estwärts

Over the last two days, the focus has been on creating order and an overview at many construction sites. Starting on Tuesday morning. While we members of the Estwärts foundation plan the next few days in a plenary session, Tobias cuts down eight spruce trees next to the main house at record speed. In a joint effort, the trunks are delimbed and everything is carried to the green waste pile. The whole thing happens so quickly that we didn’t even manage to capture the action in a picture. Unfortunately we can only show you the cut stumps, which now open up a new walkway directly around the main house. The space is also needed for further roof work.

In addition to the woodwork in Rihula, a full car drives to Marju and Georg in the afternoon to help making firewood. We are pleased to be able to give something back after all the support we have received. We have to get a few heavy logs from the forest next door and chop them small. Despite the great catering with jam pancakes, it’s quite an exhausting task!

In the main house, the dust is clearing and the clean-up work is progressing. Hammering and chiseling continues on both days. In three of the four large rooms, the plaster has now been removed from the walls and the ceiling tiles from the intermediate ceiling. This has already significantly changed the smell of the house. As scent transmission has not yet been invented on the internet, you will have to be sattisfied with our description: After smelling clammy and old at the beginning, it is now fresh and dusty from the plaster removal.

We also continue to tidy up the outside area. Rüdiger and Jo prune trees and remove dead wood. Everywhere you can see somebody cutting gras, raking and transporting the mown biomass away. Slowly you can get an idea of what the garden might once have looked like. Small trees, berry bushes and fences keep emerging from the tall greenery, revealing more and more of the original picture. In the meantime, some important areas have been uncovered and we can move on from just getting an overview to designing the garden. Rüdiger, Lukas and Anna are laying the foundations today and starting to build a deadwood hedge.

Another major clean-up has now been completed after several days of intensive work: The remains of a collapsed wooden shed lay next to the barn. However, we need the space to erect the scaffolding for the roof work on the barn. That’s why Anna, Lukas and Tobias dig planks out of the nettles and remove the nails from them. We can use the planks for other building sites and Tobias starts to do that right away by building trestles from them. Furthermore, we have to remove the last large pieces of two fallen oak trees that lie between the remains of the shed.

There are several building projects that contribute to order and comfort in this year’s kitchen and living area. To improve the storage options in the kitchen, Anne and Janne are building a kitchen shelf so that we no longer have to store all our supplies in boxes on the floor.

On the riverbank, David and Stella are working on an improvised river refrigerator. They put a barrel in the knee-high water and build it in such a way that it doesn’t get washed away. Stella also makes a net for unopened food - we hope that the tofu doesn’t get through the mesh, otherwise the consistency of the bolognese will suffer.

The view of the new fridge and the lately built pier can be enjoyed even better in future. Sören is building a “romantic bench” (working title) from sharpened stakes and boards, which will be exposed to the evening sun. The night before, the poles were charred in a fire to increase the longevity of the construction. Will the bench be decorated with a carved heart?

Klaas and Hagen are back on the scaffolding today. Most of the roof is already sealed, but the chimney is still a weak point. On the one hand, there are some loose bricks that could damage the roof, and on the other, the transitions to the roof are no longer tight. The solution: They remove the loose bricks and build a hat for the chimney to keep out rain and melt water.

Back on the ground, the two of them tackle the barn doors. These are hanging loosely on their hinges - one hinge is missing - and can only be moved by lifting them. A few screws and boards later, and a new hinge from the former shed, things look completely different. Now the movie theater can really open its doors in the future.

After work, we are supposed to have buckwheat with mushroom sauce for dinner, but one essential ingredient is still missing. So Janne and Petra set off into the forest, fighting deer lice and mosquitoes and luckily come back with a well-filled basket full of delicious chanterelles. We now head to the table and say see you soon!