sailing the farm - a seagypsy tribe of tomorrow!

[zeyang]

Newsletter December 2012.

Dear All,

First of all, Mucho Gracias for all contribution this year - This
doesent goes just for those of you who have been flying, driving,
peddaling, walking and swimming up here to lend a hand on the farm and
the shipbuilding - but it goes also to you who have send support
mails, commented on forums, asked to help sponsoring the project and
mailed us. Without your support, we would never have come this far.

We are now going into the last year of building the Seagypsy Boat #1
and hopefully start sailing. Yes, i know some of you think she will
sail only backwards, or even upside down, but sail she will.. ..

Together we have come a long way taking into consideration that most
of volunteers coming up here have never done any metalwork or even
farmwork before, but they all share the same dream...

To sum up for 2012. We have used more than 2 metric tonns of aluminium
this year, welded hundreds and hundreds of meters of welding, consumed
a few hundred kg of Argon gas, melted 5 tonns lead. Not to mention
breathing way too much welding fumes and aluminium dust...

On the farm, we have had lots and lots of volunteers who has been in
charge of growing potatoes, sugar pees, carrots, berries and lots of
other stuff. They have got new friends and met old ones from prior
years.

They have shared and learned, maybe eating too much porridge and
waffles, laughed, cried, made love (tough I really worked hard here to
keep those sneaky wwoffers in separate girls/guys barracks!!) Some
have even taken step to marry! So in sum I think 2012 has been quite a
good year.

As we are nearing the end of this year (and not end of the world i
hope!) I wish you all a peaceful 2013 with much joy and happiness for
the coming year and we up on the farm really look forward to meet new
and old volunteers both here and out on the seven seas.

Fair winds and smooth sailing from

Sailing the farm - A Sea gypsy tribe of tomorrow.
Ze


picture: Boatshed in winter night.

http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=289481&stc=1&d=1356891300

 

[abominable_scouse_monster]

Very cool thread and PM sent.

 

[zeyang]

Newsletter March 2013. .

Dear Sea Gypsies,

Spring is slowly coming our way, Its been maybe the coldest winter for
as long as people can remember up here. Minus -30 for weeks out and
weeks for january and february and even in march we have -20 degrees
for many days. But we dont complain (at least loudly!) the shed was
filled to the brink with firewood and during evening and weekends time
have been spent reading about small pacific islands where the sun
always shine... Guess where to boat is sailing!

Last two months have been spent doing foundry work (melting
aluminium). We are now making our own portholes and all small bits and
pieces out of the all the scrap alloy we have floating around. Next
would be to make a few dolphins for decoration

Anyway, enjoy the early spring folks! .. and if you want to join our
tribe please contact us!

Pictures.

a. making a sand-cast for a small porthole.
b. Out enjoy the skiing in cold winter weather.
c. a cake? Nope. Its called cores and used for foundry work! Its a
miks of sand and linseed oil. Taste awful, but works good.
d. welding small boxes and stuff together.
e. Porthole production.

http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=348001&stc=1&d=1363531570
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=348011&stc=1&d=1363531577
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=348021&stc=1&d=1363531582
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=348031&stc=1&d=1363531588
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_y-Gh6_YI

 

[zeyang]

Newsletter April 2013.

Dear Sea Gypsies,

The potatoes are planted just a few days ago. Thats even earlier than
last year. It a little risky since its still frostnights up here but
they are protected under a bed of soil so hopefully they wont freeze.

Summer is coming very slowly. Still no leafs on the trees, but the
small yellow flowers - coltsfoot (tussilago farfara) are starting to
show up along the roads. They are important pollen plants for the bees
this early in season (together with salix)

Sailing the farm have 3 nice girls now (irish,zchech,french). 2 guys
(swedish/english) who have been here the first part of april.

We have mostly been working on casting portholes for the boat which is
pretty timeconsuming. It means making molds, melting aluminium and
then shape the half-finished product in the lathe. The result looks
really good i must say.

Even if not even close to being foundrymen/girls or machinists we
manage to get quite a professional result after some weeks of trial
and error.

Thats enough for now, If you fancy joining the seagypsy tribe - just
drop us a line.

