We found a big problem on the homestead… and winter is near | Family start over in Bulgaria

Winter is coming fast here in rural Bulgaria, and today we discovered a big problem on our homestead that we didn’t expect. As a UK family starting over in Bulgaria, we’re doing everything we can to get ready before the cold hits. In this video, we tackle winter prep, share the challenges of living abroad, and show you the reality of building a new life on a rural property.

From carrying firewood to fixing issues around the house, this week pushed us harder than ever. If you’re dreaming of moving abroad, starting over, or building a homestead from scratch, this episode shows the real behind-the-scenes moments most people don’t see.

Thanks for watching and joining our fresh start journey.

See you next week!

#bulgaria #lifeinbulgaria #homesteadingfamily #uktobulgaria #familyadventure #moveabroad #ruralbulgaria
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Interested in working with us? Contact us on freshstartsticks@gmail.com
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Chapters:

00:00 – Winter Is Coming… and So Is the Problem ❄️
We spot something worrying the moment we step outside.
00:01:26 – The Issue We Can’t Ignore Any Longer ⚠️
A small problem turns into a big one right before winter.
00:03:50 – Our Homestead Isn’t Ready… and Time’s Running Out ⏳
Cold winds show us all the gaps we missed.
00:06:30 – Fixing the Damage We Didn’t Expect 🔧
Quick repairs turn into a full afternoon project.
00:08:45 – When You Realise Winter Prep Is No Joke 💨
Drafts, cracks, and cold spots everywhere.
00:12:20 – Wood Pile Emergency: Do We Have Enough? 🌲
Cutting, stacking, hauling — winter depends on this.
00:17:40 – Trying to Stay Positive on a Tough Day ❤️
A short break reminds us why we chose this life.
00:22:50 – Back to Repairs: More Problems Show Up 🛠️
Every fix leads to something else that needs doing.
00:29:10 – The Reality of Starting Over Abroad 🌍
It’s beautiful… but days like this hit hard.
00:35:55 – Racing the Sunset Before It Gets Too Cold 🌙
We push to finish before the temperature drops.
00:43:20 – One Final Job Before We Call It a Day 💪
Tired, muddy, but determined to keep going.
00:51:40 – Today’s Lessons From the Homestead 🙏
Living rural changes everything — for the better.
01:02:00 – Ending the Day With Hope for Tomorrow ✨
Winter is close, but so is progress.

Song list:

– Morning Mist
– What if I said I am sorry
– Bestie

If you liked our song list and would like to get them – click the link below
https://share.epidemicsound.com/rrpbsk

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#movingabroad #българия

Winter’s coming and we’ve returned back to the homestead but we’ve had some unexpected surprises yep some issues inside the house we need to fix immediately so this week we’re gonna be logging and also sealing holes we didn’t even know we had join us on YouTube fresh start sticks like that’s how much he loves cheese cats if you’re new here we’re Elaine and Chris and in 2024 we sold our business and took our three children out of school we left everything we knew behind in the UK right guys as you can see today is raining it’s raining so heavy um one of the uh things that we were just talking about is that we wanna do a like a water catchment area around the house because like water is literally falling everywhere and uh rather than it just going to waste you might as well just get a like a big large tub and try and contain some of that water and maybe reuse it in the garden or reuse reuse it for you know another purpose right there’s one other thing that we’ve just found out let me show you come what is wrong so what have we just found I discovered a leak and um it stopped ha ha ha ha ha and yeah right so we’ve got a few tiles on the roof that need sorting out quite quickly but it developed a leak yeah right and one there so it’s dripping just just in there so um we need to get it on the roof ASAP which we were planning to do but the rain just started coming so yeah it’s just started it’s not a long term leak so we need to get it sorted very very soon yeah so we’re gonna go back today and see if we can find someone to do it we have got someone but yeah we’re gonna try and get that organized yeah but so we’ve only been back now about uh two days two days ha ha and it is all go go go so um obviously as you guys saw um a trailer broke on us and um we weren’t expecting that but we did get back obviously quite safely now it is all about sorting out the homestead and um just sorting out the house making sure that we are sealed water tight and snow ready because obviously winter is coming and also our sorry our our internet has been shocking so um Chris was just pointing at a an old device OK back to the old one the new ones are rubbish that um we actually got rid of and um yeah got some new high tech white thing but we’re gonna give that back and we’re gonna go back to our old one because that’s fine just not working yeah and excuse the mess guys this is my tool shop at the moment at the moment yeah it’s gonna be soon somewhere else um so I’ve got to find somewhere secure and drive what you know it’s gonna be driving this and to put the stuff in um but all our tools all the equipment we need to do this this project is in there so um I’m just trying to sort it out because um we just left it and in a mess so I’m just trying to sort it out so so I don’t know if it is so yeah and then I discovered the leak so it’s good that I came in here so I wouldn’t know to realise because it probably stopped raining yeah I wouldn’t notice yeah so um but it’s only just