Somewhere in Yunnan, China
Somewhere in Yunnan, China
The Giants Republic 2025
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Weaving commenced
The loom has now the warp properly installed and some test weaving has started.
No pizza and new entrance look
Weaving
After installing a new and bigger rain screen and an additional sun screen the weaving loom could be moved to its working location.
Before weaving can commence the warp wires have to be installed. This turned out to be more complicated then thought. To many wires were twisted around each other and in the end we had to take down most of them and decided to start with a smaller set of wires of a shorter length to first build up some experience.
The old and the young
On a Tuesday in April there was a get together at the Giants Republic that brought together the old and the young. Xu Ying’s mother had invited her old primary school classmates and her sisters came along. And the latest grandchild, Missy Potato. This was the first time a baby visited the Republic.
The president of the republic was ordered to make some pizzas to show that he has more useful skills then painting blue squares.
Missy Potato was wheeled to the entrance of the museum and the artwork on display made her straight away fall asleep.
And no Giants Republic get-together is complete without a BBQ. On the above picture pork rips and belly are drying up after marinating.
Then the lot was slow cooked for four hours in the drum BBQ.
Once ready they were cut up by the three sisters.
Weaving loom
The mystery machine turned out to be a weaving loom.
The frame is made out of galvanised steel, aluminium and wood. All the wood is recycled wood mainly from an old bunk bed. The aluminium parts come from the roof rack of the minibus. Since we don't have the minibus any longer we could recycle the material.
The metal heddles (The things that lift up and pull down the warp wires and the reed (The thing that works as a big comb) are bought from a specialised supplier but all the rest is handmade.
Soon we hope to up the machine into action and show some results.
Sausage
Chinese sausage is to fat, salty and above all far to sweet. Therefor we make our own. To do this safely it is best to do this on a cold winter day so the sausage can hang out to dry in the natural cold.
On the 19th and 20st of February, when it was still rather cold, we made five kilos of sausage.
First the meat is shilled to near freezing and then chopped up to fit into the meat grinder. After grinding spices are added and some water. The same grinder is than changed into a sausage filler. The pork gut casing is fitted around the filler nozzle and the filling is fed into the machine and the sausage coms out. The sausage is than hung out to dry and firm up overnight.
The next day we slowly grilled / smoked some of the sausage in the drum BBQ. The resulting sausages turned out to be very tasty.
The mystery continues
This time no solar system but something else.
On the picture two completed parts that form part of it.
Spring Festival
This year no activity during Spring Festival at the Giants Republic.
But in accordance with local tradition new gate decorations were put up and some incense burned by the landlady and her family.
Sunscreen
When I returned to the Giants Republic after Chinese new-year I found that the sunscreen was broken.
The metal hook in the wall that keeps up the steel wire had snapped off. On top of that the fabric of the screen itself had ripped to shreds.
Given the amount of UV radiation here it was expected that the fabric one day would give up and therefore a spare sheet was in stock. This new sunscreen was soon up and this was needed as well because it became very sunny.
Renewed road
Not much going on at the Giants Republic so some pictures from outside.
The big pile of earth on the middle of the picture is from digging a hole for an electricity pylon. Apparently they are upgrading the power grid as well.
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