Improvments on the homestead the first four months of living here. Part 1.

There certainly has been some work done here so far getting everything ready for winter, and just for having basic needs meet. Nobody has lived here in wintertime for over 20 years, since the homestead has primarily been used for vacation and weekend purposes in the spring and summer. So there hasn't been the need for a place to have a washing machine or the need to use the wood stove much. 

Pretty much the first thing i did invest in was a heat pump. And a good quality one too as the house is poorly isolated as old houses like this usually are. Nothing feels better than waking up in the morning to a warm kitchen, and not stressing with getting the wood stove going. Or the feeling of coming home to a warm house after being out all day. And since it's located in the kitchen, where I also dry my clothes after washing them, or the clothes I use outside that get wet, they dry completely after just a few hours being close to the warm air. I am really pleased with that.

There is something soothing about clothes hanging to dry. I always get a cozy feeling seeing it in my kitchen, or outside in summertime.

The heat pump.

I also needed to do something about my road and driveway. It was very muddy and slippery after many years with grass and moss coming through. My driveway was just plain grass, and that turned into a mudbath pretty fast after an autumn with a lot of rain. 

I am pretty pleased with the result!

Electricity has been a big expence so far, but an essential one.
The barn didn't have electricity at all, which I definitely had to get done, so a cable was put in the ground to get it there. Lamps were put up, both outside and inside, with a few outlets. It was great seeing lights outside the barn, being completely in the dark otherwise. I needed more lights outside my house too, having only one outdoor lamp here. A lot of electrical outlets, and more lamps were installed inside. There was no outlet for a washing machine, as there hasn't been use for one here. And the outlet for the stove wasn't suited for modern stoves, so it had to be upgraded. Several rooms had only one outlet in the entire room.  All in all, this was a bigger task than I anticipated, but I am very pleased with this result too. 

Lights from the barn on a early snowy morning.

I¨ll update with a part 2 later. Have a great week!