Buying local

Here Barbara is buying at the local market. Obviously these two are enjoying their company. All foods come from local smallfarms. It is within a reasonable distance. What we don't have we buy. We have no hesitation in buying local. And the quality is all the more compared to supermarket goods.

Optimal vehicle combinations

Somewhat ominous here you see how our trailer is filled with a cubic meter of sand. I googled the weight of that. It seems a cubic meter weighs up to 1,5 tons. The trailer was way over it's maximum therefore. I took it easy. Anyhow, the mazda pickup and the trailer are the best buy if you know you are building. If you are building your own project and involved in buying and transporting a small pickup and trailer are indispensable. Masses of material can be bought by truck. In between and smaller loads you have to do your self. Otherwise the supplier is going to take the most effective way to get the goods to you. You will not know when they will arrive. Also transport costs are going to go up. The trailer is 3 meters long. The pickup is up to 14 years old. Technically that is also an advantage. These days auto builders are more and more choosing to build cars and profit from repairs. Therefore the cars are less durable. I am glad I bought a slightly older combination.

Googling in piles of paper property documentation

Every country in the world has it's own system for organizing, documenting and storing. The separation of Yugoslav countries also had to take place on administrative level. Through hundreds of years ownership, use, inheritance etc of real estate was done between people. It wasn't updated with every change in reality. Someone died. Family continued use of lands. Hey, we live here. What do we care about administration. Life is more important than paper. If you want to know something, if it is in the piles of paper they know their way in and the pile of paper has your document hidden, they know how to find it. They have some system in their head and they know how to google in age old piles of paper. They walk straight to it, pick up a bundle and out comes your document. And mind you, there are I think miles of those piles.

Guests from Leiden travelling to Mozambique

Our dutch friends the Colijn family from Leiden on the road to Mozambque arrived at our place in september 2012. We had a lot of fun together. Cooking and eating together. For their trip they have the best tools. A safari trailer and an air cooled landcruiser. For the jeep to cross the Mediterranean there was separate barge. They arrived earlier in Egypt. Some days later the barge arrived and they were reunited with their mobile camp combination. They are experienced overland long distance voyagers. Earlier they made a trip down east Africa and up west. They took more or less 2 years for that. In the meantime they experienced all kinds of adventures that have to do with border crossings, repares and long distance travelling in general. Let's say that every country has it's own culture of how they organize and administrate things. At least they are enjoying their house on the coast of the Indian ocean now. Marcel is contemplating going into farming. We are looking forward to their next steps.

Working together to create beauty

Ian posing as rightfully proud woodworker, designer, lifter of people to a higher quality level. 19 years old when he came and visited Bogata Suma end of 2012 he was an example in thoroughness, dedication in detaildness and also in influencing his surroundings to work on a high level of quality. He was an example for Mile, Mirko and last but not least me. He is from Philadelphia US. His father is a longstanding architect in the area. Ian must have inherited something from his father in the way he works. We will remember him when we feed rabbit in the cages he built. When we breed plants prior to planting we will work in the hothouse in the hothouse he created. He left a lot of traces. We are looking forward to his creative next steps in life. The porch was a created as exercise for Mile, Mirko and me to jump to a higher quality level of working with heavy wood. We will by successfully finishing this project be able to advertise what we are able to do. We will use the acquired skills to offer building capacity to projects in the region. Thereby we will probably start a new activity in building. Also inspiring a team to move on to a high level of quality is a challenge. The mind wants easy solutions. It takes concentration to maintain the course. It also shows these things can only be done as a team. So we thank this team. We are looking forward to many new projects where we can exercise creativity, dedication and fun and create beauty. In being together as well as the building results.

Porch takes shape

Cutting bricks to fit cones that later receive pillars. Here you see Mile cutting the cherry pillar to length. It had to be lifted off after measuring in place. Every step is new. The danger of making a measuring mistake is always present. It will mean a trip to the woods to find a new tree. The design is such that the pillar rests on a brick fundament that matches the diameter of the pillar.If you cut it to short there is no way back. A step forward to putting the first chestnut horizontal in place. It fit in one go. For a team that has never worked on this kind of project you can imagine we brought out the rakia to celebrate the moment.

Processing the heavy cherry pillars

Ian Rosenberg of Philadelphia found out one can sit on a skateboard and easily skin a tree of this dimension by riding back and forth. You see the faithful traditional tool on the tree. That cleaning prevents bugs and fungi creating a world under the bark. That process will quickly reduce trees to earth. Next we lift the supports in place by our old digging machine. In the background you see the tent under which we did a lot of work. No tent means a lot of stopping. Lengthening an otherwise straightforward project. It was meant to be the last project of 2012. Which it was. It is actually waiting completion because of weather conditions in the meantime were not permitting.