estwärts

As a newly assembled construction crew, we achieved a lot in the last few days. In the main house, Jorge and Bettina are knocking off the remaining plaster in the little tool room. The whole team clears out the tool room in the morning and puts everything back in at the end of the day. Now the entire main house is freed from the damp plaster and the beam walls can dry better!

In order to protect the beautiful box-type windows from further damage caused by the weather, Tobias has already made massive window covers in the previous days, which can be mounted firmly but without damaging the original window frames. Now all but one are hung up!

(The other )Tobias and Jakob have also made great progress on the barn roof: First they install a roof underlay and then attach wooden battens over it and finally the roof panels. Now the barn roof is closed again, there are only a few small things missing before this repair can be completely crossed off our to-do list. In addition, we also take care of the second barn door and make both door leafs fully operational.

Meanwhile, Bettina is working under the roof - not under the barn, but under the main house, with the roof damage already repaired on the outside. The moisture has also settled into the sand and moss that lies on the ceiling as insulation. So, in a crouched position under the roof, she shovels the damp area of the flooring down through the broken ceiling into a mason’s tub.

Meanwhile in the green area, Rüdiger gets a lime tree and an apple tree back into shape, while Lionel and Lola free two beautiful large larch trees (Marju tells us that they were planted in 1967) from the thuja and spruce hedges that have overgrown them. Over the years, these have mutated into tree-high walls that have blocked out the light not only from the farm, but also from the larch branches that had actually grown to the full height of the tree. All in all, the entire area facing the road is now well cleared. Of course, this produces a lot of green cuttings, which are piled up with combined forces to form another pile of green cuttings amongst many others created before.

In addition to the construction sites around and in the house, the kitchen is of course one of the most important tasks in a construction camp. Potato and leek soup and a curry dish ensure that we are well-fed and motivated to get on with the work. The obligatory shopping trips as well as trips to the beautiful spring are also well coordinated by the new kitchen team and both collecting water and going to the supermarket are interesting first impressions of Estonia outside Rihula.

Finally, Lukas, who has been with us from day one and has therefore been with us the longest, is getting ready to leave. But the construction camp doesn’t end there: now that the plaster has been removed from all the walls in the main house, we can continue with the soaked floors and we also have a few smaller construction sites planned for the barn and stables this year. See you soon!