Yeah, We Got A Loan!

  We are happy to announce that we received a loan for the renovation. Let the real work begin! What it means in all reality is that everything just became a little harder as we now have to pick out all the items we want for the kitchen and bathrooms. This is not an easy task with so much to chose from. While we think about this you get to enjoy some pictures from the continued clearing of the garden area.

 We found several red and black currant bushes buried in nettle and tall grasses.

Garden rows ready for summer (evidence of growth coming soon)

These pretty flowers have already turned in to delicious strawberries. 

Playhouse Down

    The typical Swedish country property has many buildings, large and small. Often the kids are blessed with their own playhouse but, after years of neglect, our playhouse had fallen to disrepair and was more of an eyesore than a useful play area. The only one enjoying the place was our cat Flea who used it as a hide out.

   It was with joy that I took a sledgehammer to it after removing the windows and the door. It proved to be a good workout for the upper body and the quads. Who needs crossfit when you have a farm to fix up!

   The wood was unfortunately rotten so instead of reusing it we had an awesome bonfire during a birthday party. There is nothing like a bunch of people enjoying a cozy little fire in the middle of the night (thanks for the picture Fredrik N).  Yes, I did say the middle of the night. It is never quite dark in Sweden during the summer.

   Skip will remove a few of the stones before we fill in the area with grass to expand our lawn into the area. It is going to look great!!

Flagpole Felling or Quick and Easy (not really...)

 
 
   Tarnished, rusty, dirty, mossy, dented, bent- these words all apply to the Bjorkliden flagpole. Now, thanks to a surprising amount of work, it is once again the regal banner holding staff that anyone would be proud to call their own.

Remember the Birches

   I borrowed this photo from FilliQuist Studio since I posted it there first. The reason that I took the birch trees down when I did was to get the wood detached from the ground before it could absorb all of the sap that is pushed out of the roots back into the tree in spring. Avoiding all that sap greatly helps the wood dry by next winter.
   So this year I decided to extract some of the sap from the tree to make beer. The tree easily filled a 10 gallon (25 liter) jug in just under two days (to think the sap runs for 3-4 weeks!) out of a 1/2 (13mm) hole. After boiling and adding all the ingredients it was ready to bottle after 2 weeks. It has a light body and a 7% content. It just needs to sit for a few months and should be ready for midsummer.
You can see the recipe here. It is worth trying! We can't wait to give review's on this homemade brew!

Pool Removal and Landscape Restoration

BEFORE

AFTER

  Pretty simple really.  Pool/No pool. There are plans to have a pool in the future, one that is permanent and will be integrated into the barn on the left. There are no more broken windows or loose shards of glass, old pallets, or a "law suit waiting to happen" deck. For now the neat pile of deck is waiting to be moved and reassembled into a deck for the work studio..... but that is another project.

More crummy weather and hiding inside

  I want to finish stacking wood and disassemble the deck that used to stand next to the pool but the weather just is not cooperating. I generally enjoy working in all types of weather to a certain extent but this..... this weather makes me hide. Seriously! It looks like bird feathers are falling out there!
   So I will hide inside and get the plans for the house drawn up on the computer. Since I don't want to clutter up the page with computer screen shots click to see them after the jump!

Reflections on an Old Pool

    The previous owner was kind enough to leave an above ground pool for us. Being very tired of stacking wood I (Skip) decided to take a break and remove this eye sore.  (The POOL!)