#47 Building barn window frames & fighting fleabane - Renovating in Italy
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- Опубліковано 13 лип 2024
- This week Bertus is building simple window frames and practicing with the new router, and Isis begins to tackle the invasive fleabane that grows in our meadows.
We're Isis & Bertus, a belgian-dutch couple. In the summer of 2023 we moved into a neglected farmhouse in a tiny village in the northwest of Italy. The last inhabitants left some 15 years ago, but large parts of the property have been empty for well over 20 years.
Thank you for joining us on our adventure!
Your support is deeply valued | www.buymeacoff...
Instagram | / storiesfromthecascina
I have binge-watched all your videos over the last few days and really enjoyed them.
20 years ago my wife and I bought a small rustico in Liguria. It took a year to get planning permission to restore and extend it, and we paid local builders to do the actual work over another year, but then we retired and moved there permanently and did lots of other things including the garden ourselves, including planting enough olive trees and vines to be self-sufficient in oil and wine as well as vegetables. We had less than a hectare but on steep terraces so it was hard on our ancient knees. 5 years ago for this and family reasons we moved back to the UK which was the right decision, but we miss Italy and go back for holidays whenever we can.
I really enjoy watching you both, Bertus with his metal work and wood working skills in particular, and you with your gardening and cooking (your breads look amazing), and how hard you work and in harmony too with each other and the place.
It is so nice to see you integrating so well, learning Italian, embracing the culture and the food and appreciatimg your own background as well as your beautiful new location. It is so important.
I look forward to following you for many years to come.
Good luck...
I wonder how many of us have been binge-watching from the beginning, and are now caught up? So sad :( I loved having a (nearly) endless supply of your videos to enjoy.
Your woodworking skills are saving you a huge amount of money, all of those windows would have to be specifically made for each space. It's also a really great hobby to have once you have time. Custom making for your property is what the original owners probably did so long ago.👍
Thank you for this new episode - I‘m excited 😊! Not only about Bertus work as a carpenter, but the high quality of filming and editing!
I‘d like the drone recordings, the calm camera work, the nice views in the workshop - particularly the salamander with hammer in the background or the sawdust on the workbench. Great artwork! And I‘d like low speaking during the episodes. So it‘s possible to hear all natural sounds. And no advertising und asks for likes - wonderful! Greetings from Germany!
good they have Starlink to upload :)
Bertus, you should be very proud of yourself for making those window frames. That was excellent carpentry, your talent always amazes me. . Have a great week and do take least one day out of the week to enjoy yourself with your wife.
I do so hope I'm not the only one who got a little giggle from the way I read this very nice comment ... 🤭🤭🤭
Great window frames, Bertus! It reminds me of my dad, who was a carpenter. All furniture, doors and windows in our house were crafted by him. Hand-made objects is a great memory. Best wishes from Ukraine 🇺🇦
It's amazing to me that you seem to have most of the tools and materials you need in your workshop already - no need to run to the hardware store every time you need something for a project! The very creative reusing of old things instead of wasting money on new stuff is such a pleasure to watch. Also, making something yourself will always be the most beautiful.
Im so glad Velluto is coming in to eat! The drone footage was gorgeous, and the windows are coming along beautifully! Well done you two!!
Not sure why I find watching people do yard work so relaxing.
The drone footage is so gorgeous and hypnotic. I love it.
Like that you take the not resident plants out!
Everybody has basically put my thoughts into their comments regarding Bertus's carpentry skills👌Slowly slowly and Velluto is trusting his landlady/lord more and more❤️❤️
Your attention to detail is quite amazing. I could sit and watch you making window frames all day! It’s quite mesmerising! You’re doing a cracking job.❤
It's always soo sweet to see Velluto living his simple everyday with you! ❤️❤️❤️
Bertus, the window frames look fantastic! You are quite the craftsman, and that's what it will take for this renovation. I'm always so happy to see Velluto settling in, and looking peaceful. He is beautiful. Isis, thanks for the discussion on ticks. They can cause big problems, but, we can't live in fear of them. You are so right....just be vigilant. I found one on my shirt today, after walking in the woods, here in central Florida. I picked it off and flushed it down the toilet. Not the first time. Thanks for sharing this.❤
WOW, wow, WOW!! over 51k now?!? So happy to see everyone joining in for this fantastic adventure!