started so yeah we’ll get some there as soon as possible yeah definitely right OK so um after that little um thing there let’s crack on with some breakfast and then we’re gonna get out and uh find someone to see if they can why did you put breakfast yeah we don’t wanna break the day really yeah we don’t wanna or break a fast yeah exactly we just it is food but it isn’t really we don’t really have well I don’t really eat breakfast so early to be fair I normally eat something like at the end of that midday to afternoon but obviously we got kids and they do want something quite early and we got Chris and he does want something quite early I don’t eat all day it’s not true that’s a conspiracy theory obviously getting prepared very quickly um we’ve got probably about three maybe 3 four weeks before maybe some hard snow falls in Bulgaria and so we’re just um cutting up some wood uh for hopefully burning in the petska there are some things that we need to improve uh to be comfortable for us to actually um make this our home why oh for changes to be made in the property um what we thought at first cause obviously we’ve just literally arrived this week so um we had to kind of basically first calm ourselves down oh guys did I show you our mint yeah our bed of mint has started to grow and it was Maya that Prince and plain planted it I was about to say printed it but anyway Maya printed ha ha planted it and um yeah it’s actually very very big look that’s it there and that’s a leaf from it anyway right so we have started to draw up plans for uh the changes that will be made in the property uh one of those is obviously in the kitchen area that you guys would have seen the floor is not level at all so um so I’d probably say we’ve got about 6 to 7 inches of um leveling that we’ve got to um make makeup with cement and um and also we’re gonna be relocating the bathroom which is the shower room at the moment to a different location in the property um you guys may have remembered the room that we stepped down into that I think someone or maybe I may have mentioned saying that it was a dungeon that will be the new bathroom so um we started drawing up drawing up plans for those changes to be made uh we have someone coming over to the property to view um basically have a chat with us see what needs to be done some of the things we can’t do for example the cementing we are not cementers um we’ve never done tiling before so we’re not gonna um we’re not gonna do tiling and mess it up um and obviously the the roof the roof is definitely a big thing we have struck a leak in the kitchen so very very swiftly that is the first thing that we’re gonna get done because it started to rain quite a lot in Bulgaria and um of course what we don’t want is the roof the actual um wood beams in the roof to start getting rotten I don’t know and uh yeah so um yeah in um caravan caravan big bus no good no good don’t jump out of these dogs I wouldn’t you have nowhere to go don’t you jump out and they can run faster as I will catch up with you so this bottom is strong top hold up big one you cut it no good no stretching I know I tried that’s why I got this one this one was a he’s about to bark I have to drive to get this trailer I have to drive 400 km drive in UK no I’m trying to record him go fetch this this is the five hi what I’m doing here guys one that Bulgaria obviously you can use a lot of wood and the problem with wood especially if it’s been kept outside or it’s taken from a tree is very normally as I have a woodworm in it or earwigs or any other thing that can live um round or inside the tree so if you’re gonna keep um what I found out when you keep um wood inside you find out you start getting loads of spiders and all kind of stuff around the house it’s not because you’re bringing them on these things so what I do being the pest control expert I am I um take the bark off the loose bark what’s that anything where they can live underneath and make sure there’s no holes on the actual service because normally woodworm you see them popping out or ants they got some big ants um what pop out of there sometimes um when you got big holes in there and so that as you can see that was nice I’ve cleaned all the loose bark off it which we can dry and burn later and then that’s all nice and clean you can see there’s no pests in there and then what I normally do I put them inside the oven in the pet store for about 20 minutes just to cure it and kill off any small insects that might be on the outside you can’t see and then you can stick it in your little storage and keep it inside your house other than that I recommend keeping wood outside the house if you don’t want pests inside the house because you’ll get a lot of woodworm and there’s so much in them Bulgaria in the trees in the woods and um if I get one I’ll show you they’re quite big different sizes um got flat one a thick round one and little small one so um but that’s ready to go inside the house I know it’s safe there’s nothing gonna be crawling out of that anytime soon and then I just keep this more that’s one way of keeping your house pest free or better what it could be anyway which we’ve had so much earwigs we’ve not seen that many this year but remember the first time Lane was doing wood yeah we kept the wood next to the house and earwigs were everywhere everywhere everywhere centipedes well centipedes not a big thing but earwigs they’re just everywhere they end up in the house and so yeah and they will crawl out the board the minute you put them down the box they start crawling out of it so um if you keep inside don’t like insects it’s quite pleasant