First KILL

Done like a newbie but hey it's my first time. Hope the chicken didn't suffer too much!!

Feels good killing and preparing your own meat and getting involved in the entire process was indeed a very fulfilling experience.

If you want to eat meat, you have to be able to do the deed yourself, if not you probably do not deserve it afterall =)

Rantings on the farm...

The weather has been gloooorious since we've been here. Except for maybe 2 to 3 days of rain/cold winds/overcast, it's been warm, sunny and blue skies. Is this England?


I havent been writing a lot I know. It's probably coz its just been so social here at crooked end farm! We've gotten to be really close with fellow wwoofers here, Callie, Erin & Raphael (the au pair). Apart from working all day together, we cook and go to the pub a little too often. Hahaha. Its so wonderful to sit in the garden of a pub, gulping down a pint of local cider for the mere amount of 2.40 pounds and having seconds, and maybe thirds. We have even started to play the name game! (Apparently, the correct name is called 'Celebrity'!) Its just been heaps fun. We also started to sit in the garden in the long summer evenings, with the chickens strolling around us, playing with Lottie and James while we wait for dinner. And of course, moan together about our little trials and tribulations on the farm. Everywhere has its politics its so funny. hahaha.


Working 5 hours a day, sleep for about 9, and the rest... just resting our tired bodies in the great summer outdoors. Bees buzzing around, chickens pooing on the ground, birds of all sorts twittering in the distance, pigs milding grunting away... I think I am really liking rural life.


Today, we went with Brenda to Chepstow farmers market in south wales! It was quite a scorching day and the 2 children came with us so it was quite intense. Bjorn and I gave out organic apple juice samples and leaflets of the farm to people on the high street and it was tiring but also nice. People in small towns are more likely to stop and do an apple juice tasting with you than in London for sure.


Tomorrow, Barry is taking us to the river and dropping us off with a canoe! Then they will pick us up down the river in 3 hours by the pub. How delightful, I cant wait! And its going to be hot as well! Apparently, next week.. there'll be a heatwave! Woohoo!


I'll end off here with a photo of Bjorn, me, Erin and Callie at the Malt Shovel Inn - Ruardean's local 900 year old pub. (It was said to be founded in 1110!). The Horlicks brothers were born in this village and malted their first Horlicks here! Talk about a slice of history... who doesnt like Horlicks!

The crooked end farm children!

Introducing.... the crooken end farm children! These children are so adorable, so well behaved, sweet and charming, I had to blog about them.

Lottie! The darling 2 and a half year old who remembers all the wwoofers names and is the most delightful child I've ever ever encountered! Loves colouring, singing, dancing, laughing and smiling...

James. Lottie's 7 month old little brother. Smiles for the camera every time. What a beautiful child.

Theo. The almost 4 year old little talkative rascal who just loves being a naughty but adorable little boy.

Arthur.. 5 weeks old brother of Theo who doesnt really do much, and I'm guess someday will become a cute toddler like the rest.

Long summer evenings at Crooked end...

The late summer sunset at different times of the evening...:

8:45pm

9:45pm

10:45pm

11:15pm (still not totally dark!)

Three Counties Farm Show & our upcoming wwoof plans

First weekend off ! And our other hosts Barry and Anya took us to the Three Counties Farm show, a massive fair/convention of all things farm-like. Animals, tractors, food, crafts, they had it all man... I had reservations about going to a farm show. Coz you'd imagine all these red necks farmers staring me down, like what the hell was I doing here. But it was nothing like that at all.

Highlights were definitely the different breeds of animals. Here are some of them:

Alcapas - so cute! From south america, but growing in popularity in British farms for their fleece.

Saddle back piggies...

Doesnt he remind you of Zhu Ba Jie? The pig man from the chinese legend, journey to the west monkey God? Apparently this breed is actually orignally from China!

This duck should be in commercials for fabric softner or something. So preeettttyyyy!

One of the many exotic breeded chickens. This one just looked like he's lost all dignity.

Also, here's our wwoofing plans as of today for the next couple of months that we so last minutely set up. You office people reading this... droool. We're virtually spending almost no money doing this. Love it!

Midlands...

15 Jun to 6 Jul - Crooked end farm, Ruardean, 15 acre organic farm with farm shop (now)

Cornwall...

6 Jul to 21 Jul - Chy Ena, West Cornwall, a small community of people living on 7 acres of land, endevouring to live within the question of 'what does it mean to live sustainably?'

21 Jul to 28 Jul - Dont know yet...

Wales...

28 Jul to 10 Aug - Old Chapel Farm, North Wales - 70 acre holding with courses in prehistoric arts. Love to meet people from different traditions.

