Today was a ‘left to our own devices’ day which we exploited to the maximum with a very lazy day and a three hour lunch :).
We’d been asked to finish off the work in the orchard over the next few days so we decided to do all of that today. We started with the usual round of feeding all the animals and bringing Benji round to the field, collected some eggs from the chickens and then I caught up with Tanya to get some sausages and directions to Bridies Yard which is another project they co-run, a food co operative which is open one evening and one full day a week which we’d said we’d go along and see tonight.
I had a quick tractor driving lesson and was told the kids are welcome to drive it if we are happy for them to do so, but as it has a dragger attached to the back which Tanya isn’t sure how to remove we didn’t actually get to use it today in the end. We gathered tools and gloves and headed to the orchard where we spent about 3.5 hours gathering all the pruned branches into two piles, one ready for firewood, all stripped of small pieces and one ready to take up to the yard and make a bonfire from. Scarlett found some owl pellets under an apple tree so she dissected those and found various little bones.
The woman from last night appeared to ask if we’d like to have a swim in the private pool for the holiday cottages later this afternoon. Clearly the answer was yes, so we arranged to come back at about 4pm for a swim in exchange for some pictures of the kids enjoying the pool as she is about to run some ads in Green Parent so wanted to update her website with pictures of children at the pool and in the cottages to try and help push the family market. It seemed like a very good deal to us 🙂
We did the bulk of it and then broke for lunch. The kids raced ahead and made themselves sandwiches using all of the last of the bread which meant Ady and I had to raid the cupboard in the van for food – he had soup and I made some pancakes for me, which I ended up sharing with the kids :). We cooked outside on the little stove which was just lovely 🙂
A woman arrived with three children, a couple of D&S age boys and a toddler so the kids played with them and chatted to her for a bit while Ady and I sat around and lazed and chatted before finally gathering ourselves back together, collecting swimsuits and towels and heading back to the orchard for a last hour finishing up there before going to the holiday cottages next door for our swim. The woman just took over 10 days ago and is having a handover period with the previous owner who is still around. They are all lovely, really kind, open people who are happy to share and have fallen for D&S and think what we’re doing is really cool. It’s amazing how rich a variety of people we have already met and have invited us into their lives alongside the WWOOF hosts we were expecting to meet.
We were shown the pool, it’s about 10m by 5m so quite small, heated to bath temperature, with a large wet room attached and is about neck high water for the kids all over. We had showers and used the complementary luxury shampoo and shower gel as directed before uncovering the pool and getting in. A very lovely hour ensued, playing with the inflatables, swimming, floating, playing tag, jumping in and having competitions to see who could stay underwater longest, float best and so on. Just fab :).
We all had lovely long showers afterwards and got dressed. Once outside we were offered a look round some of the cottages, which are 350 years old and reputed to be haunted. The kids adored this idea so we did some ghost hunting 🙂 We looked in 6 of the 11 cottages and of course the kids are now convinced they saw and felt stuff, thoroughly whipped up by us adults ;). A promise to email our photos for their use and to visit again if we like and an open invite to go and WWOOF there long term in the summer if we want.
We then drove along to Bridies Yard for a look round. It’s a great place, I love the ideas behind it and there was a great atmosphere there which loads of people bringing boxes, baskets and bags and filling up on the food. I love the idea of bulk buying co operatives, bartering and packaging free so it was really good to go and see it in action. Tanya showed us round, we had a cup of tea and chatted to some people before deciding we should get back to put the animals away. We needed some rolls, so sadly had to come home via the supermarket which felt a bit wrong having just been at the food co op which is so anti supermarket :/
It was 8pm and pitch dark by the time we got back so I went to close the chicken house up and the kids and Ady went to find Benji. They freaked him out with their head torches so Ady shone the torch on the kids to illuminate them and he calmed right down, and followed them back to his yard. Animals dealt with and van reinstalled we cooked up the sausages we’d got earlier which are the mother / grandmother of the pigs in the field next to us and were delicious :). We reflected on what an amazing day it’s been getting invited to swim and ghost hunting, leading a goat around in the dark, eating sausages from pigs that lived her just a couple of weeks ago, learning about food co ops and gazing up at an amazing panorama of stars. Tomorrow is animal feeding, tractor driving and road testing the pizza kiln. It’s safe to say that thus far we’re not really missing home, jobs and paying bills 😉
I bet you’re not! Feeling very jealous 😉
Comment by Kirsty — 25 March 2011 @ 1:28 am
If your year carries on this way I can see it extending into next year!
Comment by em — 25 March 2011 @ 12:45 pm
fantastic. Am almost envious 😉
Comment by michelle — 25 March 2011 @ 1:12 pm