Knicker Drawer Note Books, Trading
2 months ago
Saturday, 5 November 2011
Textile exhibition
Friday, 4 November 2011
We have a pitch!
We're really happy about the living space we'll have, so just another week of getting moved in.
We had a quick trip to collect our Suma order this morning-we've not been for about 7 months but its such an interesting place to call into-the folk we meet seem happy in their work,helpful, and we get good,mostly organic, wholesale priced food. Fab!
This weekend DHs parents are running a textiles exhibition and sale, so we'll be busy hopefully helping, and I intend to buy loads of raffle tickets as the patchwork quilt Mum-in-law has designed and made is stunning!
Next week has a birthday in it, so time not at work must be spent planning and preparing, and a few trips out and about are planned.
I'm not entirely sure when we'll be properly moving, but its getting exciting seeing we've got somewhere real to go to!
Sunday, 30 October 2011
Just another Busy Day
I've not have much to say here for a week or two, but life's been going apace as usual. My parents have returned from their holiday, we've been madly tidying up before they returned, and fit in a day of learning with Robin Wood to properly sharpen my carving knives with DH.
We have bought our home-to-be, a very lovely (and huge) caravan. We're just waiting for the pitch to be finished at the campsite, and hopefully that will be this week.
I'm spending most of my week working for a living, which is still enjoyable, and the novelty of getting paid happened last week- a very nice experience!
We had a trip to Leeds City Museum, which was so interesting Big One wants to return for her birthday treat- even more than she wants to go to yoga. There is a yoga class starting up, with the first one on her birthday which was just what she wanted to do- until recently. We'll see how things settle down before making a definate re-organisation I think.
We've been to the Square Chapel today, which prompted the girls to repeat the performance when we got home for their grandparents. They did all right- for the first 2 minutes, anyway!
We're planning to help at a Craft Exhibition at St Peters, Crosshills (near Skipton) this weekend- and, somehow, start to move into the caravan. Fingers crossed it all magically comes together!
We have bought our home-to-be, a very lovely (and huge) caravan. We're just waiting for the pitch to be finished at the campsite, and hopefully that will be this week.
I'm spending most of my week working for a living, which is still enjoyable, and the novelty of getting paid happened last week- a very nice experience!
We had a trip to Leeds City Museum, which was so interesting Big One wants to return for her birthday treat- even more than she wants to go to yoga. There is a yoga class starting up, with the first one on her birthday which was just what she wanted to do- until recently. We'll see how things settle down before making a definate re-organisation I think.
We've been to the Square Chapel today, which prompted the girls to repeat the performance when we got home for their grandparents. They did all right- for the first 2 minutes, anyway!
We're planning to help at a Craft Exhibition at St Peters, Crosshills (near Skipton) this weekend- and, somehow, start to move into the caravan. Fingers crossed it all magically comes together!
The bits I forgot
We've also managed to catch up with friends who are dear but rarely near these days (Pizza Hut has its uses!), and I've been unsuccessfully attempting to crochet a shawl. I've gone back to the start yet again, and I'm on my third pattern. I'm trying to crochet- the knitted ones don't appeal the same way, but I think using laceweight yarn is just proving very tricky for me, let alone following a pattern. I think I'll try one more week, and then go back to small projects. I've not got the patience for big things either!
A quick snap of the family with 'Cara'. Her previous family named her, and the girls love the name, as well as the bunks!
Sunday, 16 October 2011
Pics from a walk
Forest school
On our walk on Saturday we found a cave...
Busy weekend
Today has been busier in the kitchen- 4 loaves sourdough bread,4.5 jars apple pickle and 11 jars apple butter.
This afternoon we got to the Square Chapel and saw a performance called 'Turned Out Nice Again' which was perfect for the girls. Both girls are easily scared by performances (and TV- octonaughts is too scary) so today was a first- they both stayed for all of it! Well, apart from a toilet trip. No scary loud bits or dark bits, gentle audience participation and lots of singing, dancing and physical humour. I loved seeing them both enjoy the show.
Friday, 14 October 2011
Learning to knit
Right, must round up the troops for Forest School!
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Autumn crafts
Sunday, 9 October 2011
A 'weekend'
My parents went on their travels, and hopefully they'll have a lovely few weeks away. DH and I have had time to talk, and have clearer ideas for our plans for the future, including how we'd like home ed to work for us.
We realise to make sure it happens, at least initially, we need time set aside to make sure we can follow where Big One leads. This week my parents have been upset about her learning to read (and HE in general), and I've realised that part of that (at least) is that this week Big One has decided to be interested in it, AND wants to do it with my mum (her favourite person, and knew she was going away). The arguements haven't been nice, but I (we) really hope things will be different when my parents return.
Not least because we've found the caravan we want to buy! DH is doing some tow training soon, so we've arranged to buy and collect it in a fortnight. Its just what we want, with a huge awning and sounds like lots of extras...but we forgot to take pics, so that'll have to wait until it really is ours.
In the meantime, I've been enjoying my bit of home ed. This morning we were in the kitchen so Big One made chocolate meringues with grandmas heavy handmixer (been to find ours in storage- it has a stand so little people can do it), then tuna fishcakes which went so fast I only got a pic of the last one, and the rest of this weeks bread. I hoped to get some cookies made for work, but that'll have to keep till next week.
Later we'll do some making with some pretty leaves from our walk in the woods today. I haven't been there for about 20 years, so it was lovely to share with my family somewhere I went to back when I helped out with Brownies! Scary how time flies...
Posted from my phone- please excuse the typos.
Friday, 7 October 2011
Scrumptious Sourdough
Friday, 30 September 2011
See the bouquet?
Its not every day I make a bouquet- I think this is the one and only. Lucky me, it features on the cover of a magazine! Mike and Petra were married at The Mother Magazine camp which we were at in the summer.
