Heating Up
20 June 2025
I am not sure who has been following me here in this blog but it’s been a while, and I thank you for your support and patience.
Lots has happened since I last wrote. Trying to manage the park outside which is 6000m2, trying to get workers to show up and do what they say the will do correctly has been challenging, and I am trying to cope with a Masters degree in Psychology at the same time.
Sometimes I am overwhelmed and other days, I am in the flow and wonder what the rush is. So with the old heating system gone ( check out the videos on social media above), I ordered infra heating to be placed on the ceilings. That’s been done but the workmanship was not brilliant, none of the thermostats close correctly, but for the moment the system functions and is controlled , would you believe it, from an app on the phone. This is actually not really an ideal solution but there is also standard heating controls in every room.
No sooner had that happened than the staircase was to be put in to the living room so we can access the attic, then empty the attic, then insulate the attic, and then use the attic space as a meeting room. That’s a lot of steps ( excuse the pun). Long story short, there were too many steps, and not enough head room. The creator of the staircase went on holidays for two weeks so I could do nothing. He came back and took away the staircase to fix it. So I have to wait another 2 weeks. It has prevented me working in the rest of the house due to having all the ‘stuff’ in the way. The sofa is outside my door in the hallway, and also in the big bedroom.
We have been gifted a chicken house which I had to build myself . It is now inhabited by Rihanna and Beyonce, and they are so kind as to provide me with an egg an day.
The grass finally got cut. It cost some money. I told the guy to leave a good meter distance between cutting and the boundary as I had planted bushes for screening that couldn’t be seen in the tall grass. He agreed and did completely the opposite , so those first 10 bushes are no more. But the grass is cut.
We have also been gifted a water pump which arrived this morning. This will change the amount of time it takes water the food garden. This morning took about an hour and half to ensure that all the beds were watered, and I mulched them afterwards to prevent evaporation and help keep the earth cool. It’s 33c today and has been warm for a long time. It’s a beautiful long hot summer. I am hoping for a storm to fill the rainwater tanks.
Unfortunately a lot of the young trees I had in pots in the veranda were killed with heat. I had spent a day out of the house on errands and had closed the veranda behind me. When I came back some of the plants were burned, almost all were dead. I may have saved one or two.
There is a visitor who comes at night time and seems to want to cool down in the potato beds. My plants are being destroyed but today I filled the exposed places with straw, again to keep the heat off. I probably haven’t watered them enough today, but the heat outside became too much and this alcoholic was hungry and tired and thirsty and that’s a bad mix.
I have eaten berries, lettuces, beets, and herbs that I have planted myself and it’s an awesome feeling.
In the 3 months I have been here, I have had two bouts of gastro which were debilitating. I am getting the hang of what I have been doing wrong. Soda bread doesn’t keep in this heat and I had mine wrapped in food wrap where it went off without me realising it. Two days on the toilet and a few kilos dropped will ensure that doesn’t happen again.
The big news is that The Healing Path is now totally energy independent. We have a 6kw solar park and a 5 kilowatt battery, and we are earning a small amount of money each day as the system is producing way more than our current needs. It’s taken a bit of a mind shift to do laundry during the day instead of at off peak hours at night time.
I am sure there are lots of things that I have done or achieved that I am just forgetting right now. Tonja will join next month from San Patrignano which is just the greatest blessing and encouragement for me. Once I get my paper written we can spend summer eating the great food we have planted, planning the garden design and finishing up the inside of the house. There really is a lot of progress being made and the new changes that are planned will come quickly. Once the carpet is down properly in the living room it frees up space to do all the other rooms.
I have no idea how I am getting there, but I can see this place evolving slowly, the flowers for cosmetics and skin care are growing, the food is growing, the capacity of the house is being increased. Organic fertiliser is delivered when I need it. People care about the project which is fantastic . It’s happening. I am very very grateful and very excited for the future.
In case you didn’t know, I have used zero chemicals in the garden. The strongest deterrent we have used is lemon juice or garlic water. Companion planting with chives, marigolds , basil and nasturtiums seems to work a treat…
Thanks for reading.. .
Collie
May 12, 2025 