to do a nice day to like today just clean the wood off looks quite nice actually hmm actually when I put them on the some wall up yeah almost looks that way and that’s the thing when you process like this you actually keep a stock and along the wall like a a wall art and for emergencies you can use it we use regular wood if you really run out you got these nice things so you could cut them in the way so they look quite nice and I can see ladies got some ideas yeah so um but then you’re not gonna have a pest so there it is and if you got you got really bad wood split them like I did and you see woodworm fall out of it I didn’t get on camera but um tied on the field I split them and there’s all the woodworm inside it that came out and now the wood is free so again I’ll put them in the oven for about 10 15 20 minutes let them dry any last bits of moisture in them and these are seasoned woods they’ve just been lying around and yes so that’s it that’s another tip for today can I ask you if a woodworm goes into your house yeah what do they do well it’s the woodworm that does the damage not the beetle but the beetles they’ve got different size beetles different types of woodworm it’s the beetle that does the damage no the beetle lays the eggs yeah the larvae that’s the larvae what eats the wood right and then that that pupates and becomes a beetle right so if you bring one of these into your house it’s got woodworm with woodworm yeah what will happen well hopefully it’ll eat that wood and become beetle and leave but normally it’ll leave and go somewhere else inside the house and then right breed and oh so you could get an infestation of woodworm yeah yeah yeah and it’s the beetle with the problem woodworm itself is not that dangerous unless you got inside the wrong parts of your house um but you can spot them quite easily in wood I get them all the time um they’re like big massive maggots with a big got a flat head and a round head one um and yeah but if you like fishing or you got chickens and ducks feed them to them and protein or eat them myself I don’t know in Australia they eat the ridgey grubs I have ridgey grubs yeah ridgey grubs so you never know they look very similar to them actually yeah they are they probably do taste because they eat nuts they probably taste nutty like the ridgey grubs but I’m not going to be demonstrating that on any YouTube videos coming soon so um no we’ll make Mario do it instead who will yeah Mario try anything what I mean this guy wants to live in Japan and that’s the best place to eat that stuff I think that’s why he wants something different well Gary’s too safe for food um but yes so that’s what we’re doing in the ceiling um we’re starting to get our wood stocks up I’ve got our daily burners our night burners which are the big ones I’m gonna clean and process these so we can keep them inside the house at night and not have to keep coming out and then I’ve got some over there and I’ve got a few trees I’m felling but the wood’s seasoned it’s old and it’s ready to go and it’s nice and dry but I always do put them in the burner just to kill off any insects and so the question is will we actually have enough though for winter I don’t know that’s yet to be seen right I think if we manage it properly and the thing people always think we’ve lived in minus 10 hmm um temperatures in the camper van so we’ve done all that kind of stuff so I think it’s all about managing if you got a forest full of trees and you got twigs and branches you’re cutting down like we have we’ve got 3 4 big bell piles of twigs different sizes of some a thick and let’s show you some are thick like that which are I mean comparing they’re quite thick and then you got the smaller ones like these ones the smaller but hard woods you’re gonna burn them anyway and the thing is put them in the patch car keep the day running going with all this kind of stuff I’ve got tons of this stuff was dry um put them in your petrol burn them get free energy free heating and also you can cook all day and keep your petrol going all day and then um you can go on to the thicker stuff and then in the evening the long burners we use those and it’s managed fine we had no problems and and long as it was dry and it’s old this stuff will burn all day long tons and tons of it I’m not even start the surface yet and then obviously I’ve got trees I’ve got um large larger logs over there which I’ve already pre cut some I’ve found some more there’s a big tree trunk in there so will we do it I don’t know I mean how many weeks is winter about 3 3 weeks hmm weeks yeah solid weeks well yeah well it’s a it’s a two months there’s be um there’s a two months of cold weather so it’s gonna get cold as in yo you’re talking like the cold desperately cold weather desperately cold probably about couple of months yeah about six weeks six weeks at least so it’s a two months so daily wise we can easily manage the log burn if we need it and keep it going I mean the house is quite warm now I’ve had it going for a couple of days two days one day one day and the house is warm and I and and the parts I’m gonna need in which we have got these but we haven’t used these it’s quite warm and that pet’s goes all the way down the other side of the house and it’s warming up the whole house so we have got a second patch go we can um light up and just give it a boost if we need to but at the moment I don’t think we need to if the average temperature outside is about 10 13 degrees so at the moment we’re not going mad and if we’re not going mad then don’t burn the the wood what we really need and gonna need in the winter and burn the this