Green house update and more

Yesterday the doors got installed on the second green house, so we are set and ready to roll with it.  The tomatoes started in the first green house are now all transplanted.  Ulukbek and his son where working hard at it today . 

the cucumbers are continuing to do great .  

New windows are in at the main house .  now they just have to cement around them 

the addition is coming along great, and Marat loves his NEW glasses . 

 

all the supplies ready for the kitchen at the main house 

this family would like to thank everyone who provided vitamins .. 

 A quick update on a couple other needs I had shared .    he young friend was able to get his tuition and dorm expenses covered by one of our loving supporters.  As well the hospital funds came in and the work will be finished and the clinic ready to open possibly as early as next week . 

We have been refinishing an old table as well as a second coat of finish on the table from the guest house.  

For those of you who have read through to the end of this post  We do have a need that we would like to find a sponsor for.  We currently have about 15 pigs. We do let them out from time to time to play in the garden, but next week we will start planting the fields so we need to come up with a large secure area for them outside.  In the past we have tried wire, and they walk right through it , we have tried wood and they eat there way through it , but we have found these large steel fences .   

We already have the foundation and the posts in, and will be able to cut these into three pieces to give us a 4 foot high fence all the way around this pen.  To do this would be $250   

While I was working on this post, They got the old counter out of the kitchen.  It needs to be washed and bleached, then will be hooked up along this wall .  

A bit of a frustrating day.

I received a message from a young man we know here  In the past we have given a loan for his school and he was very faithful in paying it back. Today he is about to finish his final year and has until April 10th to have his tuition and dorm paid in full or he will not get his diploma. 

Hello John! My name is xxxxxx. I am a student of the 4th course at the University. I am writing to you with a request for help. I have a difficult situation with payment of full tuition and living in dormitory, because of the difficult financial situation in the family. Parents are temporarily unemployed. In the family besides me three more children: two younger brothers (first- ninth grade, and the second-second grade) and younger sister (in kindergarten). Every year, I was earning money for my education and paid for, but this year turned out awkward. In this year i wanted to start a business, have invested my money in my business and I went bankrupt, unfortunately. Two years ago I also had the situation I needed 8 thousand soms, you loaned me and really helped me out. I am very grateful for that. If this year you could be able to help me to pay the full tuition and for living in dormitory, I'd be able to finish my education in the University in this year, and after graduation I will be working and will be able to repay the debt.  the total needed for me to continue study by April 10th is 60 thousand som ($ 869 US) for a contract 19 150 som($277 US ) payment for dormitory.

we brought more guests up to the ranch yesterday and as soon as we got there the young guy from next door with the horses came over for a visit and a trade.. our guests rode the horse around the mountain and he got to drive the hunter around the mountain.

We are thrilled to see a new business start up with some investors from Canada .. looking forward to seeing great things. 

One of the highlights of our day yesterday was to receive news that FLIGHTS ARE BOOKED for or friends from Espanola to come for a visit to the farm in the fall.  They are heading to Romania , and hay thats close right ? 

we have started pouring the new foundation under the house, and repairing the shutters 

we are really pleased with this Burgundy brown color.  Emma says its good because the other color of brown is what people use to paint the floors and that would be disgraceful to  paint your hole house the color of a floor. hahaha 

Dustan needed new clothes.. he had grown out of everything so we brought him to the bazaar  for this dapper new outfit. 

while at the bazaar they picked up new socks for the rest of the kids on the farm . always a welcome treat . 

The arm broke on Marats glassed, so I took them in to the optometrist to see if he could fix them . Marat will be having another operation in a couple weeks, and will have a different prescription after that, so we just needed a temporary fix. He said "lets see" ,then  took them from me and snapped the other arm off, then snapped the lens in half and crumpled the frame up and then dropped it on the counter and said " No I can't fix them you will need to buy new ones"  I believe I am being tested because I DID NOT reach over the counter and punch him in the head ..... it must be an example of grace.!   instead I called Jengish who had some words, and today I went in and picked up his replacement pair. 

I had ordered eight bunk beds for the Kindergarten . they were supposed to be delivered today at 10 am .. at 11:30 we tried calling and they were going to call the driver and see where they were , again at 12:00 , 12:30 and 1:00 but she never returned our calls with an answer , so finally at 2:00 we got a hold of the owner of the company who said that they had already delivered and set up the beds ....At Chui Orphanage..... problem is that they were not for the orphanage they were for the Kindergarten.
Finally at 3:00 they showed up with the beds, all assembled , so now they would not fit in the door and would all have to be taken apart and reassembled inside.  

On a hopefully brighter note, the new doors and windows for the kitchen and green house will arrive tomorrow.  Lets hope it goes a little smoother then today . 

New water line is in

Did I happen to mention how happy I am that spring is here .. We have so much to do and the winter hung on so long that it has put us fa behind.  Before we know it the planting season will be on us, and then the work will really start .   

Over at the main house, the new water line is berried out tot he road .  we got down about 2 feet crossing the driveway, then hit an old concrete driveway that is about a foot thick so we have wrapped the pipe this insulation, and will cover it with more  insulation to stop the frost. 

Yesterday we started the footings for the addition,  there is already a foundation there , but it was not level, as well we wanted to get the base plate of the walls up off of ground level . 

