For the past 18 months we have been living a very interesting lifestyle, no electricity, running water or walls. Thought I might share some of our more eciting experiences and lessons learned.

For those who dont know we moved onto a 10 acre property that did not have a house on it, in fact the place had gone unnoticed by the locals for the past 60 years. As the view from the road was completely blocked by trees most people thought it was part the neighbours place, even the for sale signs didnt ring any alarms as the neighbours was for sales as well.

Great news for us as it was the last undeveloped property in the area and we bought it for a song. The owner lived in Melbourne and had no idea how much property prices had increased in the area.

So we borrowed a caravan, pulled down the ancient old milking shed (that someone had thoughtfully concreted a couple of decades ago) and threw up a humpy. I can brag that my home only took two weeks to build a cost $600 dollars, including beer :D

The old milking shed before we moved in.

The caravan arrives.

Few few burly boys, a sledge hammer and a bush jack make short work of the old milking shed.

A professional roofer willing to work for beer and food was a gift from the heavens.

The humpy all finished. Never did put up any real walls, mostly tarps and a couple pieces of tin. The side near the tent was left permanently open as it is on the east and the weather always comes from the west.

Oops, forgot to preview and resize. My appologies to anyone on dialup.

First lesson learnt – boys, beer and chainsaws are a very bad idea.

The first tree cut down, the one on an angle, got caught in another tree. My idea of getting the car and pulling it out was over ruled and the decision to cut down the second tree was reached.

Running away with a chainsaw is also not a very bright idea.

a lot like my life on 26 acres in the adelaide hills in the seventies.

good reading but a hard lifestyle. tell us more.
good piccies too.

For a start.. you should have called me in to do the chainsaw work.. luckily no one seems to have been killed or injured but the safety practices and knowledge of tree felling appear both to be absent.

Anyway.. have you read “the mud house” by Richard Glover.. well worth the read.. ;)

shell bell said:

Running away with a chainsaw is also not a very bright idea.

lol!

>Running away with a chainsaw is also not a very bright idea.

Would that be eloping or elopping?

CollieWA said:

>Running away with a chainsaw is also not a very bright idea.

Would that be eloping or elopping?

ROTFPIMP!!!

CollieWA said:

>Running away with a chainsaw is also not a very bright idea.

Would that be eloping or elopping?

giggles

awesome thread! Thanks for sharing!

Good thread, Few trees around here that have been cut down by us as well, going to get my Chainsaw Ticket.

The kitchen floor saga.

When we first moved in the kitchen floor had a nice covering of grass, turns out that grass dies without water or sun. In a stroke of brilliance I spread a nice thick layer of straw, smelt devine but came with a few drawbacks.

A flea infestation saw the end of the straw. We settled on carpet as the replacement, not such a good idea after two floods, a mass chicken break out while on holidays and a calf with an impressive ability to produce a weeks worth of poop in one day. The compost was looking pretty good but the carpet was finished, its now killing weeds.

A donated roll of lino came to our rescue and proved to be very effective, except now I have a chore I havnt preformed in over a year – washing the floor. I had to go out and buy a mop.

Since moving back to the house we have discovered that cows prefer to poop on carpet. The old bedroom floor now needs to be composted, but the lino in the kitchen is still in tip top condition.

shell bell said:

The kitchen floor saga.

When we first moved in the kitchen floor had a nice covering of grass, turns out that grass dies without water or sun. In a stroke of brilliance I spread a nice thick layer of straw, smelt devine but came with a few drawbacks.

A flea infestation saw the end of the straw. We settled on carpet as the replacement, not such a good idea after two floods, a mass chicken break out while on holidays and a calf with an impressive ability to produce a weeks worth of poop in one day. The compost was looking pretty good but the carpet was finished, its now killing weeds.

A donated roll of lino came to our rescue and proved to be very effective, except now I have a chore I havnt preformed in over a year – washing the floor. I had to go out and buy a mop.

Since moving back to the house we have discovered that cows prefer to poop on carpet. The old bedroom floor now needs to be composted, but the lino in the kitchen is still in tip top condition.

hee, hee. Sweet :)

Since moving back to the house we have discovered that cows prefer to poop on carpet. The old bedroom floor now needs to be composted, but the lino in the kitchen is still in tip top condition.
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love the nest of eggs laid in the kitchen – talk about fresh!

pepe said:

Since moving back to the house we have discovered that cows prefer to poop on carpet. The old bedroom floor now needs to be composted, but the lino in the kitchen is still in tip top condition.
——————————————————

love the nest of eggs laid in the kitchen – talk about fresh!

Right next to the stove, it’s nice when the live stock are thoughtful :D

Wow Shell Bell…. what cool photos and such fun to read:D