Love from
Sailing the farm


Pictures.

a. irish girl making sand-castles (sort of)
b. inspecting the casting results.
c. swedish sand-crab.
d. unfinished and finished result. (with the help of a lathe)
e. turning soil.


a: http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=380071&stc=1&d=1367131663
b: http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=380081&stc=1&d=1367131670
c: http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=380091&stc=1&d=1367131675
d: http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=380101&stc=1&d=1367131679
e: http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=380111&stc=1&d=1367131684

 

[zeyang]

Dear Sea Gypsies

Summer is here, its more or less rain every day but the wwofers order
sun in the weekends so weather is always nice when we go hiking during
weekends, (not sure who they order it from though)

We are now up to full speed on boat and the farm. Last week we
planted another field of rasperries, which will be give us lots and
lots of rasperries in 2 years time. Then another field with potatoes
and even more herbs of all different kind. Its getting interesting
when the weed is coming up. It will be plenty of weeding soon.

The bees are busy collecting honey, and flying all over. they seems
pretty happy now after a quite cold may.

The portholes are more or less finished - that was a long journey. Its
quite a few steps. The good thing: with casting and machining skills
there is no limit to what we can make in alloy. Plenty of blocks for the
boat is already on the list..

We are in the stage of insulating all over inside. Then make ready for
the wood deck and railings. The wood deck is not just to make the boat
look like a boat, but avoid burned feet on hot alloy deck in the
tropics - besides since we are faking everything to look lke wood, so
why not a proper wood-deck.

Lots of sea gypsies are coming next months, both returning ones and
new ones, but we still have some space, so if you have any skills you
think could be useful - drop us a line!

Pictures:

a: sorting out weed in the rasperry field. Then we planted out some
hundreds sq-meter more.

b: metal girls at work moving heavy alloy-plates.

c: casting stuff for the boat. We use sand to mould them.

d: welding guy busy welding up ears on the portholes.

e: dumpsterdiving. one night catch from the bin at the foodstore. Now
we go every weekend to stack up on free fancy food.


a: http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=402921&stc=1&d=1370093474
b: http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=402931&stc=1&d=1370093482
c: http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=402941&stc=1&d=1370093489
d: http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=402951&stc=1&d=1370093497
e: http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=402961&stc=1&d=1370093504

 

[Barn Owl]

Thanks for the updates

 

[zeyang]

August 2013

Dear Sea Gypsies


Its been a busy summer up here. plenty of volunteers and plenty of
work to be done. Our community is growing bigger and bigger and soon
we will take over the ocean.

July has been a good one. 3-4 weeks with stable nice weather, even
some start to complain about too much sun... That was close to end up
on the plank...

Our 10 new chickens are all getting big now. We are still curious how
many of them are roosters - and will end up in the soup

The garden loook really good thanks to 2 girls who spend quite alot of
time weeding.. we got plenty of peas this year - all kinds and some
really tasty. I didnt know yellow peas could be sweet if you eat them
raw. raspberries are soon ready to ripe and berry season are here in
some weeks.

The boat is really start to look like a proper boat. mostly all
portholes are in. skylights and railing seems stong and seaworthy.
there are quite a bit of woodworking to do inside, but we all look
forward to this.

So in sum, we are doing quite a bit of progress and its still a couple
of month until the winter is back so things look pretty good keeping
the schedule.

If you have an interest in joing our sea gypsy tribe dont hesitate to contact us.


Love from Sailing the farm.

Pictures: (courtsey ela/photograephin)

a: weeding the potatoefield
b: queenbreeding
c: picnic at the lake.
d: welding stuff on the deck
e: travelling outdoor library (kind of)


http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=447311&stc=1&d=1376214077
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=447321&stc=1&d=1376214095
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=447331&stc=1&d=1376214109
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=447341&stc=1&d=1376214121
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=447351&stc=1&d=1376214135

 

[zeyang]

September 2013

Dear Sea Gypsies

The autumn is here soon, but its been quite mild to be september
sofar. It feels more like august... But we are not to be fooled so
easily... Winter is coming soon enough so we work hard to finish up
all stuff before its getting too cold to work outside.

We are more or less finished on the deck. The hatch is in, the rail is
on (just need a little shaping) water intakes, and all bits and pieces
are there. It start to look like more like a war machine for
blood-thirsty vikings and not for a bunch of friendly sea gypsies.