Thursday, 29 September 2011
The last few weeks
We've been busy again, and haven't had chance to get some thoughts down.
We have had a wonderfully fabulous end to WWOOFing with 2 weeks at Lower Shaw Farm in Swindon. We all decided we wanted to return to our first host for the end of our trip, and I'm really glad we all agreed.
The girls loved the company, the playing but especially the animals, and we adults enjoyed, um, the same! We were only planning on being there 10 days, but Andrea said we could stay for her birthday celebrations, so we did.
While we were there, there was a Women's creativity weekend that I was a participant for, so DH and the girls had two days playing out, and generally keeping a low profile. I think that was a bit of a challenge at times, but I really appreciated the chance to try out new things.
I've been busy recommending LSF as a destination for families- we've had such a wonderful time and looking forward to planning a return visit next year.
We've returned to home base in Huddersfield, staying with my parents for a few months. We've started settling in, but that isn't going so well.
My parents have various holidays planned, so the idea was we'd be housesitting with a few weeks overlap. However, my parents are not supportive of home educating. In fact, they are anti-home educating and feel we are depriving Big One of a suitable education. She should be spending more time with children her own age (the slightly older home ed kids she chooses to play with are not suitable) and she should be made to sit down and read, write and do numbers.
That isn't what we want for her, and we don't want to have any conversation we're having about the girls turned into 'if she went to school/she should go to school' etc. Thankfully my parents feel it isn't going well- my mum especially is suffering seeing how 'deprived' Big One is. We are both quite firm on our opinions, but my mum isn't great at communicating around the issue and is feeling ill. My Dad quite agrees with her, but can talk to us about it.
This has helped us a bit, and DH and I realise that a lot of our issues with school education ( apart from starting too early) are about discipline, or the lack of it.
Anyway, to avoid a serious rift we've been asked to leave, and thinking about it DH and I are relieved. We thought it'd a be a struggle to share living space with these strong disagreements, and thought it'd be us saying we had to leave soon. This also means we haven't the choices we were trying to work through- I haven't the proof of income to rent anywhere, our tenants would need 8 weeks notice (and we don't want to live there) and that leaves buying a caravan as the way to go.
My parents go away for a few weeks in just over 1 weeks time, so fingers crossed we can manage this coming week.
We have had a wonderfully fabulous end to WWOOFing with 2 weeks at Lower Shaw Farm in Swindon. We all decided we wanted to return to our first host for the end of our trip, and I'm really glad we all agreed.
The girls loved the company, the playing but especially the animals, and we adults enjoyed, um, the same! We were only planning on being there 10 days, but Andrea said we could stay for her birthday celebrations, so we did.
While we were there, there was a Women's creativity weekend that I was a participant for, so DH and the girls had two days playing out, and generally keeping a low profile. I think that was a bit of a challenge at times, but I really appreciated the chance to try out new things.
I've been busy recommending LSF as a destination for families- we've had such a wonderful time and looking forward to planning a return visit next year.
We've returned to home base in Huddersfield, staying with my parents for a few months. We've started settling in, but that isn't going so well.
My parents have various holidays planned, so the idea was we'd be housesitting with a few weeks overlap. However, my parents are not supportive of home educating. In fact, they are anti-home educating and feel we are depriving Big One of a suitable education. She should be spending more time with children her own age (the slightly older home ed kids she chooses to play with are not suitable) and she should be made to sit down and read, write and do numbers.
That isn't what we want for her, and we don't want to have any conversation we're having about the girls turned into 'if she went to school/she should go to school' etc. Thankfully my parents feel it isn't going well- my mum especially is suffering seeing how 'deprived' Big One is. We are both quite firm on our opinions, but my mum isn't great at communicating around the issue and is feeling ill. My Dad quite agrees with her, but can talk to us about it.
This has helped us a bit, and DH and I realise that a lot of our issues with school education ( apart from starting too early) are about discipline, or the lack of it.
Anyway, to avoid a serious rift we've been asked to leave, and thinking about it DH and I are relieved. We thought it'd a be a struggle to share living space with these strong disagreements, and thought it'd be us saying we had to leave soon. This also means we haven't the choices we were trying to work through- I haven't the proof of income to rent anywhere, our tenants would need 8 weeks notice (and we don't want to live there) and that leaves buying a caravan as the way to go.
My parents go away for a few weeks in just over 1 weeks time, so fingers crossed we can manage this coming week.
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
Home baking
Thursday, 22 September 2011
Crafty moment
Thursday, 15 September 2011
On to our Final WWOOF
We’ve been hiding.
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.
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....
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.
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| Big One on the tyre swing |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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!
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| The Rooms at LSF |
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| The veg garden and re-covered polytunnel at LSF |
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| Avebury- WWOOFers trip out |
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| DH and the girls at Avebury |
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Woodland Opportunity in Kent
Anyone want to work some overstood chestnut in Kent?
We've been sad to hear the couple who were living in the wood,starting to work it this summer are being pulled in different directions.
The wood has mains water installed this year, and there's a caravan, tree bog and several shelters, probably a shower - we haven't been there for a few month so don't know how far the plans got before things changed.
We WWOOFed there earlier in the year, and the owners would ideally like a couple to be there for a longer term. If we lived locally we'd definitely be up to going to help on a daily basis, but unfortunately we can't.
Its beautiful. There's a small area of conifers that need felling first, but its mostly chestnut IIRC. The access road in the wood is a bit of a challenge, but you can also walk in from a main road nearby.
Get in touch if you're interested, and I'll pass your details onto the owner.
We've been sad to hear the couple who were living in the wood,starting to work it this summer are being pulled in different directions.
The wood has mains water installed this year, and there's a caravan, tree bog and several shelters, probably a shower - we haven't been there for a few month so don't know how far the plans got before things changed.
We WWOOFed there earlier in the year, and the owners would ideally like a couple to be there for a longer term. If we lived locally we'd definitely be up to going to help on a daily basis, but unfortunately we can't.
