All The Updates On The Past Year

Since it's been over a year since our last blogpost I thought I'd drop in and give an update on what's happening at Golem. In this instance no news is most definitely good news - we've had a fantastically uneventful year in terms of the co-op and everything is ticking along nicely.

Developments in the House

Every living room should have a hammock :)

Our fabulous living room of fabulousness is still going strong - and in what is now a fine Golem tradition, still isn't quite finished. We've now had two summers where we could fling the doors open to the garden. We've had many dinners with friends and family where everyone could get up from the table without having to get a whole row of people to move out of the way. The stairs may not be carpeted yet, but we do have a hammock which makes all the kids who come visiting (both big and small) delighted. It's amazeballs.

Half installed!

The lovely wooden floor has had some teething problems though, rising into a big hump in the centre in warm weather. The damp air of of our basement living room seems to be to blame, so we're working on various remedial strategies at the moment. Firstly we're routinely running a dehumidifier overnight to try to keep the damp down. Secondly we're fitting a cooker hood in the kitchen so that when cooking we're not adding too much extra moisture to the air. Thirdly we're looking at adding more ventilation to the two sealed up chimney stacks in the room. It's difficult working out how to help an old house, so we're trying multiple strategies.

In other parts of the house not much has changed, except that we're currently in the process of re-roofing the oriel window on the ground floor front bedroom. We had planned to do this when all the other roofs (eventually) get sorted but it developed a hefty leak and had to be dealt with sooner. Ironically finishing the roof is being held up by the rain this week, but soon it will be done. Almost every timber had to be replaced which is giving us a more realistic idea of just how expensive doing the other six roofs may end up being.

The garden has gained a pond (to the top right of the patio in this picture) and fully completed paving and has generally levelled up in fabulousness this year. Only the building of the green roofed shelter remains to be implemented from the permaculture design and the garden is serving it's various purposes well. It's certainly produced a lot of pumpkins this year, and there are two pears on one of the cordons for the first time :) We may redesign the lawn area after the shelter is built as it's not getting as much use as hoped, but generally the design has been a success.

Other News

Our members haven't changed at all in the last few years which is a great testament to the living situation here. Previously our plans for expansion included buying more houses locally, but Sven is spearheading a much more bold plan for an intentional ecovillage run on co-op lines. If you'd like more information or to be involved, pop along to the website or Facebook page to see what the haps are.

We're still happy to meet people interested in the co-op movement and to help with the setting up of any fledging co-ops within travelling distance. As members of Radical Routes we have the privilege of receiving support and wisdom from a lot of other co-ops - in fact, we couldn't do it without them - so if you're interested in starting a co-op, please come and pick our brains! 

- Hannah

There are now 3 sets of forks on the fan-trained plum tree