Update on Roof repairs needed

 We are doing great with the many needs that I have shared the last few weeks .  As soon as the funds transfer through the banks , our friend will be getting his new to him tractor.   The fence material has arrived and in a couple days the installation will begin at the playground .  We managed to find the breaks and repair and replace the plugs in the village water supply.  

One thing we have not had any movement on is the roof at the Kashar .  Just in this last month we have had 99 guests , many sponsored .. enjoy their stay .. the months not over , maybe we will hit 100.  

But that said, we really need to get started on replacing the old part of the roof .   We are looking for $1000 for the materials to get started .  Starting next week we have two weeks with out bookings as we have shut down and hoping to get the repairs done ..   We would be blessed if you would like to help with this need.  These repairs were not expected, but I know we can do them.

"HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?"

The gardens are now all in at the farm.  Some of the plants were planted from seed directly into the garden , but others were started in the green house and have just been moved out.   With the water shortages coming up this year we have had to be a little more strategic with the planting.  We are setting up an irrigation system that we can refill from the river if needed .. we have also put mulch around the plants so that they retain the water.    

We have focused mainly on the produce that we can store for the winter .. pickled beats, pickled peppers, zucchini, Tomatoes and egg plants.

We have a small kitchen garden close to main house where we have all the other garden items . .. peas, beans, salads, radishes, carrots and onions . 

Some of these rows are marigolds that will be transplanted around the garden where needed to help to control the bugs  

We have also expanded the raspberries and the strawberries since they do not take as much watering . 
 

An oppertunity to bless a family

Today was a great relief on a couple fronts .. the guys have been working to find the problem with the town water, and today they found a blockage in the pipe.  They were able to fix it and tomorrow will replace the 40 feet of constricted pipe they found a few days ago.  

The really good news is that the tractor is fixed and in it's at qy back home .  This could have been up to a couple thousand dollars and months of fighting to find th parts .. but some used clutch plates and some new seals were found and we are back In Business for just $200. The tractor had made it's return across the mountain. 

A couple days ago we had someone come to us looking for help to buy a tractor 

They have a large family and have a large farm growing raspberries and strawberries.  But to grow enough to support his family the garden is too big to care for by hand 

They tried to get a bank loan for the tractor but with the interest rates of up over 20%. It is just too much for them .  As a last resort before giving up the farm , he is hoping that we can find him a micro loan .  

They are looking for $2000.   If anyone would like to help with this .  What we would offer is an interest free loan  with monthly payments geared to income .  and the loan when paid back would be used as a loan to another need for someone else  that we come across. 

Finding the problem

This week the boys have been working on the village water supply.  They have managed to get the water flowing again , but they did find one big problem.

There was a section of a mud slide wash out a few years ago .  The section of pipe replaced was replaced with a hose rather than the original 5 inch pipe .. and even then the pipe has been repaired a few times causing a significant reduction in water volume 

 What needs to happen is a 40 foot pipe needs to go in and be reinforced coming across the wash out .   So basically we are looking at about $250 to restore adiquet  water to the village .. this would benefit so many in the village besides us at the farm. 

The tractor made it over the mountain last night and today they are taking it apart to figure out what is needed for repairs .. I will keep you posted. 

Going to the source.

 

The next couple days the boys have gone to the mountain with some workers from th brown to try to clean out the village water source .  Let's hope they are successful 

We are preparing for some larger groups at the farm and Kashar.  Today we had to get 5 more sets of sheets , pillows and blankets. 

Nothing is never easy .. especially farming.  Breakdowns are a common part of farming but never fun when it happens to us. 

 

Today the tractor is making the journey over the mountain to go to a mechanic who we are praying is able to fix the transmission for us .

Update from the Ranch

I had shared in passing about some problems we had at the Ranch this spring.  I will take a moment now an share a little more in depth. 

We had put the hater on over night to warm the building up a bit.  The problem was that the original wiring was too small and some point during the night the wires melted and set fire .   Fortunatly the fire quickly went out , but not with out first filling the room with black soot.  

We re-did the wiring , all the way back to replacing the meter box, circut box , then ran a heavy gage wire to each room for use with items with a large power draw like plug in heaters.  We then cleaned the walls in the worst area and painted the wall.  

That was not the only difficulty we had .  At the same time we had a terrible wind storm the ripped the roofs of many houses, barns and public buildings.  Three pnnels of the old part of our roof were blown off as well, then the rain caause a lot of dammage inside when sections of the ceiling colapsed .  

We were able to patch the roof, and then we cleaned up inside and put a patch over the damaged area.  This is a temporary fix, and we will need to properly repair it .  Until we geet a new roof on there is not much sence in doing a lot of work inside.    

So now that we ar starting to get caught up with other projects , we have gone back to reassess what is needed .. The problem is that the boards that the old roof is nailed into are old and starting to rot.  So we will need to strip off the old roof and replace the cross brasses, then put on the new roof.  To do this will cost just over $1000 USD .  then for the inside we will do some repairs on the walls and then put up a stretched membrain ceiling .  To do this will be another $500 so what it comes down to is that we will need to invest $1500 USD into the Kashar, hopefully before too mant more stormes come through.   If you would be interested in helping us with this, please uses one of the donate buttons on the top right side of the blog.  

We did have some exciting news this week as well .. This spring after the bees on the farm started to venture out in the spring, we had a deep freeze and snow.  This wipped out the entire honey production.  We have just recieved and set up 30 new families of bees .   Up in the mountain , spring had not come yet so the bees had not started to venture out as much so the hives there survived.