The naked oats (or rather half naked oats) are harvested, potatoes are
still in the soil but will be harvested soon. Our sugar peas are dried
and harvested for the thursday peasoup and waffles, not exactly self
sufficient but we have at least for one thursday

Out of the 10 chickes we got, 1 was taken by a fox or something, 7 are
males (which in this case is lots of sound and and no use) and the 2
last one will give us eggs. So in sum quite a bit of work and hardly
more eggs than we have today But they are mighty fun to watch -
Chicken-TV is addictive.


Ok, thats all for this months from Sailing the Farm - a place where
crazy dreams come true. If you are interested in joining, just drop us
a line.

Love from Sailing the farm.
A sea gypsy tribe of tomorrow.

Pictures:

a: Boat seen from the bow.
b: Lots of head scratching to get all the pieces togehter.
c: Out swimming (yes, we are not always working)
d: The noahs ark chickens waiting for the boat to finish.
e: Dumpster dinner again.

a:

b:

c:

d:

e:

 

[zeyang]

November 2013

Dear Sea Gypsies

Whops. time is flying so fast and soon october was gone and no
newsletter sent out so here it comes a little late.

Still no snow up here, which is just incredible. Should have been half
a meter by now.. but the good thing is: it feels like mid-europe
climate so why migrate to Spain when Spain is coming to us!

Farming season is over, everything which was planted during summer is
in the basement. We got around 300 kg of potatoes which will keep us
going until spring. We have turned into professional dumpster-divers
and find way too much food - so we are getting a little picky - What
about raspberries from Brazil? Its hard to believe so much food who is
just wasted. Someone should do something... ahh. enough political
rambling..

Boatbuilding is going really good. She is happy as a fiddle. Latley
she got shiny bowrollers installed, (both forward and aft), tiller,
and soon to come: bowsprit! We just have to cut down the tree.
Everyday we see changes, and its a good sign... We are making the fat
lady ready for the 7 seas. She will be the strongest boat ever sailing
out there.


Thats all for this late october newsletter, If you are interested in
becoming a seay gypsy, just drop us a line.

Love from Sailing the farm.
A sea gypsy tribe of tomorrow.

Pictures:

a: A little crowded on deck. Even the anchors are soon installed.
b: Picnic and out looking for a bowsprit in the forest. (6 meter long)
c: Hardcore welders in action.
d: The sea-monster looking trough the porthole
e: Fancy dumpster lunch with sushi!


a:

b:

c:

d:

e:

 

[bushwacker bob]

Europe has passed legislation to ensure your dumpsters are full of perfectly edible food. Looks good, enjoy.

 

[zeyang]

December 2013

Dear Sea Gypsies

December again! This one has has been quite warm. (today is only -10C)
We still have frostbites from the one last year so we are happy as a
fiddle up here. Makes life and boatworking much easier.

Its been a really good year on sailing the farm with lots of stuff
accomplished and its still some more work weeks to go before we can
sum up 2013.

Deck fittings, deckhouse and most of the stuff up there is
finished. We are proud to say that everything is home-made. Not a
single thing is from the the boat-store.. Main reason for this is:
its hard to get stuff in alloy who looks like wood..

We have probably put another 2000-3000 hours into the boatproject this
summer (with the help of all of those nice and skillfull volunteers)
and still some 2000-3000 hours to go until we see her finshed.

This christmas will be a traditional one on the farm with St. Claus
(Julenisse in norwegian) coming down from the northpole with the
sledge, raindeers and ofcouse packets. I usually dont fancy soft
packets, but im in dire need for a new welding overall so if the
julenisse reads this...

ok. I know its a little early early, but we wish new and old friends
of sailing-the-farm a peaceful and quiet christmas and a prosperius
new year and hope to see you all up next year.

Love from Sailing the farm.
A sea gypsy tribe of tomorrow.

Pictures:

a: the boat start to look like a wooden boat now.
b: shaping up the bowsprit. 6 meter long
c: boat from stern. Sexy lines.
d: welding up the bunkbeds.

a:

b:

c:

d:

 

[zeyang]

February 2014

Dear Sea Gypsies


The winter has been kind to us this year. During Christmas and New
year there was hardly any snow up here, which is kind of unusual at 60
degrees north. January has been mostly down to -10C which is really
good when we work outside. In January we got plenty of snow so skiing
is as close to perfect as it is possible to get and we have plenty of
those old and wooden army skiis around.(we use to call them
NATO-planks) For first termers its perfect skiis. Slow and heavy.