Its beautiful. There's a small area of conifers that need felling first, but its mostly chestnut IIRC. The access road in the wood is a bit of a challenge, but you can also walk in from a main road nearby.
Get in touch if you're interested, and I'll pass your details onto the owner.
Sunday, 4 September 2011
Saturday, 3 September 2011
Final Camp
I'm quite sad, really to realise tonight is our last proper night living in our tent. Its kept the worst of the weather off us for the last months, and its been brilliant. Our stove has kept the temperature nice and hot when needed, and cheered us up in the cold and damp (and in the frost back when we started)- which fortunately hasn't been that often. I've been mulling over if we have one item that's been priceless, or something to really shout about - but I can't choose! Would it be our handy kitchen units? The hanging shelves ( thanks Sue!) our beds? our sleeping bags? The wellies that have lasted Big One more than a few weeks? The van that's taken us everywhere with hardly a grumble? I can't choose- I'll mull it over and come up with reviews some other time.On other things.....
Our budget has gone completely to pot, and to put it bluntly, we've run out of money. We have money due in next week, but until then we're watching the pennies. I was wondering how we got in this situation- because it really has snuck up on us!
However, with a few hundred extra pounds for tires to pass the MOT, a few hundred pounds of lovely things like a kelly kettle, some interesting books and Austrian scythe(before these extra costs came to light!), another few hundred pounds for a replacement fan for the van, another £500 for extra storage for the stuff we didn't sell (our mistake-we forgot the 6 months would be up before we returned), and an extra 2 weeks campsite fees (yes, another £200) for not going back to a WWOOF host. With extra time not working we've done more driving around Scotland, which has been another four hundred pounds not included in our budget. I thought we had a pretty healthy contingency fund of about £1000 ( when our entire budget was only £4000)- but all our extras have got to nearer £2000. Oh well. Thankfully we've had tenants in the house and at the moment we'd be really stuck without that income.
Tomorrow we pack up and head to visit family for a few days- a relative has been diagnosed with breast cancer and gets some results this week, so we want to be around for them. We have our final WWOOFing 10 days at Lower Shaw Farm, our first ever hosts,after that, and we're really looking forward to it. They have somewhere for us all to stay, so that's how tonight is our last proper tent night. Sob!
Our budget has gone completely to pot, and to put it bluntly, we've run out of money. We have money due in next week, but until then we're watching the pennies. I was wondering how we got in this situation- because it really has snuck up on us!
However, with a few hundred extra pounds for tires to pass the MOT, a few hundred pounds of lovely things like a kelly kettle, some interesting books and Austrian scythe(before these extra costs came to light!), another few hundred pounds for a replacement fan for the van, another £500 for extra storage for the stuff we didn't sell (our mistake-we forgot the 6 months would be up before we returned), and an extra 2 weeks campsite fees (yes, another £200) for not going back to a WWOOF host. With extra time not working we've done more driving around Scotland, which has been another four hundred pounds not included in our budget. I thought we had a pretty healthy contingency fund of about £1000 ( when our entire budget was only £4000)- but all our extras have got to nearer £2000. Oh well. Thankfully we've had tenants in the house and at the moment we'd be really stuck without that income.
Tomorrow we pack up and head to visit family for a few days- a relative has been diagnosed with breast cancer and gets some results this week, so we want to be around for them. We have our final WWOOFing 10 days at Lower Shaw Farm, our first ever hosts,after that, and we're really looking forward to it. They have somewhere for us all to stay, so that's how tonight is our last proper tent night. Sob!
Friday, 2 September 2011
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Holiday time
We've had a great extended holiday with N and J near Banff- DH's uncle and aunt. We had planned to be there a week, but with things not working out at Echo's, we stayed a little longer. We managed to fit in some carving- I made a spatula and a cooking spoon ( the best I've made so far, so we left that as a gift) and DH made a few eating spoons ( ditto- his best so far left for them). We were able to relax, do things at our own pace and not be obliged to work! We couldn't help it though, after a few days we were itching to help with their woodland. They have 30 acres, and had some thinning done last winter. They can thin without license, and although much of the thinnings is left for wildlife, some was being extracted by hand for firewood. With bad backs etc, this was getting a bit hard for N&J, so we were happy to help and have a go using timber tongs for a few hours some days. I really enjoyed that we could just do as much as we wanted- no obligations- and really enjoy what we were doing. We managed to find some carving wood- some sneaky sycamore was either felled and starting to put roots out, or still had a tiny bit of bark to attach it to the stump, so was still growing and green. Dh said we couldn't bring it all, but he found some room for a bit of apple J asked him to prune while he had his chainsaw out.
N and J also very kindly let us use their caravan while we sorted out all our kit from the mud- giving us oppertunity to unpack the van and have a bit of a sort-through as well. We all happily squeezed into a 2-berth 40 (ish) year old caravan, and it has us really looking forward to a caravan of our own (with enough beds for us all!). We had about 3 nights in there, and especially enjoyed sitting at a table (without an audience for the girls to play up to/other people around for them to watch).
Moving back into our tent was like coming home though, and we appreciated the nice short grass, level ground and generally fabulous camping place N & J have for us- even a couple of nicely spaced trees nearby so DH's hammock got an airing ( for the girls to play in, of course!).
I managed to finally fasten together some of the squares I've been crocheting. No plan or design, just squares Big One picked out of the book for me to crochet, in the yarn mother-in-law gave me ( along with book, hook and scissors!) for Christmas. One dolly size snuggle blanket. I've even adapted the design of a couple of squares to do what I want! I'm not too keen on the counting bit of following patterns- I still find it hard to figure out what constitutes a row, but squares seem a nice forgiving way to get on, and I like small things to do and complete, rather than a huge project that I forget where I'm at with- while we're travelling at least! Pic appeared in a previous post.