keep the patch the coin kind of far so I don’t know um I’m optimistic but I think we can do it hmm like always but we need a backup plan yeah just in case yeah um we’ve got enough trees I’ve got enough trees to fill I’ve got I’ve got at least I’ve got a big tree there I’ve got on top got loads of big branches on there they’re so dead I’ve got loads of wood dotted around the I’ve got to clear it I’m about to burn it anyway so why don’t burn the pet screen it’s good wood so I’m optimistic I think we can probably do this worst case maybe one pallet of wood hmm but I’ve got I think we can do this we like challenges don’t we let’s see if we can do it guys let’s see if we can do this is gonna be a challenge we’re not giving um we’ve come here with no wood and with I’m cutting like mad and I’m building stocks up I’ve got one 2 3 4 5 6 seven I’ve got a lot of wood there around the corner I’ve got a pile of there from the end of the year and I’ve got tree trunks and wood thrown everywhere and also in the barn I’ve taken a lot of wood out and I’ve got wood everywhere in the barn what’s been left from the previous owners so I guess this is the case of processing it and making sure that we manage it in time yeah managed time but the stuff that’s in the barn we can cut I can cut in the barn yeah so that’s not urgent it’s the ones outside that’s why I’m busy processing and we got 3 4 piles of big piles of um branches thick branches what can burn and give you good heat um throughout the day and the evening and then we got the late the late night so what the bit I hate doing is coming out in the night to get wood because I don’t want woodworm now so I don’t want insects in my house so I’m now doing trying to eradicate that yeah by just processing it and clean them off and make sure they are as nice as this where you know I’ve got to take this bit of bark the bark is where they live underneath the bark where they can get but you clean all that off and then long as you see no holes in there no ant holes you know that one’s alright it’s not going anywhere and this wood again will be good to bring inside the house in the night time so you’ve got to keep coming at night because that’s the thing I don’t like doing come at night my shorts my flip flops especially when it’s cold yeah at the moment it’s lovely it’s bliss today lovely so yeah so that’s something to do guys do not panic about wood there’s if you got a big garden you got loads of wood if you walk around you’ll see wood on the floor don’t cut any trees or anything like that you’re not allowed to do that in Bulgaria but you can walk around and see big massive branches on the floor in the middle of the path pick it up and process it and burn it it’s gonna be out there anyway and since being back in Bulgaria this is the first morning that we’ve had to really get things sorted you’ve seen Chris has been cutting like crazy and um we have got a few things that we’ve got to get done in the house very very swiftly before winter hits okay so I have managed to bring the money plant back and it’s still in good order also I’ve bought back some thyme plants there are two different there’s a few different things in here so this is thyme this is another type of thyme and this is obviously Rosemary so I’m gonna put them straight into the ground cause someone gave it to me gifted it to me said as soon as I get back to Bulgaria that I should put it straight into the ground last time we all that all that just came from this area are you kidding me yeah I haven’t done the top yet look it’s not edible is it no no well I don’t know about that what is that so we gonna put this in the compost yeah yeah but that’s just this area did you just cut that what over there the tree yeah oh cool and he’s cut the stump down the rest of it but I’ve got a lot of wood though hmm got a lot of wood I’m just gonna and process it yeah and this tree here seems to be trying to grow back so yeah we’ll keep this one pruning it that’s gonna be our natural light post that’s pruning all that stuff I actually do like the trees around the bottom I know but it’ll only grow thicker yeah and it’ll grow to that’s some apricot in it that’s for nut yes isn’t it that’s apricot yeah yeah I know I don’t really want that no but I’m gonna use it as a natural post to them and chop that tree down that dead one there yeah that’s gonna be firewood that’s ready to burn because it’s it’s died years ago mm hmm so chop it down them like it five minutes see the weather’s not the sun’s trying to come out but it’s just Misty it’s quite warm yeah it’s not too bad but why is the sun so white sun is not normally that colour I know I got fat um thing in front of it but that is really bright that’s not a normal sun colour that’s so weird it’s weird anyway yeah can’t wait to get someone else done hmm alright I’m done about so long I’ll do this every day when I was younger we’ll come now who’s that I don’t know some some yeah probably someone on a bike put in why does oh oh that’s it let’s see if this is better it’s on the wrong thing I know you know that I know that Bos never used 51bce0c785ca2f6808 you ever had a will come off you on a bike yep really yeah not tighten up properly oh no what and it literally just comes off the front wheel no pull the wheel and the wheel drops off oh my God you are kidding me yeah oh my God and it went good I went over the end of it but he dug down and spun over oh shit so so I say make sure it’s tight properly ha ha ha the back wheel can come off it back wheels not as easy to come off it just messes the gears up but yeah I’ve pumped tires on that so the the pump things