It’s that time for my yearly commentary about my little farm in Loksbergen
Eight weeks i was again living the dream. This time even the weather was living the dream. Exotic temperatures were displaying day after day.
At my arrival 5 pallets of concrete,sand and stones were waiting. It was time to pour some concrete. First there was a big clean up of wild flora and a few piles of broken stones that needed to be moved from one side to another.
My front garden, is getting to his end game. A Little bridge connects one side to the other side of the pond. All the little walkways in the front garden are now connected. The entrance of the parking to the garden has now an access of three big steps and only one garden wall still needs to be erected and its just a matter of decking stones and the little gravel stones on the path, and the front garden is completely finished. The only thing that would make the front garden look different every year is the grow of my fruit plants and other plants.
The back garden is still a long way of the finishing touch. And this year there was not much activity going on in the back garden . Except the plants , who are now getting a decent sizes. The only thing that changed was the start of a patio. The resting area in the back garden is been layed out, and the first brick walls has been erected.
All by all, i would say that the garden in my little farm is finished about around 70 %. So i’m quit happy and still in head of my schedule that i placed myself 5 years ago.
One big unexpected project of my holiday in the year of 2018 was the visual connection between my front garden and back garden , the back shed that was dividing my property in two different parts has been reduced to a wall of less then a metre. Now i’m able to see all the way to my back garden to see if Eve has decided to come along and to pick her favourite fruit.
The driveway is now closed to the public. From this day on I'm in my legally right to shoot people trespassing my property, except i’m in the wrong country to do so. The gate in the driveway is a reminder of all the things that were dogged out the dirt during my last summers.
The inside of the house is still a slowly process. Slowly , very slowly, the interior walls are getting treated. A few walls are rendered, but still i’m only on 40% of my schedule inside the house. So the next holiday time , definitely more energy and more money needs to be spend to get the inside going.
But 2018 is an important year. I’m half way of my serious drain of financial means. I’m not counting how many years i’m already paying a decent amount to the bank. but counting how many years i still have to work like a fool to keep the money flowing to the bank.
Again i was travelling back in time, i lost count how many times i travelled back and forward in time. But surprisingly the flight went without problems. even the luggage was were i had to picked it up on my arrival in Brussels. After two days of travelling i was back again on Belgian soil.
This time tradition was broken. my parents were waiting at the airport instead of my sis, to drive me to my little farm . But my my sister and godchild still decided to have a break in their centerparcs holiday and were waiting at the farm.for our arrival.
After a short reunion after a long time being away from home and family and a short dinner ,my sister, godchild and parents left to their own destinations to leave me in peace after the long flight around the world and to recuperate from jet lag in my own little farm.I had only one night, because the next day i was heading to centerparcs. My sister still had a few days in the parc, so i was heading that way to join her.I spend the following couple days enjoying the company of my sister and godchild, who in one year changed from a non verbal child to a child that can’t keep up with his own thoughts to keep us informed.
The holiday is already gone while i’m writing and following up on my blog , on urgent demand of my sister. If i look back , i think where did it go. I have been away for 8 weeks, but where are they. What happened with those weeks.I know that i worked at the farm, but it seems that that was the only thing i did, if i look back.
I remember a beach festival. a night out dancing with friends. I remember that i had a visitor for two weeks named Billy. An English bulldog. was coming to my farm to have a relaxed holiday. No stress around him, just moving from one place to lay down to the other one. Having a walk around the labyrinth of walkways in Euralia. It was great to have a four leg walking around the farm. I always loved dogs and having one now, even if it was only temporary, was a hint of the life i dream of. After Billy,s happy reunion with his family after two weeks Euralia parc, jumping in the family car without looking back and heading to his territory, i kept talking to the dog noticing he wasn’t around anymore. It was easier getting used to having a four legger around then not having one around.My sister and godchild spend several nights in Euralia parc , visiting Billy. and enjoying the heat in eve’s garden . Even my godchild was catching the building microbe and started to help putting a wall together.in the back garden .With a helping hand of parents, sister and godchild work at the little farm made some decent progress. It was the first time that i ever felt that the farm was getting closer to his end design.There is still a lot of work to do.but certain places were close to finish.
And suddenly that time was near again. A plane to catch. But i have to confess, this year was really hard to step on that plane , it becomes harder and harder going trough all those emotions over and over again, you would think it would go easier and easier after all those years of departures, but no. it doesn’t. The land of Oz is still a long way from home, and ten months is a serious time to bridge over.
Three days to go. Counting down the cold days. Now i remember why i always fly back in the summer to my little farm. I’m like a bird, just following the heat.
The last month the company is working at an install of four camps of 160 people. And all with a time limit. A hectic job.
One donga multiplied by 125. And a donga exist out of four rooms. So that ’s around 500 rooms, not included kitchen, offices, and recreation rooms. Yep, those camps have everything, even satellite and free netflix., pool table, fitness centre.
The last months there was no difference between the days. A Saturday was the same as a Tuesday and a Sunday was the same as a Thursday, or did i mixed it up here, i don’t know it anymore. A day was just a working day. One after the other one. A lot of repetitive work, a bracket has to be made for the air cons. to hold them in their place during the transport. But one donga needed 4 brackets, one individual A/C per room. so i’m not gonna calculate how many brackets i made and installed. i rather sooner forget that number. Hooks to hang the electrical wire on the outside of the building. But again multiplied by the amount of the donga’s.
And let’s talk about the shit that flows trough 4 camp of 160 people. A lot of shit boxes needed to be made.to keep the shit flowing trough the camp.Simply said, The shit flows to a box where a pump pushes it to a another bigger box and then to another container where it’s been recycled and filtered. I never had an idea how complicated it all is when i had a shit myself. The distance that shit travels before it ends up as waste is unbelievable . The shit science is nothing to laugh about.
Day after days just passes by , getting colder and colder, while in Europe a heat wave started. I was more worried about the drought in Europe , will my plants survive then about the efficiency of the shit boxes.
During all those hours i still had the change to upgrade from a little forklift to a bigger one. from this day on i’m capable of moving buildings around with a 7 ton forklift. My so well known forklift seems like a little kids toy now.
And slowly my departure day comes closer. My bag is already made. but there are still a few long days to go.
And finally that day arrived that i could step on that plane direction Euralia.