Previous posts have beach and McDuff aquarium pics, so I won't say much more, except we really had a great time.
Its taken me so long to finish this post, we've had another holiday, this time near Loch Ness. We stayed in Cannich, a lovely campsite but a bit midgy and very damp. The Loch Ness exhibition was really great, and the visit to the Isle of Skye was beautiful, though a long drive. A friend from back home made a 20 mile detour to visit us, and it was really, really lovely seeing them- just too short a visit!
We'll definately be holidaying up the west coast again. Ben Nevis on the drive down was shrouded in clouds, and Fort William looked worth another visit ( seeing as we just drove through). We almost met up with Wondering Wanderers, but they had to work so we'll manage that another time.
The Premier Inn that was our home last night is the newest we've been to- an even larger room than normal ( not that usual rooms are small), air conditioning, and smaller wardrobey shelves thing that's great for the girls to play in. We weren't sure about buying a meal, but when the pub had an all-you-can-eat chinese buffet, well, we did and it was a nice change.
Right, must get packed up so we can get to our next campsite for midday, and then enjoy grandparents visiting this afternoon.
We're realising our time on the road is coming to an end, but we've still got a bit more fun to have first!
N and J also very kindly let us use their caravan while we sorted out all our kit from the mud- giving us oppertunity to unpack the van and have a bit of a sort-through as well. We all happily squeezed into a 2-berth 40 (ish) year old caravan, and it has us really looking forward to a caravan of our own (with enough beds for us all!). We had about 3 nights in there, and especially enjoyed sitting at a table (without an audience for the girls to play up to/other people around for them to watch).
Moving back into our tent was like coming home though, and we appreciated the nice short grass, level ground and generally fabulous camping place N & J have for us- even a couple of nicely spaced trees nearby so DH's hammock got an airing ( for the girls to play in, of course!).
I managed to finally fasten together some of the squares I've been crocheting. No plan or design, just squares Big One picked out of the book for me to crochet, in the yarn mother-in-law gave me ( along with book, hook and scissors!) for Christmas. One dolly size snuggle blanket. I've even adapted the design of a couple of squares to do what I want! I'm not too keen on the counting bit of following patterns- I still find it hard to figure out what constitutes a row, but squares seem a nice forgiving way to get on, and I like small things to do and complete, rather than a huge project that I forget where I'm at with- while we're travelling at least! Pic appeared in a previous post.
Previous posts have beach and McDuff aquarium pics, so I won't say much more, except we really had a great time.
Its taken me so long to finish this post, we've had another holiday, this time near Loch Ness. We stayed in Cannich, a lovely campsite but a bit midgy and very damp. The Loch Ness exhibition was really great, and the visit to the Isle of Skye was beautiful, though a long drive. A friend from back home made a 20 mile detour to visit us, and it was really, really lovely seeing them- just too short a visit!
We'll definately be holidaying up the west coast again. Ben Nevis on the drive down was shrouded in clouds, and Fort William looked worth another visit ( seeing as we just drove through). We almost met up with Wondering Wanderers, but they had to work so we'll manage that another time.
The Premier Inn that was our home last night is the newest we've been to- an even larger room than normal ( not that usual rooms are small), air conditioning, and smaller wardrobey shelves thing that's great for the girls to play in. We weren't sure about buying a meal, but when the pub had an all-you-can-eat chinese buffet, well, we did and it was a nice change.
Right, must get packed up so we can get to our next campsite for midday, and then enjoy grandparents visiting this afternoon.
We're realising our time on the road is coming to an end, but we've still got a bit more fun to have first!
Saturday, 27 August 2011
Daytrip to Skye
Friday, 26 August 2011
Holiday day
Thursday, 25 August 2011
Crochet
Wednesday, 24 August 2011
McDuff Aquarium
Phone pictures
Big One milking a goat on our last morning at Glasgow.
Thursday, 18 August 2011
Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Soggy Glasgow
We’ve just had an interesting week near Glasgow.
We’ve been staying with a lovely lady called Echo ( really!) who has a lot to teach about market gardening. She’s run an organic veg box scheme for about 20 years(probably more actually), has gorgeous goats, delightful ducks and a couple of geese who weren’t actually scary. She also has a couple of dogs.
The goats are lovely- she has 11 of them. Apparently goats normally live to about 12 years, but she expects hers to live to 15 usually. Her goats are deep-littered (mucked out annually) so she can no longer sell the milk, and two of her milkers never had kids- they just decided they wanted to produce milk (I think that’s quite unusual!). Big One loves animals, and the goats were particularly interesting for her here. The goats have a regular feed (which Big One just about knew how to mix by the end of the week), alfalfa if they’ve been kept in ( they don’t like getting muddy wet feet) and daily ‘goat treats’ of perhaps willow cuttings,or rosebay willowherb, or currant bush cutting, but definitely not rhododendron- its poisonous to them. We tried to be around for at least some of the evening feeding and milking, and there were tears on our day off when we didn’t make it back in time. Packing up on our last day went slower as we girls got involved in the morning milking- Big One and I getting a final milking practice in. We’re quite sure we’ll have a couple of goats- Big One just has to learn to like the taste of the milk! Fresh goats milk doesn’t taste strongly- and is very different from supermarket goats milk. I’m looking forward to learning how to make feta cheese one day ( I’m remembering Pat’s cheese from Canon Frome!).
We were all welcome to teabreak and lunch, and the meals were really delicious. Echo has the smallest kitchen I’ve seen in a house- there isn’t a wall long enough for the sink and drainer to go along, they’re set at an angle into the windowsill! She and other volunteers made delicious soups, salads, we had our first duck egg omelette- fabulous. The times varied, so we generally had tea-break as lunch, and as lunch could be 4pm some days, that was an early tea! Little One’s nap often just nicely fit in between shared meals.
