PROJECTS
1994-95: Northern and Western Wings
We acquired Sildehøjgård (Silhøjgaard) after a negotiation lasting all of 1992. This was followed by another year with discussions with the authorities regarding some minor changes of the lot's northern boundary.
It was a crazy undertaking. The farm was a ruin when we acquired it - you can see some pictures here!
The refurbishment started slowly in the Easter of 1994. Fortunately for us, neither of us knew the size of the job nor the number of hours required just to move in a few days before Christmas that year. Working hours were from 07:00 to 21:00 all the days of the week for more than half a year.
The northern wing of the farmhouse was refurbished in 1994 and the following year, the western wing was completed - just in time to selebrate our Silver Wedding in a newly completed living room!
You can find more photoes from our home here
1998: The Southern Annex
We started in 1998 with the next large project: The refurbishment of the southern annex, a "mere" 6x9 m extension (the rightmost part of the photo above).
We had to remove the old foundation and replace it by a modern foundation topped with large granite boulders (most 50 kg or more!). Thus, retaining the look of an old Danish farmhouse.
The
roof is the "original". It was standing with no walls only supported
by iron supports for more than a year withstanding a couple of Winter storms.
The picture to the right and above shows the status July 1999.
The timber stretching out in the picture to the right is one of the nine new beams, 9.3 m long 7"x7" larch each weighing in excess of 150 kg!! The old beams were full of lots and lots of tiny worm holes!
The timberwork holding the beams were put in place the subsequent summer of 1999.
The uprights (stolper) of 6"x6" oak tree and 4"x4" interties
(sidebånd) of the half-timbering were assembled the old-fashioned way with
wooden "nails" and then tarred.
The outside brickwork finished during the Fall that year.
We were extremely lucky as the annex withstood the December 3rd 1999 hurricane with gusts up to 125 km/h, one of the worst in 100 years.
A break in the refurbishment until 2002, when I completed the interior brickwork
and we got the windows installed.
2003: Master Bed Room
The first use of the semi-finished half of the southern annex was in April 2003 for Kristian's confirmation, where we seated some 35 people in the room.
Since then, we have used the room as our master bedroom.
During the first 3½ years we had our beds placed directly on the concrete floor. It could be a bit cold during winters as there was no heating in the room at all! But the room is well insulated so the room stayed frost free even when it froze 15 degC outside!
The master bed room was finished Fall of 2006 with the laying of a wooden floor and floor heating. However, the floor heating was not connected to the rest of the heating system until a year later when the concrete floor of the to-be walk-in closet behind the master bathroom were completed.
The light in the room and the view of the fjord from the windows is just
fantastic.
1999: Historical Roses
In the Spring of 1999, we planted a lot of historic roses in groups of 5 to 7 right of the driveway. The colors range from pure white over pink and crimson to purple. Even though planted in May, they flowering quite well mid-June that year and has since offered a delight for both nose and eyes to anyone arriving from late June until the frost terminates the flowering season.
Unfortunately, the roses suffered during the cold winters of 2010-11 and the subsequent year, so we had to cut them down considerably. Fortunately most have survived.
1999: Birthe's Main Entrance
Another 1999 undertaking was the laying of square meters of small cobble stones
in the courtyard in front of the main entrance. It kept Birthe busy all that summer.
Later we covered the gound with small white "pearl" stones. And this
is what it looked like seven years later.
1999: The Vegetable and Fruit Garden
This was the vegetable garden until Summer 2005 when Birthe decided to plant roses and perenials instead.
However, there are have a raspberries, gooseberries and lots of black currants
left.
The more than a dozen apple treas planted in 1996 have after nearly 10 years
finally started to give losts of fruit - more than we can eat ourselves!
Well, the pheasants rooming around in the Fall should also have something to eat.
Actually, I guess we have lost more 20% of our apple trees planted to water moles (mosegrise). Nearly every Spring I can pick an apple tree or three with the roots eaten during the preceeding Winter!!
We are still waiting for the plum trees to perform equally. They have been planted more recently and are flowering, but maybe next year we will have plenty of plums?
We never use pesticides. There is nothing like eating newly picked fruit
directly from the tree.
1999: The Wineyard
We planted 10-12 Scheyler vines next to the farmhouse in 1999 - a buzy year with
many projects. However, it took until Summer 2005, before I got the vines
properly wired up using surplus plumbing tubes from our heating system. That
made it much easier to work on the plants, trimming, etc.
2005 was our first good year with grapes. The Summer and Fall were warn and
sunny. The grapes were ok to eat - we have too few plants to make vine - but the
colors of the foilage in November are just marvelous.
2006 turned out even better. June and July broke records in both hours of sun and temperature. So the grapes were much larger and far more.
2007 and subsequent years turned out even better although the Winter 2010-2011 took its toll.
2005: The Greenhouse
Birthe acquired a used greenhouse for kr. 1,- in June 2005. The owner assisted us taking it apart in a few hours. It took me quite a few week-ends to put it together again. However, it took only Birthe a weekend to fill it with tomatoes, cucumbers, flowers, furnitures and other nice greenhouse stuff shortly after this picture was taken!
As we live fairly unsheltered, every year we have to replace windows that
are blown away by winter storms.
2009: Master Bathroom
The master bathroom and a walk-in closet is our most current project. The picture to the left is from August 2008.
The picture to the left below was taken October 2009 just after the tile work was finished.
The picture below and to the right shows how it looks today.
2013: The Hurricanes
The two hurricanes during teh Fall of 2013 took their tolls.
The October 28 storm resulted in the fall of a large weeping willow. The fall resulting from wind gusts likely exceeding 40 m/s (150 km/h) and a tree still carrying all its leaves !!
Far worse was the December 5-6 storm named Bodil. Early in the evening we lost
part of the roof.
Furthermore, it resulted in a raise of the water level in the fjord to a record
2.1 m over the normal sea level. This left lots of debris 25 m inland.
and 30-60 cm heigh.
The Weeping Willow 5 years later
2022-2023: From Natural Gas to 100% Geothermal Energy
In late autumn 2022, we burried two 240m ground heating circuits in a depth of 1m
in the lawn covering an area of 1,500 m2 close to the fjord.
From the collection chamber a pair of 60m ø 50mm tubes end in a dedicated utility room in the unheated sourthern wing of the farmhouse.
The heating pump itself was installed during the summer of 2023.
We went from consuming 1,800-2000 m3 of natural gas/year a mere 6,500 kWh even though we now have higher temperatures than before.