sailing the farm - come join our boatbuilding/sailing coop!

[zeyang]

Newsletter December 2011.

Dear Sea Gypsies,

Things are looking very Christmassy now, as the snow falls and we
prepare to delve into the forest on the hunt for the perfect Christmas
tree. Snow isnt quite at head-height yet, since its been a tropical
December. Today shows a toasty -10 on the thermometer. Woofers are
holding their breath, waiting to see some proper winter-conditions,
thus facilitating giant snowmen, igloo-building, skiing, and perhaps a
model sailing ship crafted from snow and ice? Anything is possible on
the farm!

This month however has been a sad one. Our friend and one of the
seagipsy family, Casper, died a few weeks ago. At almost 14 years
old, he was happy, eating many waffles, until the end of his life. We
buried him in a peaceful spot overlooking the raspberry patch. He was
a beautiful dog with a beautiful heart; we know many of you loved
Casper and he will always be remembered.

Other news is that, after a much-needed trip to the Canaries for some
of us for some serious sailboat spotting, we are back and working hard
to...yes, you guessed it, work of the roof which is now thankfully
finished! Otherwise we have been trench-digging, honey-stirring,
shed-cleaning and wall-painting, trying to finish everything that
needs doing before our beards and toes start to freeze. All of us are
itching to get back into the boat shed however, desperate as we are to
start sewing the sails, melting the ballast, carving the mast and
welding the deck...only a few more steps until our beautiful sailboat
is ready for her maiden voyage!

If you want to join our happy sea-gypsy tribe, feel free to drop us a
line.

Have a good Christmas everyone, and remember to put out a big bowl of
porridge for the Fjosnisse. This gnome lives in the barn and he can
get cranky if he doesn't get his fair share at Christmas!

Pictures of the month

a: Finding a nice christmas tree in the forest.
b. two pretty mermaids painting the storage shed inside.
c. Casper, our beloved sailboat dog passed away this month.
d. and again, merry christmas to all of you from all of us!


http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php...1&d=1324226133
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php...1&d=1324226141
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php...1&d=1324226147
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php...1&d=1324226152

[starsapphire]

Thanks for sharing your journey with us. I really enjoy your posts.

Merry Christmas!

[zeyang]

Newsletter February 2012. .

Dear Sea Gypsies,

Spring is slowly coming our way, This winter has been really nice
compared to last winter. It has seldom been below -15, which is quite
out of normal.

We had a really nice christmas on the farm, with lots of friends and
seagypies. This year Santa Claus had an australian accent. We tried to
teach him the only one and important centence in norwegian - "Are
there any nice children here" but in last minute he forgot - but the
"kids" still got their presents. The small ones got proper
vikinghelmets and dress of course.... What else for seagypses?

Else we have been doing regular winter maintainance on the farm and
been looking forward to the spring. The boat project is going forward
working on small and big pieces on the boat. We have been doing some
work on how to make a furnace to melt all that scrap aluminum into
more useful stuff like portholes. Casting is not something new. People
have been doing thise for ages. Hopefully we manage to make something
out of brick run on propane or better firewood which we have plenty of
up here. Any foundry and casting experience out there?

Anyway, its quite busy up here now but dont forget to enjoy the early
spring folks! .. and if you want to join our tribe please contact us!

Pictures.

a. Enjoy christmas dinner with friends and seagypies.
b. A young seagypsy quite happy whith his christmaspresent - proper
viking helmet!
c. Out walking the mast. Even a mast need some fresh air these days!
d. We want to duplicate these guys! Anyone with casting/foundry
experience out there? We want to learn!


a: http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php...1&d=1330274085
b: http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php...1&d=1330274091
c: http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php...1&d=1330274096
d: http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php...1&d=1330274103

[zeyang]

Newsletter April 2012. .

Dear Sea Gypsies,

Still some time until we are ready to put the seeds into the soil. Its
more or less -5 degrees C during night last weeks but daytime is above
zero.

The days have been spent welding and welding and when we havent done
welding we have spent time troubleshoot welding machines. They have a
tendency to break down unfortunately. So we bought 2 more big
machines. We also got hold of another ton of lead. There seems to be
no end to how much lead we need for ballast.

Ahh yes. We got more chickens on the farm. one of our hens found out
we need some easter chickens this year and she missed by 2 days. Not
bad. The small one is a little shy so its hard to take a picture
without getting attacked by the angry mother.

Today it will be traditional easter-dinner here on the farm with
people from near and far. Wish you all fair winds and following seas
and hope you all have a peacful easter.

picture from last weeks.

a: our chickens are enjoying longer and warmer days.
b: two more welding machines arrived on the farm.. It seems we cant
get enough welding machines.
c: Our easter chicken arrived 2 days before easter.


http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php...1&d=1333813538
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php...1&d=1333813545
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php...1&d=1333813551

[zeyang]

Newsletter May 2012.

Dear Sea gypsies

Spring has come to the farm! And then came summer, and then a few
blustery days of fall, and finally last Friday and Saturday it snowed
again. But that will be the last snow of the year, we hope - the mild
weather seems to have returned, the trees are leafing out, the
wildflowers are springing up around the river, the bees and the
neighbors have come out of hibernation (again), and we are hard at
work.

This week we mixed a few tons of lovely manure compost into the soil
of the north field, and planted eleven rows of potatoes - by hand -
which should give us about 300 kilos of potatoes in the fall to feed
hungry sea-gypsies all next winter. Next week we'll plant carrots and
onions, and move some tender warm-weather starts to our new greenhouse
- radishes, bok choi, spinach, parsley, beets, and sugar peas so tall,
they might start climbing us if we don't get them out of the kitchen
soon.

Work on the boat has really picked up recently. We've been distracted
with planting, and replumbing the bathroom, and building coldframes
and the new greenhouse - but now that the potatoes are in the ground
and the sea-gypsies are in the bath (phew), we are back in the
boatshed all the time. Our resident woodworker is about to start work
on a wooden dinghy from a traditional Norwegian design, just as soon
as he gets the greenhouse finished. And we cast two tons of lead
ballast, a very medieval process involving a wood-fired furnace in the
yard. The boat will eventually carry five tons, so there is more
casting to do as soon as the scrap yard has more lead for us.

Inside the boat we're sealing off the keel with aluminum plates - the
bow is nearly done, and then we can put in the last of the bow ribs.
In the stern, we're wrestling with engine placement - it needs to be
high enough to fit the cooling system and the primary diesel tank
underneath, but low enough that the propeller clears the stern.
Hmmmmm. Fortunately there's plenty to do while we're thinking about
it - like put on the deck! The boat will start looking dramatically
different very soon and we're all pretty excited.

As always, there's room for more in our big sea-gypsy tribe - so if
you like planting, weeding, shoveling, soldering, sawing, nailing,
welding, grinding, sewing, cooking, drilling, knitting, routering,
getting headbutted by chickens, watching 2-hour sunsets, measuring,
cutting, re-measuring, thinking, re-re-measuring, making bread,
reading sea books, eating waffles or knot-tying, drop us a line!


Picture from last weeks.

a: Sea gypsy girl making psykedelic chair-protection for the chairs.

b: Shaping wood with router

c: Potato-planting.

d: lead melting girl finished melting 2 tonns in one week.


http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php...1&d=1337015044
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php...1&d=1337015051
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php...1&d=1337015058
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php...1&d=1337015064

[Ali Lee]

Oh, to be young & adventurous.....