The work we were doing was all interesting, and Echo is very good at explaining things. She uses rock dust to improve her soil (and goats!) and I hope DH will blog about subsoiling so I can learn about it- the downside to one of us working is we both don’t learn everything. He also reckons he knows how to hoe properly, and wants to buy a good one ( not a dutch hoe). We did all work together one evening making a handmade ‘bale’. It was more a net or bag of hay, but it was really interesting to see what we could do without a baler. The girls did a great job tramping down the hay- less goat food to buy in!
Her place is on the edge of Hardgate, with a rough estate nearby. Unfortunately that means everything must be carefully locked up, and they’ve been vandalised in the past. The dogs aren’t vicious, but they are expected to look aggressive to strangers, and the younger dog hadn’t experienced young children staying there before. Nothing happened worse than growling, but for once the girls becoming more confident as the week went on made things more tense, rather than better.
We also had our wettest week so far. We may have had rain on a similar number of days in a week, but this rain was fairly constant, with heavier spells as well. Bits of Glasgow flooded! This has definitely been the muddiest week- Its one thing having muddy paths, but when under the tent is so squelchy the bed sinks, it really is rather wet. We were camped near the pond- thankfully the drain for that worked well, and we weren’t flooded any more than the rest of the field!
Echo has planning permission for some great communal spaces (still waiting for some official paperwork)- but this week the inside space was a bothy she cleared out, so there was just enough space for her and the volunteers to have teabreak and lunch together. Tables aren’t great for the girls to play on, and there wasn’t the floor space in there to play, though we were very welcome to use the bothy. We had the fire going ( this is the first time we’ve really needed the fire during the day, and its August in Scotland!) and the girls were happy playing in the tent. Not surprisingly, they weren’t always keen to get out in the rain! This really brought home to me how lovely our tent is, but also how important to us somewhere more sheltered from the weather is- a house, a caravan, a shed- somewhere relatively clean and dry for the kids to play about in. It was just bad luck our worst mud and rain happened in one of the few places we’ve been without child-friendly shelter. We were welcome in Echo’s living space- but she hardly has any indoor space and her younger dog really wasn’t happy when the girls came in (so neither was I).
This is the only place I’ve really been aware of business pressures. One of us was working, with the other expected to be with the girls and the girls not to distract them, or anyone else working. This was a little tricky, not least that Little One naps in the afternoon, and Big One doesn’t. Thankfully it wasn’t a problem that Big One had to be around DH working in the afternoons. At other places we’ve been able to be more flexible, with both of us working some of the time, and then sometimes needing us both for family things in ‘work’ time. That didn’t work for us here. Echo had specific instructions (we were there to learn!) on what needed doing, and tasks were completed so I didn’t feel I could go back to a job from earlier on my own, I’d need to check first. Echo is a very busy lady, instructing a team of volunteers who vary most days- a couple of longer term WWOOFers, a couple of employees, and a variety of weekly volunteers; but this sometimes meant a wait for the instructions or clarification of the instructions once you got started. We mulched the wrong currant bushes (Echo thought one guy had done some the week before and he hadn’t, so didn’t know where they were), we missed a patch of peas that needed picking (the person instructing us didn’t know about the other patch). I suppose a possible solution is Echo having a deputy, someone who is there full time and she trains up to be her assistant and let her be in two places at once! I don’t quite know how that’d work in real life though.....
The original plan was to stay for three weeks, but we and Echo agreed after 1 week, that was enough. The last day we had a day off and visited old friends in Edinburgh- lovely for us, great for the girls, and Echo said she realised just how aware she’d had to be of where the dogs were and what was happening. DH and I both loved the work and what we were learning, but the hours (evening milking wasn’t finished until 7 pm sometimes- and I forgot the WWOOF book said 9 hour work days), the dogs, the weather and the mud all together made this not right for us as a family. We definitely want to go back, but that’ll be in a few years when Little One is older (and the younger dog has grown up too). I think Echo’s a lovely person, a great host, very generous with her time and even sent us on our way with a delicious veg box. Her place is great for individual WWOOFers, and I think a family with older children would find it brilliant too.
We’ve been staying with a lovely lady called Echo ( really!) who has a lot to teach about market gardening. She’s run an organic veg box scheme for about 20 years(probably more actually), has gorgeous goats, delightful ducks and a couple of geese who weren’t actually scary. She also has a couple of dogs.
The goats are lovely- she has 11 of them. Apparently goats normally live to about 12 years, but she expects hers to live to 15 usually. Her goats are deep-littered (mucked out annually) so she can no longer sell the milk, and two of her milkers never had kids- they just decided they wanted to produce milk (I think that’s quite unusual!). Big One loves animals, and the goats were particularly interesting for her here. The goats have a regular feed (which Big One just about knew how to mix by the end of the week), alfalfa if they’ve been kept in ( they don’t like getting muddy wet feet) and daily ‘goat treats’ of perhaps willow cuttings,or rosebay willowherb, or currant bush cutting, but definitely not rhododendron- its poisonous to them. We tried to be around for at least some of the evening feeding and milking, and there were tears on our day off when we didn’t make it back in time. Packing up on our last day went slower as we girls got involved in the morning milking- Big One and I getting a final milking practice in. We’re quite sure we’ll have a couple of goats- Big One just has to learn to like the taste of the milk! Fresh goats milk doesn’t taste strongly- and is very different from supermarket goats milk. I’m looking forward to learning how to make feta cheese one day ( I’m remembering Pat’s cheese from Canon Frome!).
We were all welcome to teabreak and lunch, and the meals were really delicious. Echo has the smallest kitchen I’ve seen in a house- there isn’t a wall long enough for the sink and drainer to go along, they’re set at an angle into the windowsill! She and other volunteers made delicious soups, salads, we had our first duck egg omelette- fabulous. The times varied, so we generally had tea-break as lunch, and as lunch could be 4pm some days, that was an early tea! Little One’s nap often just nicely fit in between shared meals.
