Busy Times

We're not ones for resting on our laurels, I guess, but this has been a busy week in a series of busy weeks (months, years). All good stuff though.

Jane spent her birthday slaughtering a pig - a third of which is now butchered and in our freezer. We have a quarter of a cow coming soon too. Another steep learning curve was needed to put the theory of what we have been reading for years about dealing with intact dead animals - as ex-vegetarians neither of us have the innate knowledge of beef and pork cuts that many other folk probably have.

Our century farmhouse needs renovation and a good place to start presented itself when we saw an advert for grants available for energy efficiency work. You pay for a whole house audit, which looks at air tightness, insulation, heating systems, appliances - the whole thing. The consultant then produces a thorough report which highlights the work to be carried out, and the amount of grant assistance you can expect. You have 18 months to do the work, after which it is inspected. It was money well spent. We haven't had the report yet, but it sounds like there is a lot of scope for improving energy efficiency, and saving money. We are going to look at changing to a ground water heat pump with wood stove backup and do away with the oil furnace and water heater. More on this as we go along, I imagine.