Working towards building a shelter to allow us living in our new home

The farm did not come with an inhabitable house. A lot of design, planning, renovation and construction work is required to set up housing and work infrastructure. It will take time and patientience, especially because the craftsman are almost fully booked for the entier year. Just another challenge yet. In the meantime to allow Kimoni and me to live on site, Ben is helping me to set up a yourte and to build a bathroom and kitchen in the old piggery.

A yourte needs a platform to stand on. Last week I designed the yourte platform. It took me a while to decide on the best design because the placement will be temporary and I wanted to use as little concrete as possible. But as it gets very windy at Rouzies and the platform will be standing on a hill, some concrete for the foundation was necessary. After I had decided on the design, we measured out the hight of the different posts with a laser level and drew the design in 1:1 size on the floor. This allowed us to know the deailed dimensions and prepare the timber order in a way that would create minimal waste and thus costs. On the weekend we poored the foundation for the platform posts. We also remove a huge piece of rock called "lento" above the entry to the part of the piggery that will house the dry toilet. Removing this was quite a challenge. There was no way the two of us could lift the lento. We built a sledge to slide it to the floor and then I loaded it with the fork of my tractor: It is important to note that this was also my VERY FIRST time to drive a tractor!!