The work we were doing was all interesting, and Echo is very good at explaining things. She uses rock dust to improve her soil (and goats!) and I hope DH will blog about subsoiling so I can learn about it- the downside to one of us working is we both don’t learn everything. He also reckons he knows how to hoe properly, and wants to buy a good one ( not a dutch hoe). We did all work together one evening making a handmade ‘bale’. It was more a net or bag of hay, but it was really interesting to see what we could do without a baler. The girls did a great job tramping down the hay- less goat food to buy in!
Her place is on the edge of Hardgate, with a rough estate nearby. Unfortunately that means everything must be carefully locked up, and they’ve been vandalised in the past. The dogs aren’t vicious, but they are expected to look aggressive to strangers, and the younger dog hadn’t experienced young children staying there before. Nothing happened worse than growling, but for once the girls becoming more confident as the week went on made things more tense, rather than better.
We also had our wettest week so far. We may have had rain on a similar number of days in a week, but this rain was fairly constant, with heavier spells as well. Bits of Glasgow flooded! This has definitely been the muddiest week- Its one thing having muddy paths, but when under the tent is so squelchy the bed sinks, it really is rather wet. We were camped near the pond- thankfully the drain for that worked well, and we weren’t flooded any more than the rest of the field!
Echo has planning permission for some great communal spaces (still waiting for some official paperwork)- but this week the inside space was a bothy she cleared out, so there was just enough space for her and the volunteers to have teabreak and lunch together. Tables aren’t great for the girls to play on, and there wasn’t the floor space in there to play, though we were very welcome to use the bothy. We had the fire going ( this is the first time we’ve really needed the fire during the day, and its August in Scotland!) and the girls were happy playing in the tent. Not surprisingly, they weren’t always keen to get out in the rain! This really brought home to me how lovely our tent is, but also how important to us somewhere more sheltered from the weather is- a house, a caravan, a shed- somewhere relatively clean and dry for the kids to play about in. It was just bad luck our worst mud and rain happened in one of the few places we’ve been without child-friendly shelter. We were welcome in Echo’s living space- but she hardly has any indoor space and her younger dog really wasn’t happy when the girls came in (so neither was I).
This is the only place I’ve really been aware of business pressures. One of us was working, with the other expected to be with the girls and the girls not to distract them, or anyone else working. This was a little tricky, not least that Little One naps in the afternoon, and Big One doesn’t. Thankfully it wasn’t a problem that Big One had to be around DH working in the afternoons. At other places we’ve been able to be more flexible, with both of us working some of the time, and then sometimes needing us both for family things in ‘work’ time. That didn’t work for us here. Echo had specific instructions (we were there to learn!) on what needed doing, and tasks were completed so I didn’t feel I could go back to a job from earlier on my own, I’d need to check first. Echo is a very busy lady, instructing a team of volunteers who vary most days- a couple of longer term WWOOFers, a couple of employees, and a variety of weekly volunteers; but this sometimes meant a wait for the instructions or clarification of the instructions once you got started. We mulched the wrong currant bushes (Echo thought one guy had done some the week before and he hadn’t, so didn’t know where they were), we missed a patch of peas that needed picking (the person instructing us didn’t know about the other patch). I suppose a possible solution is Echo having a deputy, someone who is there full time and she trains up to be her assistant and let her be in two places at once! I don’t quite know how that’d work in real life though.....
The original plan was to stay for three weeks, but we and Echo agreed after 1 week, that was enough. The last day we had a day off and visited old friends in Edinburgh- lovely for us, great for the girls, and Echo said she realised just how aware she’d had to be of where the dogs were and what was happening. DH and I both loved the work and what we were learning, but the hours (evening milking wasn’t finished until 7 pm sometimes- and I forgot the WWOOF book said 9 hour work days), the dogs, the weather and the mud all together made this not right for us as a family. We definitely want to go back, but that’ll be in a few years when Little One is older (and the younger dog has grown up too). I think Echo’s a lovely person, a great host, very generous with her time and even sent us on our way with a delicious veg box. Her place is great for individual WWOOFers, and I think a family with older children would find it brilliant too.
Tuesday, 9 August 2011
Haymaking
Monday, 8 August 2011
Scotland!
We had a wonderful time with Jo and Phillip at Colt Cottage, near Kirkcudbright last week. It started off quite well when we got to Kirkcudbright and found an Arts Festival, as well as a laundrette. We had a little wander around, and saw Rapunzel at the castle and artists sculpting by the quay, amongst many other things.
We were camping in their garden, and welcome in the house which was really lovely for us. We could see the sea a mile away from the house, with a lovely view of the weather coming in.
We spent our first morning sorting kindling and firewood, getting it chainsawed and started stacking, and using a hydraulic wood splitter. Its a bit slower than using a maul, but I felt alot safer using it. We stopped for elevenses, as they had a friend call round- so it was lovely homemade pancakes, and icecream from the farm just down the road, for break. We lunched together as well.
The evening had us heading to Taliesan Community Woodland, meeting Jem and others and having a shared meal cooked over the open fire that Big One lit ( first time for her, with matches). Someone had been doing pest control, so brought a few pigeons they’d shot \(Pigeon breast tastes lovely!). Lots of homegrown sausages- Big One was helping with all the cooking on 'her' fire. We had a little walk up to see if we could see the adder that’s been spotted before- but it wasn’t around when we looked. However, just after that we nearly trod on a slow worm, and then as Little One and I headed to the fabulous compost loo, we saw a snake curled up on a rock catching the evening sun. We didn’t go near, as we wanted to share our sighting, but by the time we fetched the others it had gone. I wonder if we saw our first adder? I’m not sure, but I think so. An amazing evening, and we still weren’t troubled by the midges.