Congrats on the channel growth and cheers to all that you've accomplished so far 🤗💖
Bertus, you may not have any practice in making window frames, but believe you have the talent, patience and precision and it all comes out perfectly, on top of having such a calm companion as Velluto even the hardest work seems relaxing. Great work. You are both very talented and complement each other. Isis, ticks are total madness, you don't have to be in the grass to catch one, I, while walking on the pavement where I had no contact with vegetation at all, noticed it going up my leg, so avoiding grasses does nothing but limit us, the most important thing is to get rid of them quickly once we have them on us. Best regards and good luck to you. See you🐈⬛🍀
Das ist einfach super klasse und sehr besonders, dass du die invasive Pflanzen raus reißt. So wertvoll und wichtig. Liebe Grüße aus meinem Naturgarten mit heimischen Pflanzen
Finally, people are catching on to your channel! Love how you have a long-range plan to balance the native plants with invasive ones. So many medicines in those plants that people need to know and use. So many choices and decisions daily i imagine and all require upkeep or renovating, but that's the fun part. Bertus's craftmanship is a pleasure to watch, I got a kick when he announced that he was happy, he emanated his contentedness, however from his expression, you might not presume so. :) ( unless you have Dutch friends like I do)
Your respect for the land you live on, the care and respect you take with the materials you work with, the plants, people, animals and even the food you prepare is heartwarming, exemplary and inspiring! Your creativity and patience is also very inspiring 😊
Such a beautiful property you have. You have accomplished a lot, but I am looking forward to when you start improvements in the rooms of the house. I have followed you from the beginning and I've enjoyed the process.
i can imagine! we are looking forward to that too 😄
I love your show soooo much! I am now 76 and living in California but a number of years ago, I got to partially restore a 90 yr old adobe, 2 story house in New mexico. One of my proudest accomplishments. But, Isis, please, please, please tie back your long, beautiful hair when using power tools, and not just a pony tail, I mean securely out of the way, like a bun. I learned the hard way and it's really painful and scary 😢. Otherwise, without sounding like an over protective Gramma, you two ROCK! I'm so envious. Keep up the lovely work👌👌👌👌👌
You should be happy, and proud of yourself Bertus, if one very slight placement miscalculation is the only mistake you made on your first window frame build then you should be extremely happy and proud in my opinion.
Plus extra bonus points for making good use of scrap wood and maintaining a traditional look in keeping with the rest of the property
See you both next week, be safe
I only discovered your channel a few days ago when I watched your first year video. This is my favourite video of yours and other such channels. I enjoy watching Bertus doing his wood and metal working. The part about the invasive fleabane was very important. I live on a property in Australia and we have many invasive species that I am tackling on our community land. Also, your little "film" clips add a wonderful depth to the videos. Your dedication to reuse warms my heart. Excellent start to woodworking. I always find it a joy.
As a retired 86 year old handyman, woodworker, do it all , l have been watching as entertainment. You are living the dream & it's a pleasure to watch you. You're not working you're having fun. I don't see where l can donate to the cause & if you post it I'll contribute. Gerald Reed
It looks so peaceful, sipping a beer and smelling the fresh contry air
I found your video 150 hours is 20 minutes a few weeks ago and have binged on every episode since. I love your format, not so much talking, just a lot of action. I couldn't wait for this week's video! They are so relaxing to watch. Thank you for sharing with us! ♥
Lovely window frames. Shop vac soon - fabulous. Congrats on your viral vid of 1 year at the Cascina. So delighted for you both, to see the growth of subscribers and viewers. You deserve it. Wonderful weekly vids are a joy. 🥂
Congratulations on your brave decision to follow your dreams ~ perceptions and the determined hard work involved! We are thoroughly enjoying your adventure/s and especially enjoy the vistas! The location of your farmhouse and the surrounding landscapes just seems like it could not have been any better! The views and the neighboring properties are fantastic! We are looking forward to many more videos and your successes with your You Tube channel! Doyle & Susie PS ~ Bertus, Please buy yourself a good craw hammer! Maybe even two...... One finish hammer for the bench-work and; one larger and more rugged for heavier work. You deserve the right tools for the jobs at hand! Best, D
Love watching your journey. Glad that you are so mindful in all you are doing to rid the property of invasive, non-indigenous plants. Thanks for sharing your progress.
