Sorry I've neglected this blog a bit. Again, lol.
Meanwhile, I've painted the newly glazed balcony with tung oil, after previously painting it with milkpaint (that the neighbour mixed from wallpaint pigment and - you guessed it, milk!) Apparently the Chinese used tung oil to protect their boats 2000 years ago (?) so I hope it would protect the balcony well too - and that it's the 'good' kind! (slightly nutty smell... brings out the beauty of the wood indeed, ideally we'd take this into account when making the balcony, some wood does not have so much beauty, lol! It's mixed with linseed oil, so not sure how 'waterproof' it is, we'll see.. Probably more eco than some other variants though..)
I've also been on a trip with beekeepers and talked to people about starting an eco non-profit locally.. We'll see how it goes..
The balcony and the terrace now have roofs, there's still lots of stuff to do though..
Dad wanted windows and stuff ordered 'now now now' it annoyed me to no end though - when else is there a better opportunity to ask businesses how green their products are than when well, shopping??
Still to call for some window protection - PVC or aluminum? Aluminum is costlier (so Dad says noo!) I really dislike PVC though, so still to find if it's PVC or some less toxic plastics? And apparently aluminom comes with foam added inbetween?? Can this still be recycled then?
I was too cross at Dad to call the company today and find out, sigh.
Dad hates my eco projects and thinks they're a 'hassle' (slowing things down and bloody interfering, sigh). What else can you expect from someone who worked in chemical industry almost all his life??
The 2nd eco stand was planned to be in 2 weeks, we don't have local talent or content available yet, and not sure if we'll get it ready by then??
Why was it planned on the same day the kiddies have a concert already?? Bloody lack of coordination and stuff!!
I've been distracted with this balcony work and now with farm work (ugh! I wish Dad informed us sooner than the night before!) It's very difficult to plan any meetings or phone calls or anything this way!!
Off to de-weed some potatoes, sigh!!!
Wow! you've been doing some painting too huh! :)
ReplyDeleteYou know, you make a very good point! I did little to no research on what type of paint I was going to use :( It was a spur of the moment thing..
and now I kind of regret not looking into greener paints because I think I'm a bit sensitive to the paint I am using now -__-;;;
At least I know not to make the same mistake ><
Thanks so much for the tip! :) greatly appreciate it! :)
Please share pictures of your balcony if you can :)
Good luck with your eco-non profit!!! That is really exciting! :) My mom works for non-profit :)
Hope things work out better for you :) pulling out weeds seem like a good way to relieve stress! :)
Hey Layla :)
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear you're being subjected to MORE! building work..hope it all gets finished soon so you get some peace and quiet (I'm completely fed up of buliders - our new neighbours moved in last November and have had buliders there from 8-4 every day except christmas until now! argh! Pleeeease stop drilling!) I'm excited by your Tung Oil discovery though - thats definately one to store in my memory banks for any future wood weatherproofing projects I might do!
Good luck with your non-profit and your bees - both sound like exciting projects!
And windows too! What a dilemma! From what I've read I think wooden frames are the most eco, I have no idea how much they cost or anything, but (here at least) you can get double glazed windows with wooden frames and they're meant to last at least as long as PVC and be compostable (athough whether you need to treat them with chemicals or something to prolong their life, or if they have some sort of synthetic padding in them too I don't know) It's a tricky one!
I sympathise with you about your dad - my mum seems to have grumpy-mum-syndrome at the moment and growled at me in a shop (as she was about to buy something wrapped in a LOT of unrecycleable plastic when we were going to the market later where she could get it unwrapped, cheaper and from an independent retailer) 'does it ALWAYS have to be about the environment' - I could have said yes, it does Always have to be about the environment, it makes so sense to choose to ignore the packaging when it suits you, especially when a greener alternative is really easy to get - but I didn't because I feared she would attack me with the very overpackaged products she then bought! Sigh!
P.S I read a book recently I think you'd like - it's called Woman on the Edge of Time and it's by Marge Piercy, check it out if you haven't heard of it!