I realized this morning that I’ve been living out of a tent for a month now. The good news is that I only have to do it for another two months. The bad news is that everything I own smells like wood smoke (that said, I’ve been burning cedar wood recently and oh my days it smells amazing).

I know it has been a while since my last update and for that I apologize. Topics of interest have been hard to come by and I may have even suffered through a bout of writer’s block. I now believe I’m fully recovered and regular posts will resume.

Today I’d like to take you on a little tour of our campsite. I hope that in referring to it as a gypsy camp nobody is offended but that is what I’m most reminded of. When we first arrived there was nothing but a shed and a small patch of open ground. Over the last four weeks we’ve taken over both and with what little resources we’ve found about the place and with a little help from our farmer, Mick, we’ve made things feel a little more homely.

The most important development for us has to have been the shower. Since day one Mick has shared his plans to introduce hot running water to our lives and he has finally delivered it to us. A couple of weeks ago he called us all together and we took a drive to collect a 25000 litre water tank. That really is a big tank, I think we were all surprised when we got it loaded onto a trailer and delivered it safely back to the farm.

Some time passed and then with a flurry of activity, a hot water cylinder and a gas bottle appeared, and before we knew what was happening Mick told us the shower was ready for use. It’s a simple thing, hot and coils running water, enough pressure to clean the sweat and dirt and it’s out of the elements. Safe to say it’s made a significant impact in all of our lives.

A washing line has gone up, Yves has built a porch for his tent, Bastien has dug a bigger fire pit and made several benches for us to sit around. We found a steel box to keep our food safe from the cat that has an addiction to bread and have set up a camp stove on the work top in the shed.

The only thing we’re lacking now is somewhere or something to do laundry to the point where are clothes look and smell cleaner than when we wash things by hand. Mick has already aired his thoughts about finding one he can put in the shower room and turn it in to a real amenities block. It seems that in good time, we’ll have every thing we need to live a comfortable life.