blossoming…
25 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment
in animals
Some more piccies of the farm in blossom!
Ayla finally cut tooth number 3 last week, the wind turbine is up and running (pics to follow) and I went for a ride on Molly mule! Andrew & Julie have been making funky shaped bottle beds. We’ve spent most of the week outdoors as the weather has been spectacular.
sharon x
Spring has sprung!
09 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment
in animals, fruit, veg & veggie coop, sustainability
Birds are building nests, there’s a few bees around, the daffs are out and yesterday was sunny and lovely, today is chilly again though…lets hope it passes fast!
Happenings of the last little while:
- The broad beans are pushing through the soil in our outdoor beds.
- The first early potatoes are in the ground (some in the polytunnel and some outdoors)
- The wind turbine has arrived! The lorry that brought it couldn’t fit down the lane, so the energy company who are putting it up had to bring other vehicles to get it onto the farm
- The propogators & greenhouse have gone crazy…most things are coming through now. We’ve been sowing things in the polytunnels too!
- We have HUGE to do lists for our veggie coop.
- Ayla has been crawling for a while and is now pulling herself up on things & enjoying trying out walking (just holding our hands still!) She’s 8 and a half months now. Still only 2 teeth!!
- Erin is enjoying Zelda School, which is a Steiner inspired school run in a yurt in Gweek. Erin and Ayla have also gone to a lovely playgroup at nearby Trannack School.
- Julie is getting her energy back after her 5 weeks in bed with pneumonia. It’s so good to have her back!
- Tara (the Golden Guernsey) has been scanned and only has one baby, which wriggles a lot now! he’s due on the 25th of April.
- Steven has been doing cutting loads of wood, and we have enough kindling to last us a looooong time! Jane has done loads too.
- The miniature southdown sheep have been sold!
All except old Daisy who needs TLC and is quite a pet. Erin loves that she follows her around! - Andrew fitted a compost loo in the mobile home for Spike & Andy. It’s not a longdrop but a rather funky one that looks pretty similar to a normal loo. Basically, your wee goes in the front bit & poo in the back(2 separate compartments). We did have an incident where Erin used it for a number 2 without the child seat…meaning her bottom was too far forward….need I say more?!
- Polly came to visit. She used to live and wwoof on the farm and it was lovely to see her & catch up. She did lots of jobs while she was here, including helping Julie train the horse & mules and sowing lots of seeds.
- Spike, Andy, Julie & Andrew planted about 50 trees today! We were meant to help but I had to go to the dentist and Steven took the girls out but it was a bit cold for them!
- Andrew has been building the shop that is going to have Julie’s alpaca shop stock in it (and possibly my Nature’s Mother stuff too).
- Here are our feb and march to do lists for the veggie coop side of things, if anyone is interested what is going in where and when. feb-to-do-list march-to-do-list
- Julie has been training Molly the mule, and Erin has been on a little saddle on her back!!
- Steven made a wonderful table in the greenhouse to create more space
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Bubble wrap, hens & diggers…
02 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment
in animals, fruit, veg & veggie coop, plans, dreams, goals, sustainability
Saturday, Sunday & Monday nights were really cold and frosty, so we wrapped our beloved seedlings that are in the greenhouse in bubble wrap. We have a variety of veg and herbs coming up in the propogators, but nothing in the greenhouse yet. Today is feeling much more springy (if a little wet) so that should help!
The white silky had a gunky eye and wasn’t eating much so was brought in for some TLC. She lived in her cage on the kitchen table for a few days, but is now well and happy to be back with her mates.
Erin and her little friend Pompom. Pompom lets Erin pick her up, but we’re not sure if it’s just because she can’t see her coming with her magnificent hairdo.
The digger has arrived to dig the hole for the wind turbine, which we should have in a few weeks!! MAJOR excitement! Soon we will have all our own electricity!! We already have our own water and we get our heating and hot water from the Rayburn which we light daily. We have solar panels to heat our water too, although they need fixing. Erin was a little wary of the digger.
Back to school…
30 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in animals, plans, dreams, goals
Most of January has been a bit of a blur for me as I had flu over Xmas and New Year which developed into pneumonia and then into more complications. I took to my bed on the 2nd January and am only just starting to get up and around. However, being bedridden has its compensations. Once I started to recover I was able to start my online course in Animal Behaviour with Edinburgh vet school. I also watched my Alexander Kurland clicker training horse DVDs and as soon as I got up, went out to practice with my three mules and Rose, my riding mare. I am teaching them their ‘foundation lessons’. I was so enthused by this I started on the llamas next. Sadly only two will take treats at the moment – but two are looking very interested so perhaps they will catch up. So far it has been very effective and the animals have enjoyed it too. -Julie
- Dora Mule
Herbs for health
28 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in Herbs & medicine, plans, dreams, goals, sustainability
Last night Jane I experimented with making some creams to trial. We made a soothing cream from beeswax, chamomile, marigold & comfrey – this will be to treat nappy rash, bruises, eczema, scrapes, rashes, cuts, sores, stings, bites..just about anything on the skin. We also made a deep heat/tiger balm/vicks type cream that can be used on aching muscles or as a decongestant. Exciting stuff! Herbs are amazing! Did I mention that the thyme & chamomile have come up in the propogators? Hooray!!! ~sharon x
Hello world from my little space on the field at Carthvean!
26 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
After all the snow and frost we seem to be having a spell of mild weather which means I have running water and a muddy path which is great! The mornings are beautiful.
Sharon tells me a tray of each of all the seeds for the herb project are now in at Carthvean and we have had lots of interest from people in the Transition movement. So many more should be planted in the coming weeks ready to harvest later in the year.
In hope and optimism
Jane xxx
Sharon and I start our first batch of Comfrey ointment this week.
The sowing season has begun!
25 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in community living, fruit, veg & veggie coop, Herbs & medicine, plans, dreams, goals, sustainability Tags: herb community project, polytunnels, vegetable beds, veggie planning chart
After the cold winter comes new beginnings…the sowing of seeds, the snowdrops & crocuses coming to life here & there…love it!!!
One of my favourite times of year…planning and preparing veggie beds, when and where to plant things, tagging beds and planning what needs to be done each month so we can stay on top of things.
For those interested in the veggie’s we are planting and the planning chart..check this out planning_chart_2011
Where we plant things are decided by crop rotation and space…here are our bed plans if anyone is interested. They include whether the beds need compost or manure.
outside_by_fruitcage_layout2011 (2)
This is our to-do list for January: january-to-do-list So far we have sown all the seeds except the spinach. It is especially exciting to have our broad beans in. Most of the beds have received a fat layer of either compost or poo (fresh alpaca or rotted horse poo) in preparation for sowing and planting. Our onions are poking are coming up in the propogator already and it is great to see some fresh, green new life. Veggie coop have been busy – thank you all!!!
Jane is leading a growing herbs for health project this year. In the past week we have sown the following in propogators and greenhouse: chamomile, lavender, thyme, catnep, pot marigold, parsley, borage, liquorice, valerian, meadowsweet, st johns wort. We’ll speak more about our herb growing project in another blog.
Enjoy the pictures – hover above them for explanations.
sharon x
