The verandah at the Big Bamboo

So like I've said before, when we first got here, we had all sorts of stuff around the verandah to keep the babies from falling a fairly big height, and Currawong has masterfully created a verandah surround as his first really big bamboo project here.  

And we've learnt a bit along the way.  Like how people kept telling us to cure the bamboo before using it, and I just kinda thought that was because it made it stronger and longer wearing.  And we had a real mental block going on about doing it, the curing business, because it involved cutting down huge bamboo trees, and cutting off all the side branches, and then sitting them over a fire till all its sap fizzled out and coated it.  In other words the water coming out.  Which seemed like a really big job to do.  And we were a bit stuck on trying to work out how to fire long long bamboo shoots in the quickest way, how to build the fire, and business like that.  So we just thought 'stuff it', it's all a learning process, and we just needed a verandah surround, so we'd just start and see what happened.  

Because like us, and the planet, and most other living things, bamboo is made up with a lot of water slushing round its system.  And when you cut it, and it dies and dries, the water leaves the building, and it shrinks in size.  And I know this because we cut green bamboo and put it straight into the fence, and all our tight bindings have become very loose.......but fortunately they're held together with cable ties, so unwittingly we've come up with a solution to the drying problem, before we even knew we'd have it.    Because we can just wait till the bamboo has finished drying, and tighten the cable ties as we go, so it's still safe as we go, and then when it's finished drying and the bamboo has reached its final size, we'll wrap it over with the rope I'm spinning to hide the cable ties.  Voila.

But back to the verandah, it's gone from this

To this

The beautiful old piano that was performing a job as a barricade has been able to move around to the side of the verandah and become an artwork.

And the other big verandah bit, where the kids hang out, and the rattys live in their palace, and most of the toys have a home, has gone from this....

To this....

And there's room for Spiral Moon to do her amazing spinning thing on the Internal Waterfall.  I first made it to be a fly and mozzie proof door hanging, when we were living in our bus.  But it was a very long door, and I soon got sick of crocheting such long drapes, so I only got about two thirds of the way till I got distracted.  

And then I hung it up on an internal beam as a decoration one day, and Spiral started spiralling.  Spinning and whirling on it like a dervish, and she soon became quite addicted.  She was only about 3 at the time, and we lived with it for years.  And then came a lot of moving around and it got packed away.  It came out again in our last house, but she couldn't hang on it, because it wasn't strong enough. But now we've got it up on a proper chain, and it's strong enough to hold her, and she's been reunited with her waterfall again.  I didn't realise how much she was missing it.  

I don't know if her rat Blue enjoyed it as much as her though.  Perhaps an experiment to not be repeated.......

There's more room for everything on our new look verandah.

And Currawong finds it really hard to not pull a face whenever he sees a camera.....

But back to our bamboo verandah, I'm so incredibly stoked with it, and have been telling Currawong how special he is a lot, cause it's gorgeous, and functional, and practical, and relatively easy to make!

And now we're working on the kitchen.  The goal has been set to make a washing station, where all drying and putting away can be erradicated, as you can wash and put everything in it's place in one go. It's a happy kind of busy making all these bamboo creations.  And as with everything, an extreme bonus for me is how dead sexy Currawong is, and how delightful it is to watch him doing just about everything.....

And Balthazar really wanted me to take a photo of him with the secateurs, while he was busy helping Dad.

Now I've got to get back to doing housework so that we can keep building the kitchen.  It's all on round here!  

Stay tuned for more bamboozlery.....