in the car you wanna go get it right my seat’s dirty that’s probably a problem to the car oh OK yeah alright alright take that to the car mate my seat’s dirty don’t worry about that get you can get something to wipe it later gardening plumbing electrical bike maintenance car maintenance house maintenance house maintenance and husband father low maintenance ha ha ha ha ha ha ha oh I’ve noticed the tiles slipped again oh yeah and that one there slipped down again at the top oh yeah that one yeah so what makes it slip just needs cementing oh the wind’s off the wind and the rain and stuff the wind so we need to get that sorted out as soon as yeah yep that’s right Okey dokey he’s pointing is the weather still OK to do that now it is if you get done like now OK you don’t it’s off the snow but now it’s still dry to do it OK well at least at least start it yeah do the the main stuff in it yeah yeah but it’s only registration oh and that as well look the same thing oh that’s yeah that’s turned as well no that’s not that remember was it like that yeah he said it’s stuck down it’s weird oh really yeah ha ha ha it’s meant that way for the corner I didn’t know that’s strange you can get a free way one which is better yeah obviously free way yeah it’s just it’s just put across too but he said that’s how it is oh my God they got that and he’s funny yeah it’s not bad but he’s got this that one he’s doing and that one yeah alright guys so I managed to get just the chainsaw working again but um I decided to cut the smaller bits of wood up so I’ve cut them all into quite decent sizes and then I’m gonna cut that one up there but I thought while I’m doing this I might as well go over to that weird little tree stump right outside the garden and cut it down because it’s not gonna be of use for anything right morning guys and it’s a foggy one is right so I’ve had to carry all the stuff out of the top of the garden but right today um my task is to this poor tree let me take the camera this poor tree I think it’s an apple or pear tree has seen better days and um I think it’s time it needs to come down and I said I do need firewood and I wouldn’t normally cut this tree but this tree it’s dead it’s comfortable dead it’s not really doing anything so but however I did I did cut is or her sister down and I’m quite happy to say it’s growing back and to be fair um I actually quite down to get rid of it and I left the stump I mean there was literally nothing left more but a tiny little stump down there which I was gonna dig out I left it and within a year look at that so it’s growing back fast and furious so maybe I’ll do the same to that one and leave a little bit of stump it will grow back to like that but if not I’m more than happy with what’s on there yep not expecting anything off this tree for at least another year or so but it was a mature tree and the stumps down there is about 10 inches thick and so it’s quite a a mature tree so um yeah that’s going back so I’m really happy to save it it’s not the end of the game for that one so that one I’m gonna let that one grow to replace that one and if that one starts to grow again I’ll leave it and then at some point some point we’re gonna have to come up to the top of the garden up here and I’m gonna have to do a bit of massacre in this one hate the word massacre but um yeah I have to cut this one back chop the limbs off let it grow so it’s bearing pears but um there’s not a lot of evidence of many pears on the floor I’ve seen one or two the last few times so what I’m gonna do I’m gonna take a few limbs off and let it regrow again and um yeah hopefully we’ll get a more productive tree in the next few years so um yep so these limbs gonna go cause I don’t want this growing that way I don’t want that one growing that way either I wanna keep it central and just this over this way a bit um you can’t see the house it’s right right down there so um yeah so towards that house that way and that’s the barn there that’s the barn so yeah this one however is dead this one in its entirety is gonna come down I don’t like it um so that’s gonna come down and become firewood whether I can do this year or not I don’t know and then all the other trees especially that one down I’m gonna trim that one back um I’m gonna keep that one but I’m gonna trim it back and I might knock it down I don’t know and then I got this one there’s a walnut tree I’m just gonna prune this one back so it’s just a bit tidy and um so it’s not overgrowing the back where we’re gonna put a massive we’re gonna put a new gate there big gate a bigger gate so the gates go from there to about there which is about 14 feet 14 15 feet so I’m gonna make a bigger gate so I need this bit of the tree trim back there but that’s producing walnuts I believe I was so it’s a beautiful tree I can do something with that and this one here it got the storms a few years ago got to it so I had to cut this limb off that one snapped off there and um yeah so it’s not looking too good so I’m gonna lose uh yeah I’m gonna lose this big branch here and later on I’m gonna lose one of the bigger branches at the top and big thick ones at the top there and trim that back I’m gonna try and do that before spring and then that branch is gonna go there so yeah so I’ve got quite a bit of wood to play with and I don’t know what this is so that’s gonna be firewood this looks like an old dead tree so this could be firewood um it’s not good thing um that walnut branch there snapped off don’t know why was nothing to do with me and um I’ve got some piles we did earlier in the year of wood we can collect store sort out for starting the fire