Phew…everything inside and outside just exploded into chaos these last few weeks.  Just a couple of weeks trying to take it easy has culminated in a majorly messy farm.  Okay, but we are ready to face the work and the gate has been fixed and now closes properly.  Yeah! Gnome said:

“…it’s still wonky though…but not so wonky….”

He had to change the hinges to these ones to shorten one side of the gate so that the gate would close properly:

Yeah, I know, you are probably thinking who would take pictures of their gate hinges?  Munchkin and Gnome of course because hinges are of vital importance in putting gates up…if you ever need to do it yourself, you will understand.  The Gate Closes!

Gnome has been making charcoal.  The first lot did not burn well so Gnome had to drill more holes in the bottom of the steel  drum to allow more air flow:

Now we have this burning continuously outside our house to make charcoal; what would the neighbours say?  It is a good thing that they are so far away!!  🙂

One load of wood packed into this drum reduces to about a quarter volume of charcoal.  Right now, we are using the charcoal to boil water for washing.  Gnome says that he is going to make me a charcoal cooking stove.  He is already trying to perfect the home-made tin stoves with air flow windows:

Watch this space for cooking Munchkin-Style on a tin charcoal stove…

Right now for our personal needs, Gnome needs to burn a drum of wood every three days.  Our hope is to entice Panda to start making charcoal and designate him head collier.   🙂