They had built a cruck barn and a log cabin there- and of course we didn’t have a camera with us. Big One learned how to toast marshmallows properly- what a fab evening. Little One enjoyed herself as well, especially having a stick for the marshmallows. She didn’t go anywhere near heat, just standing by the bag and popping them on and off the stick before eating!
We had a couple of days doing ‘proper’ work, with a baby hedge to weed and DH finishing off the firewood stack. Hens to feed, eggs to collect, ‘looking the sheep’, feeding Gilbert (the ram, recovering from a touch of flystrike)- all jobs Big One was involved in and reminding us all that needed to happen.
Tuesday was market day at Castle Douglas, and we had a lucky escape. They had some wethers 'cutting grass' at a friends some distance away, and these were the ones for sale. Our help wasn’t expected to be needed, so we were heading straight to the mart to meet them there once they got the 7 of them in the trailer. I think they spent a couple of hours catching them, running around a field in pouring rain, really hard work. We on the other hand, had a very civilised look at the sheep auctions for about an hour (in the dry) and then sorted our lunch out. We were just finishing up when Philip and the other WWOOfer found us- they’d just got the sheep dropped off for auction. On our way to Castle Douglas we spotted a Police Tractor- it didn’t have its flashing light going, but there was an impressive queue of traffic behind it- no one daring to overtake? We’ve never seen one of them before!
The next task was heading to a World Peace Prayer Place ( I forget its name!) north of Dumfries. Another fair drive, but with the weather brightening up, we were set for an afternoon helping build a roundwood timber building. The wall uprights were up, but what they needed ( it was Jem from the woods) was round pegs shaping from dry oak. With shave horses ready to run, draw knives at the ready, DH and Hayley ( the other WWOOFer) spent the afternoon working. The girls and I were booked to play in the woods with a group organised by a Ranger called Tom- that week he was running a tracking session. It was really interesting seeing how some of the older children were really into it. We saw some track traps Tom had set (unfortunately mostly obliterated by the mornings rain), but the girls both had fun following a rope trail. Set up to be blindfolded, but they had fun both with and without blindfolds. When I got talking to Tom, he’s also into green woodworking, setting up a woodland workshop there! Its a small world. Big One also learned a new knife cut there, for making shavings to start the fire, and we all helped to put up a shelter in case it did start raining again. Quite a good afternoon. I got to work on a bit of oak before we left, and we gained a bag full of dry oak shavings, which is proving excellent for the Kelly kettle and lighting the stove.
We managed to fit in another day on the hedge (its a long hedge), and finished the day with a picnic tea on Carrick beach. It was hot and sunny, not windy, and a lovely way to finish the day. We didn't quite get the hedge finished, but we haven't left them with much to do, honest.
We still had one more day, which started off wet. That meant an indoor job, so we were in the shed sorting through the fleeces from when Phillip sheared the sheep. We were mostly pulling off poo-ey bits (dags) but there wasn’t much so it was a nice job. Big One enjoyed assessing the bags of fleece to sort, guessing (usually correctly) how many were in. Not as easy as it might sound, as the black Hebrideans have much smaller fleeces than the white Romneys.
We ‘looked the sheep’, I managed to gather some meadowsweet (its drying so I can try to make infusions from it), and then fitting in a few hours at Stewartry show in Castle Douglas. It brightened up fabulously for us going to the show, so we enjoyed seeing the Best in Show being selected, and having a look at the sheep being collected up. The beer tent started off full ( when we arrived mid-afternoon) but was taking up a huge amount of the field by the time we left! The girls (Both of them!) had a ride on a roundabout, and finished off the afternoon with the final bounces on the bouncy castle. We managed to fit in an organic icecream (from the stall from the farm just down the road) and see the Police Tractor up close. I wonder if it had been heading to another local town a day early for their show when we spotted it on the Tuesday? It seemed a novelty to our hosts as well- I thought the police would use contractors if they needed a tractor.
This week had us really involved in what our hosts were doing, what was going on in the community. Its the first time we’ve spent so much time off the farm, yet generally still being helpful. I don’t know if that’s made the difference, but we both agree on Galloway being somewhere we could consider settling down. I loved being near to the sea, and I realise that’s important to me.
I'm still feeling a bit WWOOFed out, but Jo and Phillip made us feel so welcome, so part of their local community ( I didn't mention tea and cakes in the village hall for the Open Garden event, did I?) and the children were so welcome- Jo was wondeful at explaining things to Big One when she got in from work, and they really seemed to enjoy the company of all of us. We were all welcome to share all meals, which isn't always the case, and we really appreciated it. I'm trying to think of some downsides to our stay, but I'm really struggling. Too much good food? The cock crowing at 5 am occasionally? I suppose the biggest impact was the free range chickens. That's great for the birds, but means their poo ends up everywhere, so we had to be careful to remove shoes going inside (in dry weather I've not been so careful in the tent). I'lve learned that our chickend might have a big run, but won't be free range just for that reason. One place used an electric fence so the chicken run could easily be moved, but still contained them. I like that idea.
As we drove northwards, we saw the land change to the open moors, and valleys of forests, and then got up to Ayr. Ayr is where I was born, but I preferred the hills of a little further south. We fit in a quick visit with a friend of my parents, and then it was heading north up to our next hosts, NW of Glasgow.
We were camping in their garden, and welcome in the house which was really lovely for us. We could see the sea a mile away from the house, with a lovely view of the weather coming in.
We spent our first morning sorting kindling and firewood, getting it chainsawed and started stacking, and using a hydraulic wood splitter. Its a bit slower than using a maul, but I felt alot safer using it. We stopped for elevenses, as they had a friend call round- so it was lovely homemade pancakes, and icecream from the farm just down the road, for break. We lunched together as well.
