PawPaw Chutney

the Log

We learn a lot out of cyclones, yeah really. 
                                                     We learned that not all is bad and horrible...and good comes from bad ( if you allow it to)

Todays story is about...the Log.  Which was a beautiful tree before  , then came cyclone Winston - blew it over and then it was an obstruction.....

6 months later Claude needed wood for the bathroom floor....and he had another A-Ha moment!

So , with a chainsaw he cut the tree and then ...with a CHAINSAW , he cut the log in three slabs...
ask any woodworker - that is not easy without a mill.

His tools - string, sharpie pen, chainsaw, 2 nails and a spirit level.....
Oh he says, and a steady hand....

 He cut three slabs and unfortunately when this photo was taken , he already moved the first slab.

       BUT disaster struck !

  Whilst cutting the log, the wood started to split and Claude had to do some damage control...

He nailed a brace at the bottom of the log to keep it from splitting further.

and then the sanding started...sanding and sanding....

varnishing after that,  don't know how many coats...but it was a lot ( and sanding the previous coat off every time...
                                         OK , not really , but that is what it looked like)

I was obviously the one varnishing and Claude the one sanding  :)

OH, and then came  the installation of these slabs on the floor of our outdoor/indoor  en suite bathroom . 

 I kept away the whole day, did not want to spoil the first look....

HERE IS YOURS.....

                                    This is Claude's  TA - DA moment !

                                                                 no WORDS needed. 
                                           except - congratulations Claude !!

Marvelous job ,  using what- you- have to make something spectacular....


                                          This is the organic bathroom floor of Cabin #3


I made a movie while he was cutting the final slab  - watch it here 

BA Town Hall

                                                      BA TOWN HALL - CIRCA 1879

This beautiful old Town Hall came up for tender in 2009.. We were successful with our bid  and this hall became ours.

                                 Halls Hall.

                         We stored the timber for years and finally in 2012 we started to use the timber

.                     We had a choice - Either put the Hall back up as it was when it was constructed in 1890....

                               Or use the Oregon Pine and old wood - and build something different.

The inside of this beautiful building.  Although old and flooded a few times , we thought the timber was still pristine.  

  We realise  that some of the timber were subjected to ....".shrinkage"........during storage at our factory.  At least it was under cover there , but since we moved it to the farm, it was stored in the open.....

Another view of  inside of this beautiful building.  

One of the conditions of obtaining this Hall was to dismantle it and move the timber away from its original site....

 

  Because we were not sure how much wood was pilfered or damaged during the years in storage, we decided to build cabins....

What we made from a 1879 Town Hall........

.

mr Lumber Jack - aka Claude

Cyclone Winston did not just take and destroy - I guess it is how you look at life!

IN its wake were fallen over trees, snapped branches ...actually a treasure !

Look what Claude made from this -

 

Back breaking work for my man!  He cut the branch and then cut three slabs from the branch using a chainsaw!!!  

...............can we have a drum roll...clap-clap-clap!!!!!..................................

Here is a nice view of the slabs.

and then he sanded it . and sanded ....and sanded.....

a little bit of varnishing......

an  update on  the final product.....

after Winston update ....

It is 8 months since we had Winston, a cat 5 , very destructive cyclone.

It came and went , leaving in its path  destroyed homes, lives....

we were more lucky on our side of the island.  Compared to the northern side, our loss was not soo big.  But this was not the first cyclone we had.  Three years ago Naciriyawa had to start again after cyclone Evan....

This time, we suffered destruction to our nursery, our paddock fencing got knocked down by trees and branches, our kitchen got blown over, goat and chicken pens were destroyed....

 
 

 SO, we looked at what we have, what the most important jobs were....and we started clearing.

Friends offered help , assistance, financial support from all over the world and we are sooo thankful for every hand and dollar that helped us over these past few months.

back breaking work....every day....

It was not all hard work , and no play though ....

New vegetable gardens were made....

and then , once again , we started to see the fruits of our labour.....

Thank you all

Thank you Fiji

life is not too bad !

pics and videos of kitchen damage after Winston  - click here

and more pics and videos - here