The Boat work is going pretty good . We are working on insulating
inside and we are more or less finished with the aft cabin (named
princess cabin), since its getting really nice and spacious.

We are soon ready to start insulate and plate the main cabin in the
boat. Its a little more tricky due to the galley (kitchen for those
landlubbers out there). and also the navigation station. Then its more
casting. Basically more cowl-vents to get more fresh air into the
boat..

We usually run with lower staff during winter but this year we will
scale up in February and aim for getting the boat ready for sea-trial
this year. It will be a busy summer.

So if you think you have some useful skills (welding, mechanics,
sewing, interior wood working) or are really good at cracking jokes
you are more than welcome to join us.

This is hopefully the last year of boat building (Ok, I know we have
said that before but...) so hurry up if you want to be part of the
fun. (Ok, I admit sailing is also fun) But it gives a good feeling
knowing that you have been part of building something moving around
our planet with zero pollution...


Love from Sailing the farm.
A sea gypsy tribe of tomorrow.

Pictures:

a: Plating and insulating inside the boat
b: one of the crew made an icebar! How cool is that!
c: the chicken-sisters is busy hatching golf-balls! Not the most
clever sisters.
d: Aft-deck with rudder, and boxes. With wooden deck this will look
like a wood boat.

a:

b:

c:

d:

 

[zeyang]

April 2014

Greetings to all sea gypsies, past present and future!

The springchickens and bees are active and so are we!

Anotherbusy month for boat building. The gang has been shaping,
painting and fitting the interior panels with plenty of insulation
underneath. The bunk cabins are shaped and even one of the volunteers
has tested one with an overnight sleep - very comfy! English Tony has
been busy designing the wiring and circuitry, and Frenchy has helped
determine the electrical needs and the outputs we can expect from the
solar panels and windmill. Will we be able to boil the kettle often
enough at sea?

Lorna, the English girl has been attacking with gusto and positive
energy the mold-making for the cowl vents, and hopes to start smelting
and pouring some aluminium this week. Frenchy has calculated and drawn
up the sail plan, and has made a 1/10 model to verify his design.

Sarah the token yank is spoiled in the warm indoors sewing up
custom-sized boat mattresses, cushions and curtains. Are Czech girls
sweet? When they've been covered in honey for 2 days like Micha they
are: 60 jars of lovely honey and we're happy to have some at every
meal! Jams as well, lingonberry, strawberry and plum, and some great
banana cakes from Lorna as well.

The weekend was warm spring weather and all volunteers descended upon
the spa and pool at the cloest town for an outing. Happy at work and
at rest. There is still plenty to do in the coming months - have you
the skills to help? Woodworking, electrial and engine skills, sewing
and more. We hope to hear from you!


Love from Sailing the farm.
A sea gypsy tribe of tomorrow.

Pictures:

1. American sewing-lady busy making stuff for the boat.
2. Happy Frenchman and his sails
3. Potato planting.
4. Inventive cat-litter dance. (basically crush catlitter bentonite
to cast the cowl vent) This will be the dance of the summer.

a:

b:

c:

d:

 

[zeyang]

May 2014

Greetings to all sea gypsies, past present and future!

I hope you all had a beautiful May, with lots of sunshine and no
snow. Up on the farm, we are happy as fiddles. The weather is just
perfect. it was snowing a little in the beginning of May but then it
turned into summer and now we have those really nice warm days with
sun until midnight..

Farming News.

The farming is going good. we have started with queen breeding which
will give us a few more hives, then we have planted all kinds of
veggies in the garden and some in the small greenhouse. Now, there
will be lot of weeding until harvest time..

Boat-News:

We are working on blumbing and electricity inside the boat these days.
Next step is getting the engine in then the sails. We might have to
outsource the sailmaking due to lack of time. so if you know about
some good sail-loft we would love to hear about it.

BREAKING NEWS:

A little early but... we are really pushing hard to sail south this
year. hopefully around the same time those smart migrating birds are
flying south. (finger crossed) So if you want to join us as CREW please
contact us.

