On to our Final WWOOF

 We’ve been hiding.

No, actually we’ve been far too busy having a brilliant time to keep up with the blog!

We had a few days near home last week catching up with DH’s family. An older relative has been diagnosed with breast cancer- thankfully she has a ‘good’ type that is responding to drugs. Anyway, we wanted to spend some time with her, and we haven’t seen DH’s parents since March, so it was very good to see them as well.

We’re back to our starting WWOOF host, in Swindon. Lower Shaw Farm has been a favourite with us all for all sorts of different reasons- from the tyre swings, to not needing to camp, to fun work, etc. We planned to be here 10 days, but we’ve been asked to stay a little longer ( which took no thinking about at all on our part- um, yes please!) so we’re having 2 weeks of fun. Sorry, hard work! We’ve had a day off today.



Big One on the tyre swing





Maggie and Charlie at Lower Shaw Farm

 



So far while we’ve been here I’ve adopted the chickens- Matt is away so I’m trainee poultry keeper, keeping them fed, watered but with lots of help collecting the eggs. We’ve been harvesting in the garden,a bit of weeding and digging, and DH has been building a brash ‘hedge’, and helping getting the first cafe of the term off to a good start. The girls have loved helping, from filling salt cellars to cleaning a play house, to feeding and moving the sheep, and of course playing in the play barn, with the tyre swings and cargo net. I was meant to be helping with the knitting cafe, but instead I was able to learn a little about casting on and off, and stocking stitch. I just need to remember to get some knitting 'sticks' and get practicing- Big One is keen to knit and I don’t want to hold her back! At the weekend we had an afternoon out to Coleshill National Trust Open Day, so we could look around a veg box scheme garden, and able to buy some Huuuge icecreams- they were officially for the girls but we all got a good taste. The goats there were well petted by Big One, and we all enjoyed having a good look at the water mill- unfortunately not quite enough water that afternoon to grind flour, but they had been milling that morning.

Little One on the Rope Swing

I have only cooked one meal by myself for everyone so far . I’m much more comfortable helping, but can do it if pushed, and I enjoy it once I get started! Anyway, cooking for 8 or 10 isn’t too scary ( especially with a kitchen that has everything to hand- from spices to graters to anything you might need), and the courgette lasagne went down well as did the potato wedges and beans.

As I haven’t been blogging, I haven’t mentioned I’ve been getting into crochet again over the last couple of weeks. My mum has a little furry scarf that she likes, but would prefer in yarn. I’ve known this a while, but I only just got around to attempting to copy it in crochet. I managed to use a 10 mm hook ( souvenir from Isle of Skye wool shop) and some nice extra chunky yarn from Castle Douglas yarn shop and very quickly whipped up a scarf. The first one I did is for me( well, I made it for mum but when asked about colours she wanted something different) the second is lined up for a birthday present, and then Big One wanted one of her own and I’ve just finished mums today. I’ve also made myself a hat- but it was a little loose over my ears so felting was the plan, and now sized as a newborn gift!Luckily we know a new baby-  hope she'll get some wear out of it..... Photos would help, but I’ll save that for later with my phone.

Today has been our day off, so we’ve been busy exploring- not only a trip to a yarn shop, but also a mosy over to Avebury- which is amazing. We’ve been to Stonehenge and were stupended, amazed, etc despite not being able to touch the stones. Avebury has a village within it, so it is expected that you walk amongst the stones, touch the stones and feel the magic. Today was a glorious sunny day- and I get the feeling there’s some magic left there. We had a lovely day with new friends- it was a LSF WWOOFers trip as our French and German friends came with us. Handy having a van that seats 6!



Julie has kindly just given me some pictures she has taken, so all images (unless I get organised and will label suitably) are thanks to Julie- I'm trying hard to place these pictures in the post, and it just isn't working for me. Its the girls bedtime, and I simply cannot do this for longer. Apologies for the random pics....

The Rooms at LSF



The veg garden and re-covered polytunnel at LSF



<>

Avebury- WWOOFers trip out



DH and the girls at Avebury