I think for a first time working with wood to make window frames you did a fantastic job of it and very neat joints Bertus. As you say you are used to working with metal. I think those windows will look beautiful and do very well when installed. Isis Velutto is starting to stay more and more on your property and is coming inside to eat how lovely. Have a lovely week.
I love seeing Velluto's progress!
Great job Bertus! I learnt a lot from watching the process. Thank you for recording the steps along the way.
Fantastic location!
PS you don't need the dowels in the joints as the joint you have made has a lot of surface area for the glue to work. Some say the glue when dry is stronger than the wood itself. Also a top tip is to use the saw dust form the wood being used and mix it with wood glue to form a filler to fill in any gaps in the joints. When sanded it blends perfectly in colour.
Found your channel a few days ago. Recovering from a broken wrist 😢 so limited activity has given me the chance to binge watch along with some Olympic events. I’ve watched your subscribers increase by several thousand in that time. Congrats! Enjoying scenery, learning about your corner of Italy, content, and getting to know your approach to renovating and making your 40 acres livable and productive.
I am another binge watcher this week from the beginning and it has been an absolute joy!!! The knowledge and talents you bring to your adventure remind me of my childhood watching my Dad fabricate in metal and wood. I would love to see a collection of the recipes from the creative kitchen! Ciao, Velluto
Great job for someone who didn’t have wood skills
It’s interesting to learn what invasive plants you have to deal with. We have so many here in Montana that European settlers brought with them.
It’s nice to spend times watching your videos each Sunday morning. I can’t believe it’s been a year now that I found your videos. I remember being excited to see you finally move in, though I’m sure not as exciting as you! Looking forward to seeing your progress over the next year❤
Ditto RE invasive plant species, from another Montana viewer!
Lovely to see Veluto is starting to trust you and he looked relaxed on the stone.
Excellent skill set you have, the pair of you.
Such talent to remake the windows Bertus, the drone shots were amazing. And kitty is in the house!!!
Those frames will live another 100 years.
Great job with the window frames. I love how you repurpose salvaged wood. And happy to see Velluto venturing inside to eat.
Ciao amici Isis e Bertus, abbiamo da poco scoperto il vostro blog, ci siamo subito sentiti in sintonia con voi, siete simpatici ed efficienti nei vostri tantissimi lavoretti. Siamo iscritti e visto tutti i video in pochi giorni!! Vogliamo vedere VELLUTO finalmente come vostro amico e uno della famiglia. Anche noi per tanti anni ci ha fatto compagnia un micio certosino. Bravissimi e continuate a farci compagnia. Grazie e un abbraccio di amicizia. Gabriella e Valerio
Really look forward to see your progress. Amazing work & videos. Thank you for sharing your journey.
I also like the cooler weather to work in, it gets way too hot in Australia in summer. Windows are great. You are both very clever, and what you don't know your teaching yourself😊
You two are amazing in all you do. ❤
Show the love for this charming channel and let's get it to 100K subs ASAP!
Great video for a Sunday morning and a coffee. Thank you!
I appreciate that the videos are numbered. Thank you for the content.
What great craftsmanship! Especially for someone who has never made window frames before.
As for ticks...get a pair of guinea fowl. They like to eat them and are also good guard animals. The wood fibers are great for use in the (vegetable) garden. At least if they are unpainted.
It's a pleasure to watch your videos.❤👌🏻❤️
Didn't know that about guinea fowl - I'll try to remember that! Thanks for sharing
At 1 min 34, a cheeky baby gecko runs up the wall, gets his few moments of fame :o)
Hello from another binge-watching newcomer! I just got caught up with your videos and I just wanted to thank you for bringing so much peace and quiet to your videos. The nature shots are stunning, I love that you always add the names of the plants and insects you show, and you are just very calming to watch as you go about your day.
