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Intro
Version 1.0
This is a personal site, just to keep a record and to have a place to store, backup and refer to stuff.
There is nothing classified, secret or for sale here, so if that’s what you are looking for, you are welcome to move right along.
There is more than one place in Finland called Sipila. Plus it is also a family name. Locally,
there are two. The other place near here is just called "Sipila".
This is Old Sipila, or Vanha Sipila, on about 5 acres. A
couple of hectares. So not a big farm any more, but enough space
for a couple of old folks.
Records indicate it was here around 500 years ago, but obviously it would have been here before written records began.
Over the years, there have been a number of different houses
here.
The current house was built in 1970, so quite modern by
European standards. A generous size bungalow for two ageing people with
a basement including a two car garage. Wife's everyday car and
wife's summer sports car - Triumph TR6 1970. My old wreck lives
in the yard of course.
Oil central heating from the 70’s, mains electricity, but well
water. We are not connected to the main water supply. We have
three wells, but haven't yet found the third one, which actually is the
working one.
We have plans to go further off grid. Actually mixed on and off
grid, by adding ground heating and solar power. Not to replace
the existing stuff, just to supplement it and provide enough power if
the mains fails. Not likely in Finland, but you can never tell,
and it should be cheaper over time.
More to come on that when we get a round tuit and pictures.
At last count we have 11 barns, but we are not yet sure we
found them all.
Four are substantial, that is, big enough to get a couple of
tractors in, and the rest are cellar size, like one small room. Most
of them are storage cellars for potatoes and other vegetables as well
as anything that needs to be kept cold. Back in the day there were no
refrigerators.
Two of them are sleeping barns. One is a single room, the other
has two grown up rooms and one for children. You can tell by the size of the door.
The single sleeping barn is marked with a date stamp from 1759.
The foundation stones and the log walls are original. We just put a new
roof on it.
The rest of the barns are also old. Log walls on top of stone
foundations. The roofs are relatively new, as they do wear out much
faster than the walls.
Next steps are first to put a new roof on the house.
Update 8 April 2023
OK, we got the roof done
Next the solar panels.
Work should start on the ground heating within the next week or so.
Then, once the snow goes, expand the door to the main barn so that cars
will actually go through it. It was designed for cows.
Third, everything else. Shouldn't take more than 15-20 years.
Right now, this site is a work in progress. I’ve only just
begun as of Feb 2023. There will be more information as I find it, and
pictures once I figure out how to do that. It’s not difficult, I just
need to do it.
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