Spring Days of Zero Waste Building on our Permaculture Farm

So these big boys will soon be moving to a new paddock I've been planning because they're the cutest roundest waddlers and they've gotten very spoiled and I'm planning a paddock with flowers on a good whim It has a beehive it has a pond cascade maybe umm of course it has a duck pet it's made entirely from recycled materials you like it has sisters Julia and Anastasia on it this is us in the australian rainforest Home, We learned so much in nature and found so much autonomy and inspiration as we learned to build, join us this week as we build our Sweet Duck from start to finish, entirely with Material that was supposed to go to landfill, my first job was to find four hardwood poles to go into the ground Easiest and probably smartest way to do this is from the store

  Buy nice square beams but it's always more fun to find old materials at the bottom of the rainforest had an old fence from when our grandparents built it's now falling apart but the wood is still great oh it's so heavy it's far from the deep ditch , the next two poles are old beams from when our grandparents planted a passion fruit plantation, this may not be the safest way to move them, but it's definitely the most fun. The ground luckily I have aid from Uncle Adam who always has a ridiculous skill now it's time to dig four holes needing hours of this time the year is so dry so when there is any sign of rain on the hill we always So grateful and excited it's so beautiful it's not raining and we

  Excited by the drops and ash clouds, we headed to the dam for a special rainy day swim. There is nothing like swimming in the rain. The feeling of swimming in the rain is like heavy drops hitting the still water and the water feels alive. This little chicken coop It's our grandma's joke coop it's super cute but it's tricky so I'm giving this a makeover I need to get it out but a little friend you're in the way Mr Spider the spring snake comes out of hibernation and finds hot spots to keep warm we have to be very Be careful not to disturb the old snake iron tin. Adam is back to help build all the chainsaws he is doing and the structures that got me started with beams. I am always grateful to learn from his years of experience.

  You like bamboo now Maggie it's time to get all the cross beams because all the old stuff I use is pretty wonky but I think that's what you think I added a little nick to every item so hopefully this will work Now the choice because it's all the charm and you love the part it's too unstable it won't really fit we'll see I'm going to put a brace under this so the weight of the ducklings will be held up by the mulberry Falling leaves in the winter and sprouting again as the weather warmed up and suddenly one day all the leaves opened up and filled the branches with greenery and fresh fruit, we spent the spring days eating so many mulberries and had to brighten up often Purple hands and lips its not just us who love rich berry ducks getting this season

  They jump through all kinds of fences flying sneaky too naughty and they eat waiting for a gust of wind to blow them up with dyed feathers and beaks waddling to sleep at night a few special treats on the roots any fruit drop and sleep huge shade meet full of come on everyone Julia in with the goats Picked so many mulberries for me as a treat in the middle of a hard working day together We spent some time by the water filling our tummies with street fruit Watching the rain so Julia always goes for a swim when she's here but I'm going back to do it More work I'm going to cover the old screen door with a little netting so the duckling's feet don't fall off Now it's time to do the windows I did it so I finished the cutting of the frame it was too hard and I don't think i can do it,

  There's probably an easier way but I don't know how to do it, now I'm going to try and make a cute little frame like this tomato stick out of the window of a cute little house I don't know if it will be too flimsy but we will See oh my gosh it would be so cute if it worked I made a small frame it's super curved it splits all over the place but I love it and it would be fun it's very unstable but that's ok I'm not as tricky as it is but I love it Its every time I see it the whole house seems to be getting more unstable so I'm going to try to balance it yeah it's definitely my least favorite job but it's the most satisfying I'm going to make a fan now Door 

  , it was so hot I felt sunburned so put on my denim and I found this little doorknob with flowers on it and it's perfect even if the ducks don't know how to use it maybe one day they will Yeah they're always learning new things I'm doing great I'm going to try and make this little deck silly but it's going to be as cute as the whole pen so I need to figure out how to do it I'm so confused this is I'm making a plan tray for the little armrest out of an old fridge so I finished the front door it's so cute but I can't get them water or anything through it so I'm going to make a little back door that slides because it's a Sliding door this with these as sliders hopefully it will work we'll see uh ok so here's the plan here's this side

  The peak and then this peak will meet this peak here so I hope this peak is better than this one so it all fits perfectly then I think it would be easy if this was 90 degrees because this one is 90 degrees and it would be neat so I did the math that I was dreading because I didn't do enough since high school but I thought that was fine and then I had to subtract this would be the beams that go through the CE NTER I think they should be this 45 degrees long Here it's 45 degrees here hoping so I don't know if it's really going to hold the ducks even though they're tiny weight and light it just doesn't feel strong so I'm going to add a support drop well one of them The frame has gone up so now I'm going to make another frame and hopefully they will match I don't know if I need more support but I'm just going to try it will be ok without it I'm scared of snakes hey eggplant

  Hey Fern where are you going It's time to paint I'm so excited I don't know what color to make but I kind of want pink but I want yellow too but I want blue too but I want green too , so i need to make a decision but first i just prime it and see if it looks like white then work from there yay it's all done just finished and it's dry today it's hot and we Going to paint the duck house I'm so excited, Julia is an artist and she always paints so beautifully, so these ducks are beautiful and the ducks who will be spoiled will absolutely love it, covered with flowers, strawberries and rainbows, and served in bright Completed all boy sailor capricious cardigan and orb portraits under the big rainbow Thank you so much for your interest in this project We had a great time creating new things but sharing with you made it all the more fun

  , a special thanks to our patrons whose support means everything to us