The evening had us heading to Taliesan Community Woodland, meeting Jem and others and having a shared meal cooked over the open fire that Big One lit ( first time for her, with matches). Someone had been doing pest control, so brought a few pigeons they’d shot \(Pigeon breast tastes lovely!). Lots of homegrown sausages- Big One was helping with all the cooking on 'her' fire. We had a little walk up to see if we could see the adder that’s been spotted before- but it wasn’t around when we looked. However, just after that we nearly trod on a slow worm, and then as Little One and I headed to the fabulous compost loo, we saw a snake curled up on a rock catching the evening sun. We didn’t go near, as we wanted to share our sighting, but by the time we fetched the others it had gone. I wonder if we saw our first adder? I’m not sure, but I think so. An amazing evening, and we still weren’t troubled by the midges.
They had built a cruck barn and a log cabin there- and of course we didn’t have a camera with us. Big One learned how to toast marshmallows properly- what a fab evening. Little One enjoyed herself as well, especially having a stick for the marshmallows. She didn’t go anywhere near heat, just standing by the bag and popping them on and off the stick before eating!
We had a couple of days doing ‘proper’ work, with a baby hedge to weed and DH finishing off the firewood stack. Hens to feed, eggs to collect, ‘looking the sheep’, feeding Gilbert (the ram, recovering from a touch of flystrike)- all jobs Big One was involved in and reminding us all that needed to happen.
Tuesday was market day at Castle Douglas, and we had a lucky escape. They had some wethers 'cutting grass' at a friends some distance away, and these were the ones for sale. Our help wasn’t expected to be needed, so we were heading straight to the mart to meet them there once they got the 7 of them in the trailer. I think they spent a couple of hours catching them, running around a field in pouring rain, really hard work. We on the other hand, had a very civilised look at the sheep auctions for about an hour (in the dry) and then sorted our lunch out. We were just finishing up when Philip and the other WWOOfer found us- they’d just got the sheep dropped off for auction. On our way to Castle Douglas we spotted a Police Tractor- it didn’t have its flashing light going, but there was an impressive queue of traffic behind it- no one daring to overtake? We’ve never seen one of them before!
The next task was heading to a World Peace Prayer Place ( I forget its name!) north of Dumfries. Another fair drive, but with the weather brightening up, we were set for an afternoon helping build a roundwood timber building. The wall uprights were up, but what they needed ( it was Jem from the woods) was round pegs shaping from dry oak. With shave horses ready to run, draw knives at the ready, DH and Hayley ( the other WWOOFer) spent the afternoon working. The girls and I were booked to play in the woods with a group organised by a Ranger called Tom- that week he was running a tracking session. It was really interesting seeing how some of the older children were really into it. We saw some track traps Tom had set (unfortunately mostly obliterated by the mornings rain), but the girls both had fun following a rope trail. Set up to be blindfolded, but they had fun both with and without blindfolds. When I got talking to Tom, he’s also into green woodworking, setting up a woodland workshop there! Its a small world. Big One also learned a new knife cut there, for making shavings to start the fire, and we all helped to put up a shelter in case it did start raining again. Quite a good afternoon. I got to work on a bit of oak before we left, and we gained a bag full of dry oak shavings, which is proving excellent for the Kelly kettle and lighting the stove.
We managed to fit in another day on the hedge (its a long hedge), and finished the day with a picnic tea on Carrick beach. It was hot and sunny, not windy, and a lovely way to finish the day. We didn't quite get the hedge finished, but we haven't left them with much to do, honest.
We still had one more day, which started off wet. That meant an indoor job, so we were in the shed sorting through the fleeces from when Phillip sheared the sheep. We were mostly pulling off poo-ey bits (dags) but there wasn’t much so it was a nice job. Big One enjoyed assessing the bags of fleece to sort, guessing (usually correctly) how many were in. Not as easy as it might sound, as the black Hebrideans have much smaller fleeces than the white Romneys.
We ‘looked the sheep’, I managed to gather some meadowsweet (its drying so I can try to make infusions from it), and then fitting in a few hours at Stewartry show in Castle Douglas. It brightened up fabulously for us going to the show, so we enjoyed seeing the Best in Show being selected, and having a look at the sheep being collected up. The beer tent started off full ( when we arrived mid-afternoon) but was taking up a huge amount of the field by the time we left! The girls (Both of them!) had a ride on a roundabout, and finished off the afternoon with the final bounces on the bouncy castle. We managed to fit in an organic icecream (from the stall from the farm just down the road) and see the Police Tractor up close. I wonder if it had been heading to another local town a day early for their show when we spotted it on the Tuesday? It seemed a novelty to our hosts as well- I thought the police would use contractors if they needed a tractor.
This week had us really involved in what our hosts were doing, what was going on in the community. Its the first time we’ve spent so much time off the farm, yet generally still being helpful. I don’t know if that’s made the difference, but we both agree on Galloway being somewhere we could consider settling down. I loved being near to the sea, and I realise that’s important to me.
I'm still feeling a bit WWOOFed out, but Jo and Phillip made us feel so welcome, so part of their local community ( I didn't mention tea and cakes in the village hall for the Open Garden event, did I?) and the children were so welcome- Jo was wondeful at explaining things to Big One when she got in from work, and they really seemed to enjoy the company of all of us. We were all welcome to share all meals, which isn't always the case, and we really appreciated it. I'm trying to think of some downsides to our stay, but I'm really struggling. Too much good food? The cock crowing at 5 am occasionally? I suppose the biggest impact was the free range chickens. That's great for the birds, but means their poo ends up everywhere, so we had to be careful to remove shoes going inside (in dry weather I've not been so careful in the tent). I'lve learned that our chickend might have a big run, but won't be free range just for that reason. One place used an electric fence so the chicken run could easily be moved, but still contained them. I like that idea.
As we drove northwards, we saw the land change to the open moors, and valleys of forests, and then got up to Ayr. Ayr is where I was born, but I preferred the hills of a little further south. We fit in a quick visit with a friend of my parents, and then it was heading north up to our next hosts, NW of Glasgow.
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