in the petska and just keeping it going if need be emergency oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh huh there you go folks my chainsaw is playing up again um I put fresh fuel in it fresh oil in it it ran perfectly yesterday no it ran like this yesterday morning and then it ran perfect for rest of the day and now it’s doing it again after about 10 15 minutes it starts bogging down so it’s either it’s got a carb problems and it’s set up it’s quite a new chainsaw it’s not old so before any of you say oh you need a new chainsaw it’s old or it’s something else but no it’s not that old it’s quite a new chainsaw and still got 2 years warranty at the free so that’s how new it is and but it’s bugging out so and I’m gonna get that sorted and come back I’ve got another chainsaw by the way but I got sorted and I will take the rest of the stump down and but for now I’ve got a bit more wood now we’re managing okay at the moment I mean it’s not crazy cold but we’re managing okay with the wood consumption so um got a bit of wood so we’re gonna get that down process it cut it all up and then um come back and try and get rest of this tree down it needs to come down anyway um but yeah that’ll be the next job right so get a little fella sorted out and um I’ve got so much to do I’ve got all that to look after all day along there not a complaint by the way it’s just what it is and um yep I’ve got some more decent size wood here I can dry and they’ve been there for quite a while so I cut them down about a year ago so um yeah and um uh this was some more grapes I say was it’s a complete mess that was all grapes and it is still all grapes in there somewhere I need to tidy all that up there’s a little Vineyard up there it’s quite big area all the way along and then back and then down and then I’m not sure that tree is um and these pruning I need to take some of these branches off because there’s too many growing over the grapes so I need to trim them off not massive rush but I would definitely do them and I can’t remember what it is for life of me as you’ve seen I’ve just um cut some wood and my chainsaw’s playing up so I’m gonna uh definitely have to strip it down have a look I’m not sure why it’s bugging out I put fresh fuel in there I left it dry as I should do a fuel in there when I left it but now it’s um bugging out a little bit so I’m get back to using the saw and do it the manual way the real way the man way they call it um sometimes using technology is not always best thing sometimes it makes things harder more difficult because if you don’t do it by yourself and learn to do it with your hands if you haven’t got a technology or machines you can’t do it so it’s best to just keep practicing use a saw use a hammer you don’t and not everyone needs impact driver or cordless drills how did they do it back in the day go back to um Bulgaria 80 years ago how do they build buildings how do they cut trees down how do they cut wood with these probably not even with gloves by the way so um let me uh get back to work and I’ll see you in a bit there’s a few walls that be going so we’re gonna take down a couple of walls in there to just open up the area as well and make it a lot more brighter because as you know in some building homes because as you know in some Bulgarian homes it can be a little bit dark so we’re going to hopefully open it up and brighten it up a bit so let’s go and have a quick look into the garden we’ve not even seen it yet we’ve been here we’ve probably been here about three days and um we’ve not even had a look in the in the garden yet so let’s go and have a quick look also guys um one thing that we are thinking about is doing two videos a week so um we don’t really know how it’s gonna go yet so um just asking you guys what do you think do you think um we should do two videos a week what your thoughts on it um yeah so we have so much videoing that we’re doing during the days now we’re just thinking well rather than doing so much and um delaying the premiere of it we might just put it out there and you guys can see what we’re up to during the week so probably uh we’ll think we’re thinking about still Sunday um other Sunday or Monday and maybe a video during the week on the Thursday as well okay so anyway let me show you in the garden quickly uh no cutting’s been done yet so we’re literally just showing you as it is um since we’ve arrived we’ve not done anything the only thing Chris has done the only thing that Chris has actually done is this so uh the sorry so the only thing that Chris has actually done is the courtyard which um had all these weeds around this area so um Chris has now Chris has now deweeded the area again it literally is like a continuous thing with weeding in Bulgaria so this is one area that we will definitely um try to reduce the maintenance of because every time there is weeds growing in between the paving and that’s just the general thing that happens so um what we may do is get the stones up level it off and maybe gravel it but first before we do that we probably I think we’ve been told we’ve got to put some plastic sheeting down etcetera etcetera etcetera etcetera however um apparently winter is not the time to do that so spring is the better time to do that sort of work because otherwise this courtyard will be like a MUD bath and we don’t want that so let’s go and have a quick look in the garden uh oh by the way I think Zoro is up there with the kids but I’ll show you him soon let me get this gate open ah there we go so this is it just having a quick walk through the weather at the moment isn’t too bad in Bulgaria uh it’s um still