I'm a particular fan of Velluto (who isn't?) and loved watching him progress from being so shy to eating out of your hands and confidently walking into your house to get his food. I hope you can convince him that getting petted feels really nice at some point this year.
Regarding the old bottles you found in the holes in the walls (not the ones in the walls of the house, the ones in the bigger dumps): make sure to check them carefully before throwing them away. I've spent quite some time watching another channel by someone who does bottle digging as a hobby and the old hand-made bottles can be worth quite a bit of money, especially if they are embossed with seals and logos and so on. Most of the things you seem to be finding are more modern, but do keep this in mind just in case.
Thank you for sharing your adventure with us!
Hey Bertus, Love the anvil! I started wearing a dust mask when cutting metal with the right angle grinder. Realized I was breathing in steel dust. Have you thought about a flux core welder? Pretty affordable and versatile. 😀 Eric.
bertus has a TIG welder but we haven't used it here yet because we're afraid it might blow up the old electrical system.
Love everything you are doing!🙏🙏🙏Blessing’s
That was worth watching for the Velluto footage alone. Loving that cat.
Exactly, it is so nice to see the cat finally relaxing.
Enjoyable watching. Not much pretense!
Bertus, please put the table saw fence on the other side of the blade when the blade is tilted. Trapping the wood between the fence and blade could lead to some dangerous kickback.
Aside for being used to attract pollinators, fleabane is a known wild edible. Leaves of fleabane are cooked (they can be eaten raw, but cooking will remove the small hairs on the leaves and stems) and served along other greens. Sources claim the leaves taste similar to spinach. Fleabane leaves contain caffeic acid, which has been shown to have antioxidant and neuroprotective properties.
Nice work on the windowframes! For a first time I think it's very good (and I know nothing about it anyways :-))) So nice Veluto is relaxing in the vicinity! With the drone views I wondered about the chapel... How lovely it would be to restore that as well... And another thing... the outside wall of the workshop has a patched old window... as in: closed with new bricks. Maybe some local artist can plaster this and paint a sort of icon on it, or a renaissance style painting. Simply on the outside wall.... who care if it starts to weather again... it would have a lot of charm.
Hello Isis and Bertus, summer has finally arrived, which has been long awaited this year. You are doing a great job not only with the house but also with the lawns, trying to preserve the ecosystem. Take care and stay healthy!
Lovely window frames, and hooks on the back of the doors
Thank you for this episode! Watching Isis working to get rid of the fleabane reminded me of a gardeners' saying here in the UK - one year's seeding; seven years weeding! Very appropriate. I hope it isn't the case for you.
Thanks for the mention of ticks! I had been wondering about the skirts, shorts, sandals, and bare feet.
They do find you, whatever you do, I guess. And your insights are great.
You can't let them run your life, eh? ;)
What a nice way to start this Sunday, watching this.
You work like a professional carpenter!!!
Well done Bertus! I’m impressed. And, those drone shots with the sunlight through the clouds were stunning!!
Wow, just stumbled upon your channel and I'm so glad to be able to follow your journey! Keep up the good work! Sunny regards from Sweden
Relaxing and having a beer….after such a productive day…nothing is better than that! Life is good❤️
Great job they will be good when they are done
Knap gedaan Bertus, die kozijnen. Je hebt echt een talent voor houtbewerking.👍
Amazing work well done ❤
Thanks for posting and sharing. Interesting to hear about the flea bane (to be discouraged) as well as to see plants that you would like to keep.
I’m interested to see how you put those windows into the old stone walls! They look terrific; well done. If you have time some day, could we please see the state of the trees that you planted on the through~way by the Chapel and barn? Enjoying this vlog tremendously, regards Susan.
I was thinking about those new trees too, it will be interesting to see that hedge(?) take shape.