We will prioritize those of you who have been on the farm, but
everyone will get a chance to come sailing in the end No sail
experience required. We will teach you whatever skills you need. And
for those of you who have never been out on the seven seas.. Enclosed
is a picture of a pacific island waiting for you....

We still have space for one more more sea-gypsy up on the farm this
summer , so if you have skills you might think we need, dont hesitate
to contact us.

Love from Sailing the farm.
A sea gypsy tribe of tomorrow.

Pictures:

1. This small pacific is waiting for us all...
2. Sail plan. Anyone into sail-making or know about a good sail-loft?
3. Plating up the dog-house.
4. Small greenhouse ready for summer. This is for sugar-peas.
5. Happy welding lady fixing up some small stuff.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

 

[zeyang]

June 2014

Greetings to all sea gypsies out there

Its been a busy month up at the farm. The potatoes are slowly coming
up. the bees are out flying and we even got ourselves some more queens
this year, but best of all, the weather has been really good. Days and
days of sun, which is more you can ask for so far north.

We are also working hard on the boat to finish up and go south this
year. The plating is finished, which was more or less a 2-3 months
work. Next one is installing all electric stuff and continue gettting
the engine in. Getting the rigging in also have high priority now.

As mentioned earlier our plan is to set sail for West Indies/Cuba at
the end of this year helping wwoofing/organic communities around the
world. So if you have skills in organic farming and love travel with
zero carbon footprint, please contact us.

We still have space up on the farm until the boat is finished so if
you have farming or boatbuilding skills you think might be useful
please contact us.

Love from
Sailing the Farm
A sea gypsy tribe of tomorrow.


Pics from last weeks of work.

Pictures:

a. Here is the sizes for the sails. If you have some spare sail laying
around we can modify to fit then we would love to hear from you.
b. Wall.. Sorry, bulkheads are coming up
c. Machining some drainage to the bathroom.
d. Crazy Aussie guy trying to get through the porthole.
e.. Painting up the forward storage area

a:

b:

c:

d:

e:

 

[zeyang]

August/September 2014

Greetings to all our fans, helpers and sea gypsies out there.


The autumn is here and with that comes harvest on sailing the farm. We
got lots of raspberries this year which is partly stored in the
freezer and partly as jam. Then some hundred jars of raspberry-honey
from the bees and in the end we harvested the potatoes, so in sum: Yes
we are partly selfsufficient, but it might be a little boring eating
baked potatoes with raspberries and honey every day during the winter.
But we are slowly getting there...

We are also getting closer with the boat project. All stuff made of
fabric is finished, electricity (both AC and DC) is installed. There
is still some more work to do on the engine before its ready to go
into the boat (basically split and rebuilt that iron beast)

Then there is some deck work left, and then the last step is tearing
down the temporary boatshed to get ship the boat down to the
sea. So still lots of work to do but its going forward.

We wish you all a happy autumn whereever you are.

Love from
Sailing the Farm
A sea gypsy tribe of tomorrow.

Pics from last weeks of work.

Pictures:

a. 2 volunteers hitchiking up north to look for trolls.
b: harvest honey from the bees.
c. grinder work in the galley
d mattress for the aft cabin
e. volunteers out testing the flimsy canoe.

 

[British Red]

You really don't want to harvest honey like that - its really unfair on the bees and not good for the beekeepers either. Look to using porter bee escapes to get the workers off the supers in advance of harvesting. Failing that use a leaf blower to remove them off complete supers. But waving stuff around the workers is neither sensible nor efficient.

 

[Clouston98]

You really don't want to harvest honey like that - its really unfair on the bees and not good for the beekeepers either. Look to using porter bee escapes to get the workers off the supers in advance of harvesting. Failing that use a leaf blower to remove them off complete supers. But waving stuff around the workers is neither sensible nor efficient.

Yep porter bee escapes is the way we do it , very simple and hassle free .

 

[Joonsy]

what happens to the project and community when the boat is complete ?.

 

[mrcharly]

I've lived on a boat, installed electrics and plumbing and I am really impressed with your speed on this project. Fitting out a boat is a big, complex job. I'd love to see some more photos of the interior.

Have you insulated between the hull/cabin roof and interior lining?