quite warmish I would say compared to the UK um at the moment the the temperature is about 13 on odd days we had 16 17 but that’s very odd days at the moment you know it’s probably about 13 maybe 10 so uh so yes you can see there’s not really much weeds so what is this hm this actually smells like onions guys so I wonder if we’ve got onions growing in this little area here honestly when we first came here there was some onions growing and we thought that it’s just not gonna grow again but um this definitely smell like onions so I’m gonna dig up a few of these dig them up and see I don’t know anyway also we have got some mushrooms growing uh we did have some mushrooms growing in certain areas before when we first came here in at this property in Bulgaria the ground is very very boggy and now yes hardly any there’s hardly any dips we have cut it quite a lot so um I think someone did say um Chris is always cutting and literally yes you do always cut the grass over in Bulgaria because it grows so quickly so um we’ve literally been cutting like every week ha ha well Chris has oh I see some mushrooms over there one second oh I see some here as well guys are these edible right there look at these big ones oh my look at that that is massive look at that are they edible I did forage some the other day and they looked like that but someone said to me you better check with your neighbour to make sure that it is actually edible and honestly it was actually the neighbour that said that the mushrooms are edible out you know around this sort of area so I don’t know you guys let me know is it edible if it is I’m gonna pick some more and cook them ha ha ha ha ha and um hopefully I don’t end up in a hospital or anything right OK so yeah so as I said uh we did prune that tree down because um it was it was dead and it started to grow back very swiftly this tree here Chris since being back has cut it because um this definitely was dead and I think uh he is he is gonna chop the rest of it down he’s definitely gonna chop the rest down right so these bells are ones that we’re gonna be um basically just processing um cutting off the little branches because they’re easy starters we can use them to start the fires very quickly so we’re gonna be um just processing those into small twigs larger twigs larger branches larger logs um just so we’ve got a an actual system in place for this wood um yeah it’s it is a process so it’s a proper process over here ha ha ha whether or not we actually do it right is a is a different question but you know we’re trying okay right so that is the garden guys it is it’s not too overgrown Chris is Chris is says he’s going to give it another cut before the oh let’s shut this gate one second right so Chris is going to give the garden another cut before the uh winter’s in um because obviously we don’t want it to go out of control but yeah that is pretty much it uh we have started plans we’ve got someone coming over tomorrow to just give us a quote on some things that uh we’re not you know we’re not sure we can’t do you know so he’ll come over give us a quote and if he’s good then we’ll go ahead with him and get the work started like I said earlier and I’ve got some wood I need to sort out and cut got lots of wood there and then I’ve got to go through this which is again wood and there’s some wood I prepared not a lot but some wood I prepared early in the year but first of all I’m gonna try and do a bit of both I’ve got all these weeds horrible weeds I’ve been trying to get it off for ages so I’m gonna try and take some of these weeds out it’s just gonna keep coming back so um for now I’m just keeping trying to keep them low some wire keep that might need it no no alright dog dog hey dog dog come Bose never used 51bce0c785ca2f68081bfa7d91973934 is that your phone what are you looking it’s empty no what ha ha ha OK let me take it out can’t really get to it so you just stop it’s still OK you like please repeat the sentence strictly in lower case without punctuation and text formatting if you get the kindling right you can probably start the fire without any paper I’ve been told so I’m gonna give it a try okay so I’ve cut these little bits of kindling up very thin so literally cut it into little strips like that right so we don’t need paper let’s get rid of it no all we need is some very thin pieces of kindling to start off with that is what I’m going to do it with today alright let’s get out all the other mess that’s in there leave the bigger bits until later let’s get in the smaller smaller bits so this winter is gonna be interesting because we’ve never done such a uh we’ve never done a full winter in Bulgaria so we will yeah we’re gonna try ah most people have their there are reservations as to us being able to survive it but let’s see we are quite outdoorsy people but whether we’re outdoorsy enough for that kind of temperature is a different story so just come back to the homestead in Bulgaria and of course we’ve got to get everything prepared to be Liverpool again so we’re just cleaning the house Chris is spraying the property there you go Chris is just spraying the the rooms and um he’s also just making sure that the beds are all dusted off and everything’s in order giving it a nice basically kind of like a spring clean I guess there’s something about fire isn’t there just makes you feel good well right guys so now is the time we can maybe add a bit more add a bit more wood thicker slightly thicker wood into into the mix there you go our electric Bill with this is more or less nothing quite honestly um I think we might have done a a shorts which was like how much