June 2026
Hillside Produce
The first Hillside produce came off the production line in the form of Strawberry jam from the bumper strawberry crop. I think we must have had over 4 kg of strawberries from the plot. The sunny weather when they flowered, followed by a steady amount of rain in May, really did well for them. The jams were good Father’s Day presents, although Mary Berry did not repay my blind faith in her recipe and did me dirty with the amount of sugar. Next time I’ll dial it back and hope for a more consistent set. There are lots of blackberries starting to ripen, so there might be more preserving opportunities this season.
Insulation and Plasterboard
The main focus this month has been insulating and plasterboarding the toilet, bathroom and the living room at the back, which we are hoping will be the first area we can move into.
Cutting Plasterboard
There are various forms of insulation, including rockwool in the ceilings, additional PIR on the old uninsulated parts of the house with the solid brick walls and insulated plasterboard on the new parts which have the cavity walls. All of which are pretty messy and require lots of PPE for protection.
Rockwool in the ceiling
PPE Me
Future-proof bathroom.
We got the tall lads in for the ceiling. They are available for any proping work, very reasonable rates and no job too small! And of course, the payment in strawberries.
Getting up to speed with the props (it should be said the ceiling was boarded successfully, despite initial scepticism).
Payment
Finding leaks
The site engineer carried out a pressure test on the completed plumbing and resolved about 4 leaks where the push-fit pipes weren’t properly bedded in. Some of the leaks were from the plumbing done by the builders, it should be noted! All were resolved, and the system is fully pressurised and ready for the next steps. We had a delay on the heating installation as they wanted us to be further along; it’s a bit ambiguous as to what that means, but not a big deal in the current climate. Hoping to get it rebooked in the next month or two.
Found one!
We are now moving in the direction of having a living space and a bathroom available. Hopefully, by the time the Curlews come back in the spring, we will be firmly moved in! There seemed to be a bumper brood this year; they were having lots of noisy chatter through the month. Here are four of them on a stormy background.
Thanks for reading, love from Hillside Farm x
Curlews
PS Avvy says stay hydrated.
H2O
