It was an especially busy month at Chumbaria, although hindered by some very wet weather. The digger got stuck in the mud, which didn’t help with the new septic tank installation, luckily the rain didn’t last and the big diggers came back and continued to clear the top terraces of our land and the area for our new terrace.
The painter got three coats of paint on the outside of the first 2 houses, which are so bright you need sunglasses to look at them! On the inside the building team were hard at work installing the hempcrete blocks in both houses.
As soon as you enter either house the dry, damp free and the quiet atmosphere is immediately evident. We are using hempcrete blocks for insulation, because of the above properties and also because it is carbon negative and an integral part of our healthy buildings. Thanks to https://canhamorhemp.com for supplying our blocks and for being such a great team, doing a fantastic job.
The guys came to install the guttering and Nelson and his team finished the roofs and started building the retaining wall for the new terrace. The biggest highlight of construction work this month was the scaffolding finally came down (after a year) – what a difference it makes!
I (Sarah) got to escape from Chumbaria for my birthday and spent a relaxing few days with lovely friends on a mosaic retreat and created a lovely piece for one of the new houses. Whilst the builders were hard at work outside, we also started on the house we are currently living in and started to transform a damp, dark basement into a lovely warm lounge.
We are aiming to move into one of the new houses and once this house has had a makeover, we will use it for holiday rentals. With 3 dogs, 1 horse-dog (Stanley), over 60 volunteers and lots of friends and family, we have probably had close to 300 people through this house in the last 3 years. It is definitely in need of some TLC!
