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Smallholder Magazine Article

Smallholder Magazine article “Natural Friendly Interiors

It’s got us in it!

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The Food Store / A Adega

Reg has been here for the last two weeks, putting shelves up in our adega. Yesterday Sophie was painting them with a linseed oil, turpentine and essential oil mix, to discourage insects.

Reg foi aqui para as últimas duas semanas, colocando-se na nossa adega prateleiras. Ontem Sophie estava pintando-os com óleo de linhaça, terebintina e óleos essenciais, para desencorajar a insetos.

adega

sophie treating the wood

Although we are still waiting for doors and windows, we do now have a lovely dresser for our cookery books, plates etc

Embora estejamos ainda à espera de portas e janelas, o que fazemos agora tem uma linda cômoda para a nossa culinária livros, placas, etc (is embora right? or perhaps apesar de)

dresser

Professional Repairs

Beth (mis)uses her degree in Furniture Restoration to repair one of our chairs!

A Beth usa o seu certificado na restauração da mobília para reparar uma das nossas cadeiras!

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Natural Tiles (in the Kitchen)

The natural unglazed tiles were a little more expensive than the ones we first bought (and sold on, as they weren’t exactly what we wanted). Now that they have been laid, we’re very happy that we bought what we wanted, and didn’t compromise.

O natural azulejos sem verniz foram um pouco mais caro do que os que compraram primeiro (e vendidos, porque eles não eram exatamente o que queríamos). Agora que elas tenham sido estabelecidas, estamos muito felizes que nós compramos o que queríamos, e nós não comprometer.

tiling

I used an angle grinder to cut the tiles to shape.

Eu usei um triturador para cortar as peças de forma.

cutting tiles

Some of the tiles were almost a centimetre smaller than others! Nightmare.

Alguns dos azulejos foram quase um centímetro menor do que outros! Pesadelo.

tiles in the kitchen

Now we need to treat them with a wax-based product, and then grout between them.

Agora temos que tratá-los com um produto à base de cera e, em seguida, argamassa entre eles.

azulejos na cozinha

And I think we will use the same tiles in the bathroom, where I need to sort out drains before the tiles can be laid.

E eu acho que vamos utilizar o mesmo azulejos no banheiro, onde eu preciso para resolver os esgotos antes de as telhas podem ser estabelecidas.

tiles in the kitchen

It is slow work, because everything has to be done around work in the gardens, cleaning the land for the summer, earning cash and occassionally remembering to have fun and socialise!

É lento trabalho, porque tudo tem de ser feito entre em trabalho nos jardins, limpeza do terreno para o Verão, ganhar dinheiro e, ocasionalmente, lembrando que se divertir e socializar!

i've been tango'd

We have power! / Temos o poder!

Yes, our panels have been installed, producing 24 volts into the battery bank, and then converted to 220 volts for the house electric system.

Sim, os nossos painéis foram instalados, produzindo 24 volts para a bateria banco e, em seguida, convertidos para 220 volts para o sistema elétrico da casa.

panels

Almost all the sockets, lights and wiring has been finished and we now have a washing machine running in the adega.

Quase todos os soquetes, fios e luzes, foi concluída e agora temos uma máquina de lavar roupa correr na adega.

solar electric kit

Yesterday, we were turning things on and off, to see the numbers change on the controller panel.

Ontem, fomos virar as coisas de vez em quando, para ver os números mudança no controlador painel.

controller

This morning the sun is pouring power into the batteries, after we climbed onto the roof to clean the panels.

Esta manhã o sol está despejando potência para as baterias, após a nossa subida para o telhado para limpar os painéis.

cleaning panels

We have some very interesting lights in the house and they all have LED lightbulbs with a maximum power of 6 watts (very bright).

Nós temos alguns muito interessantes luzes da casa e todos têm LED lâmpadas eléctricas com uma potência máxima de 6 watts (muito brilhante).

chandelier

lights

Writing in portuguese is not easy for me. But I will persevere and learn (thanks google translate!)
Yesterday I bought a teenage reading book, also to help with my portuguese.

Escrever em Português não é fácil para mim. Mas vou perseverar e aprender (graças Traduz Google!)
Ontem eu comprei um livro de leitura adolescente, também de contribuir com o meu Português.

Batteries Arrived

Our solar batteries arrived this morning. 12 x 2 volt solar batteries. Just waiting on the the invertor and regulator, and for Dave who is doing our wiring to return from a trip away, and we can get our solar power system sorted.

baterias

PRACTICAL PHOTOVOLTAICS
Author: R Komp
A comprehensive guide to the theory and reality of solar electricity, also a detailed installation and instruction manual. Lots of good technical and practical stuff – enough to construct.
£14.95

Monika the Magnificent Mosaic Maker

Finally got around to funkying up the outdoor bathroom. wwoofer Monika laid a mosaic on the floor and we lined the edge of the pathway and sides of the bath with granite stones. Just got to plant around the edges now with herbs to go in the bath, which will be watered by run-off from the shower (will have to put a pic of that up here too).

monika

More Mosaic

zoey & stew making a fabulous mosaic around the laundry sink which we are going to incorporate into an outside kitchen. can you believe this is their first attempt at mosaic-making!

mosaic

Two Step

Yee-hah! The “ski slope” is, slowly, becoming steps. It takes two days to make one step, 2 done so far. May reach the top by the end of the year …..

step2

shed door

the new door on the new chicken shed, with my little bro who carpented it for us