estwärts

Hello everyone,

As the year draws to a close, we would like to take a look back at the work we did last summer. In addition to many smaller construction sites, we had three larger construction projects in particular that took a longer period of time to complete. Of course, there were also various excursions, cultural events, and lots of exchanges. You can read more about these in the blog entries from this summer. Below, we would like to give you a better overview of the progress of the stage construction in the barn, the restoration of the windows, and the construction of the toilet block.

Let’s start with the barn: You may remember that in 2024, we shoveled away a lot of soil that had slid from the earth cellar to the barn.

The soil lying on top and the moisture have severely damaged both the boarding and the load-bearing elements of the barn.

So we remove the old boarding, repair the foundation, and replace the rotten beams.

But we don’t just want to restore the barn wall, we also want to work on expanding our cultural barn, and of course we need a stage for that! Little by little, a basic framework of beams is taking shape.

Then “quickly” put the floor on top…

and attach the boarding.

Then the time had come: shortly after completion, we were able to officially inaugurate the stage during our farm festival. A successful start—we look forward to more events!

With the completion of the work on the barn, the window construction site is really picking up speed. We want to restore the old box windows of the main house. To do this, we first remove the (partly still intact) glass panes, remove the old putty and paint, and sand down the wooden frames.

We then oil the clean windows with linseed oil.

The next step is to prepare the putty for inserting the window panes. To ensure it has the right consistency, it is kneaded in the hand a little before use.

We then prepare the putty bed for the window pane, insert it, and secure it with glazier’s nails.

Once the pane is firmly in place, the putty can also be applied and smoothed from the other side.

The putty now needs to dry for longer before we can paint the windows. We have therefore stored them away for the winter and will continue working on them next summer. Around half of the windows will be ready for painting by the end of this construction hut. So this work will keep us busy for a while yet.

In the second half of the construction hut, the construction of our compost toilet is also progressing rapidly. As soon as the materials and detailed plans are available, we can really get started.

Now, the foundation for the cottage is being prepared and the beams for the basic framework are being cut to size so that they can simply be slotted together later.

The construction then progresses quickly…

…and soon the little house is taking shape.

We add the formwork and the roof,

Then all that’s missing are the doors and the interior fittings.

Well packaged, it will hopefully survive the winter unscathed.

The farm is currently covered in a light dusting of snow, and we are already looking forward to being able to spend time there in winter in a few years’ time. However, there is still a lot to do before then, even though a lot has already happened in the last two years.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported and accompanied our project so far. Thank you very much for your help, your donations, and your loans! Without the many large and small contributions, our work would not have been possible. We wish you all a good start to the new year and look forward to seeing some of you again in Rihula in August.