is your electric Bill and literally with this for us it is zero and that’s not us going obviously it’s just what it is you know okay that went the wrong way anyway I’m gonna leave it cause I don’t wanna get burnt right guys that is it that’s how we light our Bulgarian petska without any sort of cardboard or newspaper naturally with the wood you just create flints uh kindling and um maybe keep the bottom gate open slightly so that the air pulls it pulls the fire up and yeah that is it so now that is quite big it’s blazing now we can start putting on maybe some of these cause that will catch now maybe still chuck on you know a few bits of decent sized uh kindling ish wood chucking the little off bits ha ha cause that gets it roaring the crackle of a fire is just amazing right now but that is it that guys is so I’m gonna keep feeding that I will keep feeding that now and um start dinner ha ha uh cause obviously you know you need to get this pechka very hot to cook on it so um it is blazing it’s so beautiful I love the fires um but yes so we’re gonna get that blazing and uh get cooking today we’re gonna cook chicken with um some rice and cabbage so it’s actually cabbage uh it’s actually sorry cabbage season in Bulgaria right now so uh that is pretty much what I am going to cook okay right I’m very tired cause like yeah today’s the first day back but yeah we got a cook cause obviously people have got to eat people have got to eat sorry alright so there you go see amazing right and there’s no smoke OK I can sit you there if you want how’s that keep this fire light you guys can be mesmerized by this beautiful fire I love it who is who is beautiful okay stop putting some bigger bits in there now trying to call Zoro back for dinner uh I’m gonna cook him some well I’m not gonna cook the chicken he doesn’t really like like I don’t think he likes raw chicken so he’ll have cooked uncooked beef and lamb but when it comes to chicken yeah I don’t think he really likes that he wants it a little bit cooked I’ll raise this up a little bit just to make sure that that keeps blazing right I found a lot bigger wood there a lot thicker so before I was cutting there’s a massive difference there that’s like a little branch and that’s like a really big branch so this time I normally use for a chainsaw I’m gonna cut this one off it’s quite a quite a strong wood so let’s see and cut this enough and how quick it does it I’m glass done right took a bit more effort but yeah it’s got it quite well that’s it that’s it no back foot out there remember that foot is almost just a bit bigger than hands press down hard just cut this cut this cut this nice it was a good one any tips from you guys is truly appreciated because I’m all new to this wood stuff um burning cutting no not burning but yeah just using patch cause in UK didn’t have to do it I didn’t have to use it so um there’s no right oh yeah I remember yeah please shut the door and your mouth no mouth mum where is it on the printer I think hey the bag is on the printer mum says this is all good what this is yeah that’s the crap one in there I need to find somewhere to store it store it we got nowhere can’t stuff I’m gonna have to move all again for a bit that’s all good with that as well yeah that silver one’s perfect yeah that’s that’s the that’s the walnut tree yeah I’ve been doing that anyway what you say that brown one this brown one there these ones yeah they’re almost almost too young yeah so they they this they’re almost greenish when the when the leaves when it goes to silver that’s when it’s good yeah like that right that’s when it’s green I think it’s too young I’ve had Jimmy for can you move that piece of cloth off the line so yes cause when we’re yeah when we’re filming so that crappy thing just hanging around I know I know but it’s just right there literally right there well oh tea’s done look at this sunlight it’s like night time and I had to come out because it’s just look at it very strange very strange anyway guys it’s the end of the day and um we’re still obviously just cutting wood as you can hear in the background and um cooking dinner and um yeah I thought I would uh share with you we bought something called a beliko belenko Bel Bel I’ll show you and we used it for um our mince put it in our mince uh for the pasta sauce but I don’t know if that’s how you use it let me know if um that is actually how you use it uh but yeah I just wanted to show you just how it’s so crazy how strange the sky looks right now the light is literally concentrated in one area it is sunset so the sun is going down but it still looks like it’s morning very strange very strange anyway guys thank you so much for joining us on this week’s vlog I just want to say we appreciate every single one of you guys for following us on this journey from the UK to Bulgaria and we are back at the homestead so um keep following the journey see what we do next ha ha and I just wanna say thank you to all of our channel members as well because um yeah you guys are awesome and yeah just continue to have a beautiful day wherever in the world you are and if you are considering on leaving wherever it is in the world you are follow our journey and you’ll see how we did it as a family dog dog you okay dog dog dog dog dog hmm you okay dog dog you looking at the sky yeah I know looks a bit weird isn’t it hmm dog dog dog dog dog come dog dog come that’s Zoro guys there’s Zoro see he was just resting and I’ve just gone and bothered him dog dog come tuck tuck okay so there you go that’s our night sky over our beautiful Bulgarian home so thank you very much have a good evening bye bye