Category Archives: Projects

Due to the rain today

Posted on January 25, 2026 by james

I have been contemplating automated irrigation for the polytunnels and greenhouses. There are some cheap kits on Amazon these days, but I’m way less than convinced that they’ll flow sufficient water for my needs and after stumbling around trying to … Continue reading →

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Should get a bit more life out of it

Posted on January 22, 2026 by james

It seems to be all too common that the handles of large trugs snap or break off the body of the trug. I have quite a few sitting around here. Having found a bit of scrap 12mm ply and an … Continue reading →

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A new cork pinboard

Posted on January 20, 2026 by james

Made from, err, corks. Obviously it was quite a tough job acquiring all the corks to start with. I’d not recommend it without having put in years of practice first, though you can cheat by just buying the bags of … Continue reading →

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Mains water leak (hopefully) resolved

Posted on January 19, 2026 by james

The final paperwork is still to arrive, but it looks as though our water leak may now be fully resolved. The most shocking thing is the amount of water lost. At our current rate of consumption it looks to be … Continue reading →

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Decking out, paving in!

Posted on January 16, 2026 by james

The path to one of our external doors is decking which is now starting to degrade quite badly so I have decided to replace it with paving slabs. And by chance I was offered these reclaimed ones for very little … Continue reading →

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How much?! A mind-numbing water leak

Posted on January 16, 2026 by james

Our water supplier read the meter at the start of last September which prompted a letter to me just before they sent the bill saying, “Errr, your bill is going to be quite big. Do you have a leak?”. “Quite … Continue reading →

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And more Speidel apple mill repairs

Posted on January 16, 2026 by james

This time it was a mill that wouldn’t run despite the rotor spinning freely, which suggested an electrical fault. After testing the obvious stuff such as the fuse and power cable it seemed as though there was no choice but … Continue reading →

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More Speidel apple press repairs required

Posted on January 16, 2026 by james

Oh dear! In my hand here is the top half of the bleed valve from the bladder of the press below. It has snapped off inside the rod that supports the bladder, so the actual air release mechanism is still … Continue reading →

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Wasp invasion!

Posted on January 13, 2026 by james

For the second time in three years, wasps invaded around the edge of one of our Velux windows. They’re getting in through the gaps in the aluminium flashing where it fits around the slates in this photo. In fact you … Continue reading →

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Speidel fruit mill bearing replacement

Posted on January 13, 2026 by james

I was delivered a Speidel fruit mill, already heavily disassembled, beacuse it had stopped working. I assume the person who had opened it up thought there might be an electrical fault. I wasn’t 100% convinced though, and the fact that … Continue reading →

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