10 Aug to 24 Aug - Cefndeuddror farm, North Wales - A 500 year old farm set in the magic forests of spectacular southern Snowdonia.

Scotland...

24 Aug to 7 Sep - Ranachan Glebe, Strontian, west Scotland. Large family who renovated an old house to be fossil fuel free. Main income is production of exotic funghi. Surrounding area known to be stunningly beautiful.

7 Sep to 21 Sep (crystals birthday!) - Froach Lodge, Inverness (Highlands), Scotland. Guest house and guided walking business with 1/3 acre of a garden.

21 Sep to 11 Oct - Phantassie, East Lothian, 1 hr from Edinburg, Veg box commuity with 25 organic acres. Great walking and cycling & beaches.

11 Oct to 1 Nov - ???

Spain...

1 Nov - 1 Dec - Semila Besada, Malaga, Spain.

1 Dec - 1 Feb - Just joined the Spain wwoof network so we need to figure this out!

I dont think I have felt this positive about life in a long time. It feels wonderful.

Crooked End Farm

Now this is what I call organic farming.

We've been here, at the crooked end farm, their blog: http://www.crookedend.co.uk/ and our hosts Brenda and Bruce have made us feel right at home.

They have 14 acre of land, a bunch of pigs (yum yum, their organic bacon is reeeeally good, the best I've tasted in my whole life), Lots of laying hens, sheep, and lots of organic vegetables (duh)!


In the last couple of days, we planted leeks, picked salad leaves for the shop, fed the hens, collected their eggs (at least 2 times a day), fed and moved the pigs, cleaaned the chicken houses (yuck), weeded, watered, transplanted tomatoes and .... ate good food. There's so much to do, there's never enough time. And I guess this is what it really means to do this for a living. Brenda and Bruce are constantly working! Of course, the two gorgeous kids, Lottie (2 and a half) & James (6 months) are quite a handful as well. Which other 2 and a half year old can remember my name within the first hour of meeting me, and recalls it clearly? She's better than most people I've met!


Anyway, here are some snap shots of us this week! Will be here for 3 weeks.


Wwoofing is the life. Work for 5 hours a day, 5 days a week, food to eat, place to sleep, meeting wonderful (and some strange) people, and of course, the bloody gorgeous countryside.





The cosy little caravan we are living in.

Percy the horse & two other fellow wwoofers - Erin (left) and Callie (right) both from America.

Feeding Mabel, the pregnant Gloucestershire Old Spot sow with bolted lettuce.

Real twittering

This week, on June 15, right in the middle of 2009, we began our United Kingdom wwoof journey.

Falling in love with the English countryside is no fault of anybody but the beautiful countryside itself.

Its not just the visual beauty of the quiet whispers of the sunsets, the big vivid blue skies. But its also the very sweet little things like instead of going to a florist and buying expensive cut flowers,

I can wander the land from March all the way to November and find seasonal gorgeous wild flowers to celebrate the time of the year. Oh, and experiencing first hand, almost 24 hrs the ever changing seasons. So many people say that the country side is boring. Thats because they dont see the crazy busy activity happening in every inch of the 'wild' land.

And when you're in working organic small holding, man oh man, is there a lot to do and its never dull. Its keeping up with everything that makes it challenging. Bjorn's got a thing for problem solving and innovating, so for him, its constantly interesting and constantly invigorating. For me, its the poetry I find in the woods, in nature. The voice in my heart can be heard more closely whenever I am out here. Watching the clouds slowly pass over, learning the names of all the wild flowers... it just seems like the right way to live life.

Falling in love with a passion is amazing when you fall deeper and deeper in love everyday.

Passion. So elusive to me all my life. What is my passion? Some people have music, others have comics, sports etc. Its when something occupies your thoughts constantly, something you always find new meaning in, something that reflects your own voice and your own self. I dont know if you can call enjoying the countryside a passion, or perhaps, writing about it one. Even if its not, I think its close.

On our day off, we are going to this special forest where apparently it inspired JR Tolkien to write Lord of the Rings. Thats mad. I already find the normal woods we walked in Devon/Cotswolds incredibly beautiful and magical during wintertime already. I can only imagine how this beautiful these woods would be.

So funny, I've seen the woods all my life, on television. And they never looked like anything amazing to me. But to be in one... To hear the birds twittering from all directions, hearing the dried leaves crunch beneath your feet, seeing the light sparkle down through the canopy... sweetness. Even right now, as you read these words, they are only words, and they still cannot fully relate to another person what its like. I now understand why they have the term 'magical woods'. It sorta feels a bit like magic really.

Will write more about the lovely crooked end farm we're staying at now in the following entries.

All I can say is that its so far been hard but rewarding work. Learning alot, eating really well, and sleeping super well.

Now to nurse my nettle sting... Stay tuned.