I think I've mentioned before that my son, Danny and his wife, Heather are converting an old cowshed (dairy) on the farm to a new home for themselves. They are doing the work themselves with the help of a young carpenter at the weekends. Wherever possible they are using materials from the farm, there's a lot of recycling happening. I think the only way to describe the style of the building is rustic.
When I called in last Saturday they were hanging the bedroom doors. About 100 metres away stands the source of the timber, a very old shed, now even worse for wear than previously. If those wall boards had not been requisitioned they would eventually be in the same state of repair as the weather beaten end wall. Goodness knows how long that little shed has stood there, now its missing parts will survive much longer. Many of the internal walls come from an even older shed out the back of the farm. Both were erected in the days when farmers used trees growing on the farm for their buildings. Both are built from totara, a New Zealand native tree. It is relatively slow growing, can live for 1,000 years, reaching 30 metres high and 2-3 metres in diameter. One of my favourite trees.
In the bathroom the steel framing that once housed the milking machine motors, now holds the hand basin.
On another wall of the bathroom the vat wash switch remains. Along with note to milk tanker drivers to turn it on when they leave. The bathroom was formerly the room that housed the milk vat.
We plan to have our Christmas family gathering at the shed house. My other son, Bernie who lives in Brasil, his partner, Roberta and little daughter, Emilia will be with us. I can't wait to hold and hug that child. Take this as advance warning - there will be a deluge of little Emilia photos appearing here in 11 weeks or so. But who's counting?
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