 

We had some guests at the guest house so we took them for a drive up to the ranch .  While there our little friend from next door came to say hi .. a quick deel was made, and he got to take the  hunter for a drive, and we got to take his horse for a spin. 

the snow has finaly retreated from this section of the mountain.  and today they will come and turn on the power, so hopefully we will be able to start the platform for the yurt on Tuesday. .  The yurt itself is still deep in the mountains and continued snow has delayed being able to get it for another week or so, but that will give us time to get things set up. In this video Emma and Julie are standing on the site that we chose for the yurt. 

everyone  is working so hard.  Even late last night the boys are working at cleaning the strings and weeds out of the blades of the rototiller so that we can continue working the fields today. 

We just got word that the bunk bed are ready for the kindergarten, and they will come out on Monday morning to deliver and set them up.   Also today Sergey is heading to the city with the man we are helping to set up a business.. they are hoping to get the rest of the tools in the city. 

Spring is here

Spring is finally here, and was kicked off with a community  Nowruz celebration.   It was fun to get together with every one,  They had tables set up representing each street in the town, and prizes for the best set table , and best singers and dancers. We got to spend time at two tables as the farm is on two streets in town . 

The duck made its reappearance for the celebration.  

We have the extra door in now for where the addition will go on the house.  the other three sides of the house are finished and now starting to work on scraping and painting the window frames and shutters. 

Today we also picked up all the materials for the addition of a bathroom and laundry room. 

At the main house we have started gutting out the kitchen.  the plumbing has all but given up and we need to replace it all..also we will put in some hoods over the cooking appliances. 

Nothing is ever as easy as you think though ,  When we stared removing the rotten water pipes, we realized that they are bad right back to the road, so all new lines will have to be put in . Fortunately we have some great workers at the farm that are busy digging as I type this 

 We should get the addition framed up this week,  Saturday the power company is coming to the ranch to hook up the electricity there, so next week we will be able to start work on the platform for the yurt.  

A blog post for Jack

The last couple days I have had a hard time blogging .  There is so much going on, but it is just hard to start.   When we first started coming to Kyrgyzstan, we met a couple, Jack and Carol who live in Espanola.. (Northern Ontario)  early on they started sponsoring many projects and kids here.  But more then just sponsors, We became good friends.  

My friend Jack would start his day by checking in on the blog to see what we were up to, and I knew would be praying for us through out the day.  There were many times when I would go too long with out blogging, but would remember Jack, and that would get me back to the computer.  

I only got to spend time with Jack about once a year when we would make the trip north, but was ALWAYS encouraged and blessed by my time with him.  His stories of life in the north , running a market garden on a small farm, raising rabbits, and his life reaching out to help others.. 

A couple days ago I recieved word that  my friend Jack went on to be with the Lord.   

As the world of communications has moved to twitter and Facebook,  we have kept this blog active.  We post photos every day on facebook . our personal pages, "the farm,"  " the guest house,"   "Goosey" "Bahanka rentals"are all ways of keeping in touch with followers, but I can not tell you how many times I have said, or Julie has said " You better do a blog post for Jack ".. 

So as I sit here with tears in my eyes, I am telling myself .. "You better do a blog post for Jack"... and I will choose to keep doing blog posts for Jack. 

I have to be honest, my heart is just not in it.  I wish I could write one of those bell ringer blogs right now ... The kind that Jack's memory would deserve, but its just not there.   so here goes .. 

The house we are renovating on the farm is coming along great .  The boys are learning a lot about cement work.  Mirlan has been haveing a hard time lately, through the winter there was not a lot of the kind of work that he was suited to, and was starting to get a little depressed that he did not have work suited to his abilities.. Good hard work the kind others would run from is just the thing that Mirlan loves .. We are glad to see the smile back on his face now. 

We were going to build the addition with blocks, but it has been such a cold spring that no one has been able to make blocks so there is a one month wait for them, so we will build it wood frame.  

Out in the green house, the cucumbers continue to reach for the sky, and are still loaded with new cucumbers .   The tomatoes are coming along great as well .  They will be ready to transplant into the second green house by this time next week . 

Yesterday they got two crates of cucumbers, and the vines are still full.  

We took a little run up to the ranch .  The snow is starting to melt a bit, enough to expose the site for the yurt.   We hope to have the power turned back on this week so we can get busy building the base.   Just look at that view.  

The village is having a big Nowruz celebration ( a Persian new years ), and has asked that we could help them, so we doped off supplies for them.  100 lbs of carrots, rice, onions, and a gallon of cooking oil, enough to feed ploff to the whole village .

Little Sammy is getting big, but he is not the only baby growing fast .  

Today there is a volunteer out at the farm that is teaching the kids about carving.  they are starting by carving spoons. 

Tomorrow we will start plans for the kitchen at the farm .  The humidity from all the cooking has created a bit of a mold problem , so our hand is forced a little here and we will have to go ahead and get it done.  We will have to put in new water lines, and paint and treat for the mold, then put up a hood over the cooking area to vent to the outside ,, then we will need to build new counters and shelving , also we need a bigger water heater. We do have some money in general fund to get us started , but if anyone would like to help with this  that would be great .It would be nice to do a little more then the bare minimum  to make the kitchen a nice work environment.