A Tormek sharpener is an excellent tool for keeping chisel and plane blades razor sharp. It's quick and easy to use and makes using hand tools a delight. You will not need a mallet with a chisel any more...It will also increase the accuracy of your work..
One or two sharpeners came with the house. We just need time to install them in the new workshop.
Good morning! Your photography in this vlog is really good and so creative. Love watching your mellow life style [even tho you work hard]. Congratulations, Colorado Cherri
Amazing sharing thank you
The view makes me sick! LOL....How do you get up every morning and tolerate that disgustingly gorgeous view? I would get no work done! LOL...I love it though, absolutely breathtaking!
Your weather seems to be the same as here on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. When it was raining there it was here too. Now it's a heat wave.
Thank you for telling us about native and non native species... will do my best to pull up the white flowers, lovely as they are, whenever I see them in my area here in Italy!
That rose looks like “Tuscany”. If it has a great scent, it’s short, and only blooms in June, it might be. That would be an old garden rose-very precious!
It's certainly similar, but ours has only started blooming in july - same last year. I've looked up Rosa Tuscany and it seems to be a little smaller too.
Spending the summer months with you are a delight. It takes time for the land (in this case meadows) to come back to life but patience in pulling the fleabane WILL pay off. The workshop should be pretty snug with cold weather work with good solid windows. See you next Sunday.
I just recently discovered your channel, and love watching your videos. Such beautiful old structures and amazing landscape. Congrats on making these frames, you're a real craftsman!
Well done it’s amazing the progress so far. I’m impressed by the fact that you have taken over the house and renovating, not the house overtaking you. The synergy between the two of you is interesting, your personalities fit like hands and gloves. I’d love to spend a day or two being a general dogsbody, as a paying guest, to see firsthand the reality of your world, thank you so much 😅
Complimenti per le vostre competenze, grazie e ciao! 👍👍👍👍
You mentioned encouraging St. John's Wort:
Cattle, goats, sheep, pigs and horses have all been reported to have photosensitizing reactions to St. John's Wort. Cattle that eat 1% of their body weight of the plant show signs. Sheep are not poisoned until they have eaten 4% of their body weight.
Those frames turned out nice 👌
Very good job
J ai fais aussi une grande fenetre cet hiver comme cetait la premiere fois mes montants sont tres epais mais c est un genre que j aime bien.... Plus je vous regarde plus je vous apprécie 😊😊
Well done, Bertus! That looked quite professional and will be a good training for the windows in the house.
Your videos are always a treat to watch, great pictures, great content, well documented & interesting but most of all relaxing and peaceful‼️🙏👍🫶👏🇨🇦
My husband I enjoy your shows SO MUCH! Every time you complete a project or conquer some challenge we cheer (out loud! 🥹) . We are both very proud of you! But my husband was a little sad when you said it might be 15 years before you complete everything. Since I am 73 and he is 78, he is afraid he won’t be able to celebrate your last big project with you.
But meanwhile, we are cheering for you along the way.
Bravi!
Linda and Peter
So looking foward to when you get the chickens :0)
Us too!
Fascinating look at the use of tools.
What a wonderful vlog! Bertus did a great job on those windows. Thank you for taking us along
Hi, nice video.. ciao from Abruzzo!
We are loving your projects. Hard work and beautiful results! We renovated my childhood home in the 90’s. It was also hard work but not as exciting as what you two are doing. Will continue to follow as long as you post your progress.
I think you did an incredible job with the windows. Just love watching the progress you are making and really appreciate how you take care to use what you have and also to spend the time to think about improving your landscape around your home. Looking forward already to the next video.
Watching from Canada . LOVE that you are rescuing this beautiful property !!!
Your dedication to craftsmanship and attention to detail shine through in everything you do. Your passion for restoration work is truly admirable, reflecting a deep respect for tradition and a love for preserving history. And I am Floating Village Life
I just noticed that your older kitchen has a terrazzo floor. I saw many wonderful examples in Venice. It’s one of the most durable and sanitary flooring options available. If repairs are necessary-possibly because of earthquake damage-they can be made and there should be many contractors in Italy capable of doing this. Not saying yours is damaged, but only if it is.