some of the grey water system installed. Nik starts establishing the levels and location of the baths.
While Den worked on completing the kitchen floor Nik and I moved on to the shower bases. Rather than skip them, a friend had given us a bunch of sample tiles and we were determined to re-use them even if it did mean complicated cuts and awkward positioning.
www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=83457042%40N00&sort=da...
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Tiny Bamboo House. Build with Guadua angustifolia
Access steps to the lower terrace was another project we had to contract out to our builder Miso. His brief was simple "I don't care how you do it, use whatever you can find on site and keep concrete use to a minimum". He managed to break up some of the larger rocks around the site and then cut up some of the reclaimed railway sleepers left over from building our perimeter fence. Great job Miso!
D-day minus 5. Thanks to some excellent photos and instructions from the solar panel suppliers The electric fans, solar panels, battery and solar charger are wired up.
Nik relocated his palatial tent and erected another for his friends who were also due to arrive on the same day.
Bit of a personal milestone - having never plumbed anything in with jointing compound and fibre before.