I’ve missed a deadline for the roof. One side of the roof has been closed for a while now. But there was still the second side. There, I hadn’t even taken off the old roofing material. And the wood was only the first of three layers.

Friends were coming to help with the second layer. But I didn’t finish in time.

I spent every dry-ish minute on the roof or carrying the damaged material to the pile of special waste I’ll have to pay to get rid of.

I know I won’t like seeing snails around my lettuce but for now, these are friends. Once my garden neighbor’s geese friends visit, the snails won’t stand a chance. I also found this invasive Nosferatu spider. They belong to the Mediterranean.

When the roof is done, I’ll go around the land to identify everything that grows here now. When I started this half, I had a week left until my friends would visit. But then I spent two days at a festival, a day recovering, and it rained for two days.

With a few days left, I finished opening up the roof. Hopes were high, I’d be able to close it up in time. Well, and then the two days of rain hit pause. The roof would be too wet to work on.

When I returned with a single day left, I realized I had miscounted the wood. None of the wood was properly up when my friends arrived to help. But it’s all good. We got to work anyway.

With three sets of hands, what had taken me days and days was done in hours. The roof is still majorly crooked. Before long, we were adding the final row. In time for dinner, the final board was up. And then, I was adding the final screws.

I felt both accomplished and disappointed. We had gotten a lot done. My friends had been a huge help. I was forced to take another three-day break. As soon as my body stopped fighting itself, I was back, of course.

There’s a weather window upcoming to finish this once and for all. So, I got ready for the final push. In an afternoon, I carried in about 450 kg (1,000 lbs) of roofing supplies for the outer layer. I took most of them apart for easier handling, as each package was 22 kg (48 lbs).

One more day of prep work, and I can start the next layer. When this is done, I’ll have so much room in the garden hut. Soon, I won’t have tarps inside. And maybe some more time to just exist in the garden.

So long, and thanks for being here.