We woke at 5am to a nervous knocking at our bedroom door. Our housemate had awoken to a steady wooshing noise. The origin of the noise soon became clear as I stepped into our suddenly torrential kitchen, water and steam flowing steadily from under the bathroom door, wet feet confusing sleep dazzled brains. The hot water pipe under the sink had burst and drenched everything! After the water was turned off the damage only seemed superficial, but the most pressing danger was the water lapping against the timber stairs. (Thank goodness for stone floors!). So our day began with a 5am mopping session after which instead of starting bright and early on our final preparations for the Blitz we staggered back to bed. Our housemate Laura, disturbed by our night mopping got up early and decided to bake, so we woke at a more respectable hour to a much pleasanter sound and I might add smell or baked oat biscuits.

It has been a week of working bees with friends and family stopping by just when we needed an extra hand. Laura and I marvelled at just how much faster two extra people could make the earthbag building. Tarps barely holding the spring showers at bay, and ominous forecasts for Sunday. Our most surprising little helper was the little girl next door who was sent over as punishment for naughtiness (a convenient way for her parents to get her out of their hair), who was astonishingly dedicated to the task of filling and rendering the garden beds and wore a air of serious concentration the whole time.

Please comment on this post if you found it interesting, I’d love to hear about your gardening exploits!

YOU MIGHT LIKE TO CLICK: