2017 saw the completion of the barn, the rebuilding of the superyurt, more tree planting and the near completion of the shed that will house our electricity supply when it arrives in March. All of this cost us a fortune and the quotes for getting our detailed plans and building warrant totally floored us – we won’t see any change out of £5000 just for a few bits of paper! I have had to take on more work to try and build up our pot of money to afford the aforementioned bits of paper and Mick’s hip has deteriorated to the point where he was questioning his ability to take part in the build at all. On top of everything else, Mick lost his mum in January and his Dad in November. It’s been a dark time and we have spent many long nights considering our position and whether to jack it all in and move to Ullapool. We have been generally uncommunicative with a lot of people as we were fed up moaning about stuff and for those of you who are interested in our progress I apologise for the lack of updates here. Thankfully, we have some fantastically supportive friends who have seen us through with their technical know how, kind words, generous deeds and the occasional bottle of whiskey – you know who you are and we are very grateful to have you in our lives. On balance, we have decided to carry on with our project and make some thing beautiful and productive in Badrallach.
We are currently spending a cosy winter in a little rented cottage in Leckmelm as the prospect of another winter with no electricity was a bridge too far – what we save in diesel is pretty much paying for the rent 🙂 We will return to Badrallach in April with renewed vigour and are hoping that Mick will have begun his transformation into the Bionic Man and be sporting a shiny new hip by then – we’re still waiting for a date but it can’t be long now.
Which brings us to now, the beginning of 2018, our plan for this year is to get those bits of paper, install some electricity and rabbit proof our planting beds so that we actually produce some edible goodies this year, we also plan to plant significant wind breaks and stands of bamboo to provide us with plant supports as well as being beautiful when the breeze blows through them. We have a preference for black bamboo (Phyllostachys Nigra) like we planted in Ednam but it has been very hard to get hold of so far.
Our goals for next year are fairly modest but given that Mick will be recuperating and I’ll be working more, we think they’re realistic.
So to all our friends, near and far, we send you lots of love and hope that you have a wonderful 2018.
lochofathousandwinds 