22 Jan Slower and wholesome starts | Building our off-grid, electric narrowboat | Weekly Update 6
Welcome to this week’s boat build and life on the water update! With the chilly weather sticking around, we’ve been taking things a little slower this week, but that doesn’t mean we’ve stopped working on building our new home. We’ve been busy installing more reclaimed flooring in our living space on our narrowboat and we’ve also been up to some wintery activities like making homemade firelighters and experimenting with morning porridge recipes. Read on to learn more about what we’ve been up to…
We’ve been waking up to some pretty cold temperatures this week. Winter on the canal can be tough, but it’s all about living in tune, living in symmetry, with the outside world. For us, this time of year means slowing down a little. We’re starting our days with a wholesome, warming bowl of porridge before heading down to Artichoke, our boat build project. For that sweet hit, we top it off with our homemade dandelion “honey” – it’s totally delicious vegan honey that we made last spring. You can check the recipe out for this over on our Instagram.
Most of the week has been spent cleaning and laying our reclaimed flooring. We thought this task would take us a while, but we had no idea just how much longer the flooring would take going reclaimed than if we had bought brand-new boards. Having said that, we don’t regret the decision at all. We’re building this boat to be as sustainable as possible, to be our eco floating home, and that means using reclaimed materials wherever possible. It may take a little longer, with more care and time being spent on the job, but it will be worth it. As we lay down more floorboards, we’re so pleased with the look. The dark wood adds a depth to the boat, with the colourful old court markings adding character.
We’ve also this week topped up our natural homemade firelighters. Dipping our used matches into leftover wax, we now have a full basket of firelighters to burn over the next couple of weeks. You can see how we make them over here.
To see how we’re getting on with the reclaimed flooring, and for an insight into our life on the water in these colder months, head over to our YouTube channel or watch the episode below.
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