October has been an exceptionally productive month at Cara Creek Eco Lodge. As well as a month of great times with friends coming from all over to visit, and a month of some sad times for our little family having to lay our sweet puppy Louie to rest. Many of our friends visiting have helped move our project along, and some friends came and provided us and our local village with some fabulous entertainment. Hosting some great work-away volunteers, and hiring a skilled and creative stone mason full-time has really vamped up the progress of our project too.
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| Sweet Lou-ster |
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| Pomegranite Tree in Louie's memory where we buried him💙 |
The Jake Levinson Band visited us for the second year in a row while on their European Tour. We arranged a gig at one of the local cafes, and some local light engineer friends of ours even did light effects for the show. People from all over came to watch them perform for a really lively night in the small village of Ervedal.
 
We're hoping to host them at Cara Creek Eco Lodge next time they're on tour in Europe, next summer! Find The Jake Levinson Band on Spotify or YouTube to check them out!
Ruin #1 probably has the most visible changes this month. Throughout the photos below you'll notice repaired stone work, repointing between the stone with Cal Viva mix (Lime-crete, sand, lime and water mixed), a new stone wall for the outdoor terrace and more...
The best part of all is that our talented friend James Grace visited us this month and worked his beautiful wood work magic, which is a real highlight of the terrace now. Not only really great company, but also immensely skilled. Big thank you again James!! Check out more of his work here...
It won't be long before we're moved into the lower level of ruin 1 once the cob floor is finished, indoor walls repointed, and wood burner installed. Until then we're staying cozy in our large tent with the wood burner installed!
 
Long-term the lower level of ruin 1 will be the reception/library/bar, second level will be kitchen with dining room extended out the other side, and an indoor studio will be built out of wood for the third level. Below find some photos of the progress of the renovation thus far....
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A nurse friend of mine from Global Smile Foundation, DeeAnn, spent the last part of her few weeks in Europe up here. She raved about how peaceful it was and even enjoyed the rustic lifestyle we live. It was also really nice for her to be here as a distraction among the sadness while Louie wasn't well, not to mention an extra nurse to give me a hand doing his IV treatments.
Massive thanks to the work-awayers we hosted this month... Lewis from the UK, Max — a return volunteer from Germany, Fabio from Brazil and Sofia from Sweden. It was fun to have Max here again (last here for a few weeks last March) to hear his feedback about the differences he could see in the place.
They were all amazingly helpful with pigs and chickens chores, laying the cob floor in ruin1, and building Huegle beds. We have an endless amount of rotten wood to use up, so we dug out 5 holes to build 1 meter high huegle beds. They're mounds that face north to south and will decompose into fertile soil for growing in the spring. For now we've planted some seeds to get the soil going and look forward to Spring planting there.
As we settle into the autumn which basically has already turned to winter, we're planning out small goals to reach our larger goal opening Spring 2019. Stay tuned and follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more frequent updates. Thanks, as always, for reading!
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| A fun balloon photo with Mali-Moo the night of Jake Levinson Band |
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