I just realised I couldn't really start the blog without the last chapter of our Wooffing experience. The last place we went to was called Dyffryn Isaf in South Wales.
We arrived in the afternoon and after a cuppa tea we got stuck straight in a started to weed some beds and soon discovered that this farm has one type of white rooted that was very persistent. In fact we didn't realise just how persistent it was until one of our woof hosts dug a patch we had done and it was still full of roots! but finally we did get as much roots out as we could and covered the with corrogated metal.
The beds ready for new planting.
We did lots of different things at the farm, they have many Shetland Sheep and were given the opportunity to give them a health check, I have never handled sheep so this was a great experience. They also have 4 goats, 3 of which, were producing milk and we were allowed to milk them. Most of the food that we ate on the farm either came from Suma or their own farm, so we ate a lot of goat milk, goat cheese, meat from their own sheep, and vege from their own garden. I don't think we ever have eaten so much goat product, the cheese was especially good.
The farm was situated in a lovely valley there were some beautiful views. We were lucky with the weather although we had some rain, we generally had good weather. They also had their own Orchard in which they grew, cookers, eaters and cider apples. We got to pick quite a few on our stay, we also picked a lot of raspberries and had many meals that included both fruits. We also got to press about 6-7 bin fulls of cider apples with a big apple press. We had lots of apple juice, all ready for fermenting and some for drinking. This was lots of fun and much laughing and giggling as some of the apples where more mushy than others and some batches did kind of explode out the sides of the press with big splat noises! all the crushed pulp was given to the goats.
As you will see later our hosts dye their own wool, during our stay we got to harvest a whole crop of Madder root (which is a plant whose roots can be used to dye wool a red colour), apparently it takes 2 years before you can harvest as it takes this long for the roots to grow prolifically.
As well as the hoofed creatures they also had lots of chickens and two cats too (named Socks and Lucy) I of course fell for the kitties and they repeatedly tried to get cuddles out of us.
One of the views in the sheep field
Matt at the gate of the orchard.
The patch that we rescued one of the sheep who had got caught up in a few sneaky brambles.
Some of the Shetland Sheep that they had at the farm, these sheep were both a meat source and a wool source, our hosts were very into textiles and spin, dye, tan the skins (for sheep skin rugs, many of which are used in the house as rugs) and make things from the fleece (e.g. felt).
Me and Lucy on a break
Socks making sure that everyone knew the wood was hers.
This is an attempt at homemade solar water sadly there wasn't much in the way of sun or heat for it to work while we were there.
The apple pressing equipment all cleaned up.
Mad Momma Chicken!
The very impressive compost system.
The Broccoli that flowered very early
The raspberry patch
The muck heap that we weeded and covered up with black plastic
Some of the Madder root, when wet and washed the roots are dark red through to orange.
One of the batches of chickens whose mum is the mad Momma chicken!
Our Wooff hosts let us have a go at weaving!
Here is our finished weaving hehe.
We also were given two days off during our stay so we decided to go to Tenby and Camarthen.
We had a great time going to Tenby, we also got to see Narbeth on the way. At Tenby I realised that I had been there before, I went there as a small child and we went on a ride in a horse drawn carriage, and they are still doing running trips around the town. We went to the seafront
Our hosts very kindly took us along to the Welsh Spinners, Weavers and Dyers guild event in LLandiloes. It was a wonderful event, the theme of the guild event this year was flowers, our hosts local guild flower was the foxglove. Here are some pictures of the beautiful wares and pieces for the competition. There was a whole mix of fibres, textiles and themes. Overall it was brilliant, they evn had local suppliers in selling all kinds of fleece, fibres, equipment.for spinning, felting, carding if it was wool related they had it! This was also where Matt bought his drop spindle and our host showed him how to use it. We also got to meet an amazing artist who did a presentation on here textile work and business she was amazing she was only in her 20's and she has done some really prestigious artwork really amazing! Her main theme is weaving and she sells some of her designs but she also does art using threads and ribbons set into resin which created stunning illusions. I will include her name when I find the booklet I wrote her name in, her textiles were truly gorgeous.
The two photos above were the display from the Pembrokeshire guild the one our host belonged to.
The Pembrokeshire guild members Competition entry. I particularly like the fox wearing gloves!
Pressing apples
sneaky pic of Matt weaving at the loom
After the Spinners, Weavers and Dyers event we dropped in at Aberaeron and had ice cream and the The Hive. It is a Local Honey themed restaurant and they make ice cream to die for!
http://thehiveaberaeron.com/
We also got an opportunity to go to Camarthen which we had only previously changed trains and buses at on the way to other places. It was really nice there even though it was raining, we had a total nostalgia day. We went to see The Lion King in 3D at the local cinema and ate a the Wimpy and also bought me a new phone as mine died a week earlier. We had a such a silly day it was lovely.
Other than that we staked the cabbages so the wind wouldn't blow them over in winter, we made 2 types of bird boxes, I even got to use a plane to put a campher? on the roof of each house. We had a great time and got to meet some great people (especially our hosts), we even got to meet some of our woof hosts friends when they came over for dinner and they were very nice to us too.
Phew well I think I have written nearly everything I can remember of our trip, we had a wonderful experience WWOOFing at all the places we went to, it is truly a life experience we will never forget and hope to do again in the future!
Lots of Love Sophie and Matt x x x x x x
