Ok, it has been a long time since I last posted. Lots has changed! But first I will start with the entry I started when Phil and Michelle rescued us from the scary people!
So here we go for entry no. 1:
Phew well ok we have finally recovered from our interesting but unpleasant lesson in scary WWOOF hosts. On Monday (19th of September) we went back to stay at Michelle and Phil’s smallholding, who very kindly took us back. It was wonderful to have a cup of tea, move on and get stuck into some work again. Firstly, we took down some beans that had stopped flowering and producing beans. Then we did the afternoon chickie feed (a chore that I have sorely missed, who would have thought!). It was lovely to hear all the antics that had happened in our absence.
Tuesday:
We were able to help Phil in start making the second set of benching for the poly tunnel that we helped clear the first time. I know we did more later on in the day but I foolishly forgot to make any detailed records until now, ooops!
The new benching: hehe!
Wednesday:
We cleared chicken pen no. 1 which had a lot of very well established blackcurrants (however they were very badly placed, in lots of shade so they had to go. This is just one of the many mistakes the previous owners of the property implemented) in the pen. So we removed them and spent the rest of the afternoon chopping them up into firewood.
The Before work began piccys:
Matt and Michelle assessing the need for serious damage hehe!
Somewhere there you can about see the fence at the back.
The view from the gate to get into the pen.
standing back slightly from the gate to look at the height of it all.
The Halfway point: both piccys are the view from the gate.
The after shots:
Haha there are chickens!
There's a fence!
The only living plant (a gooseberry bush) left in the pen.
Some of the wood ready for chopping into firewood.
We also got to help Phil put some bee treatment (called Apiguard?) into the hives. This was to stimulate them to clean each other and remove mites. These mites then fall onto a piece of plastic under the hive. Every morning we had to go and check the hives and count the numbers of fallen mites (this gave us some idea of how high or low the infestation of each hive is).
Thursday:
This was the beginning of a two day adventure hehe! The first day it was a bit wet but we started to clear the hazels around the ponds as well as any other branches, trees, reeds etc. that were overgrown around the pond. While we were doing this we had a tea break using a tommy kettle and a reclaimed bench it was a bit like camping hehe! We also had a bonfire which was lovely we managed to get rid of a lot of the surplus leafy foliage that couldn’t be made into firewood.
The Mud that day hehe!
Our little picnic area.
The bonfire site
The area round the pond after the demolition which enables you to now see all the way round the pond.
Friday:
We continued our operation around the goose pond. Matt spent quite a while removing the smaller branches from what we cut down with a billhook (which did take a dip in the pond by accident hehe! But it was rescued by Michelle thankfully). I spent the morning making faggots out of the thinner branches. I think again we did more in the afternoon but I cannot remember.
Saturday:
We were given the day off so after feeding the chickies and ‘Lambchop’ we went into Aberaeron. This is a lovely place a lovely little seaside town. We had a lovely morning walking around the town (partially in search of the mythical wool shop I was told about, in which I bought a pattern for a little hooded baby cardigan). We had lunch from a lovely delicatessen owned by an Italian lady and went for a short walk around that harbour. I have to say I was thoroughly impressed with the place, it felt strangely like home.
Aberaeron harbour
Me up on the little tower at the end of the harbour
Me at the top of the tower over looking the sea hehe! Oh how I had missed.
The lovely deli where we had paninis and spanish hot chocolate.
Sunday:
I finished Matts socks! He now has a pair of custom made stripy woolly socks. Matt spent the morning helping Phil with the bees and taking down another set of beans in the polytunnel. I got to help Michelle with some more jam making, including marrow and ginger jam (Matt is a very big fan of this jam) and some plum jam that set very well. Then me, Matt and Phil started weeding one of the poly tunnels ready for planting a lot of cabbages (which incidentally we propagated the last time we were there, they had grown quite a bit since we last saw them).
Ok the second week I really didn’t remember to make any notes at all so I will regale you with what I can remember. All throughout the time we were their it became very clear that Katy the dog was not a well bunny. She started to get a nasty cough and at somepoint it was decided to take her to the vet. At first the vet thought she had kennel cough but after a week of treatment she wasn’t getting any better. So a day at the vets and a repeat visit revealed she has a very rare syndrome. The vets found that she had tracheal collapse (which is normally only seen in toy breeds) and there are only two options, one is a very expensive medicine that treats the symptoms or major surgery which may help but at 11 years old Michelle and Phil are obviously very nervous of this option. We are still waiting to hear how she is doing on the medicine root (fingers crossed it will help!)
We also had an interesting time with the bees. It turned out that the bees had quite a few mites and so a second treatment was prepared and administered. However, the next day we discovered one hive of bees was getting ready to leave and another had actually swarmed. Luckily, the swarmed bees had not gone far but we still had to catch them. This turned out to be very tricky as the queen escaped twice before she was finally caught for a third and final time.
We also got involved in moving the sheep around and moving the piglets. We also had to say good bye to Mrs Pig as she went to the abattoir on Wednesday.
Katy feeling a bit uner the weather
Smudge decided to have one try at being a cat in a bedroom, it turned out he thought this was a good ploy to get out of having to shut in the kitchen over night. Naughty Smudge
This is the green manure which we planted the first week we arrived, now look at it, its huge
The amazing sunset we had
The sunset over the house and a random alien.
The sunset again, it was so beautiful these pictures don't really do it justice.
The bed prepared for the cabbages.
08/10/2011
Phew well since I wrote this I have found out that Katy is doing well on her medication she stopped coughing within 2 days! I shall try and remember more of the things that we got up to while at Michelle and Phils. But for now I leave you with this and that we are well and having fun having just got back from the Spinners, Weavers and Dyers guild gathering and we are very excited! Matt is trying his hand at spinning using a drop spindle! Anyway I shall love and leave you, i shall try to write again soon. X x x x x x x x x
