Monday, Sheep first of course - we were a bit concerned as there appeared to be 14 Ewes, not 13 from the previous day??! Apparently Lucy (sister) had put one of our oldest pet lambs in the with triplets, as she wasn't getting enough food with the main flock. She has a 'red' spot, meaning a 'single' lamb....Back to site - over the weekend, we had secured some telegraph poles to make raised beds. (Thanks to John, Mike & Luke, for their help - very heavy things telegraph poles!) Will & Ben spent a very blustery morning, 'cleaning' the poles up; removing barbed wire, and some huge bolts - we've left the large yellow signs saying 'danger of death' - it adds a little something i feel....! David, Hilary & I were blown over to dad's fruit cage, where we took some cuttings from his Redcurrant bushes - thanks Dad. We stopped on the way back, and dug up some of my hundreds of 'Buddleia' seedlings, which we have planted in a row outside the poly tunnel (I've no doubt we will have to prune them vigorously to stop them taking over, but the butterflies will love them!) We have decided our fruit garden is going to be outside the poly tunnel at the far end. We already have a long row of blackcurrants, wineberries, & gooseberries, overwintering there, and now have Rhubarb and redcurrants. I expect we will have to 'net' them before they get too big though!
Wednesday & Thursday i was on a course at the Rural Skills Centre at the Agricultural College - CEVAS (Countryside Educational Visits Accreditation Scheme) what a mouthful! It was exhausting, and we now have to put together a portfolio of information to be sent off and independently marked; along with the 10 minute presentation we had to do on the second day of training - my least favourite bit. It was useful and interesting to meet other farmers all trying to provide facilities for education. I left the students in the capable hands of my friend Sue, and together with Gerry & Ben, they had a busy morning putting together the telegraph pole 'raised bed', and then filling it with gorgeous muck & top soil! It's now 'settling in' for a week before filling it up a bit more. Thursday, Bob & Mike were in charge. The guys spent the first part of the day dissecting the owl pellet that Bob had been soaking for a week! They then went and checked on their bird boxes - to make sure they had weathered the awful winds from the weekend....which they have. As it was such a filthy day, they squelched off home after lunch - needless to say, it had cleared up by the time i got home at 3pm!
Friday, 11 February 2011
Saturday, 5 February 2011
Week 3
Monday: Ben and William had lots of tidying and mending jobs today! I discovered 2 'escapees' in the field over the weekend - and found a large hole in the fence - so that was there first job! Then they made a nesting box to go in the hen house, and a tie back for theduck's door. David & Hilary planted some rhubarb, that had kindly been donated, and checked & watered all the seeds.
Lunch time 5 students from Coln House School arrived - it was lovely to see them all, and great to have William and David interacting with them. We spent a happy hour raking leaves, and cleaning out a really disgusting water trough in the sheep's field that was frozen & covered in black rotting vegetation! Shannon kindly got my horse in from the field for me, with Helena. And - guess what - we had another burst pipe! (discovered by William)
Wednesday, after the daily task of feeding and checking the Ewe lambs that are expecting triplets, the guys all went off with Lucy to check the main flock and make sure they had enough water. I collared Steve to help rake leaves again with Danny, which helps keeping Danny's attention - as it seems to be completely obsessed with Lucy (sister) otherwise! We managed about 15 minutes, Steve working tirelessly, Danny talking non-stop and raking occasionally! The others ..
Pm Simon made a frame for the glass cloche with Roger, to put the mushroom compost in. Tom, Steve & Simon took turns to 'clean off the breeze blocks they had found up the track. Hard work, and quite a challenge - risk assessment done, we provided masks & goggles (and plasters!) And, we now have a HERB WALL, constructed by Tom & Steve to hide the drains beside the toilet block portacabin! We just need some herbs now - A Rosemary hedge on top, and assorted Thymes to plant further down (see photos) Tom, Steve and i searched the farm for plastic drainpipes & gutters to start preparing the bowsers to collect rain. It was a beautiful, cold day. And, yes, another burst pipe was discovered as we turned the water on in the morning - so NO WATER ALL DAY! Quite trying, as it was unbelievably muddy on site, and we had to all traipse down to the house to use the 'facilities' there!
Thursday, Bob arrived with arms full of information about Owls - he gave a wonderful talk on owl's eating/feeding habits, and showed us an owl 'pellet' (much talk about what it was!) - before being soaked, and after - lots of tiny bones/sculls of all its prey - it was really interesting. They then set off with their bird boxes and ladders to 'site' them on 3 different trees up the track. They guys will then keep a note of who/what has been using the nesting boxes over the year. (they are primarily used by Great Tits apparently)
Tom & Simon helped put the White Board up in the Portacabin finally - thank you! Tom had spotted some plastic guttering the day before in Ann's garden, and having checked it was up for grabs, we collected all the equipment on our list, for making the rain water collector!
Finally, i have come up with some telegraph poles - i've been on the hunt for some to make our raised beds with, and have been in conversation with all sorts of people! We have been given 2 / 3 and are picking them up today (Saturday) so that we can get started on them next week! Hopefully we can pick up at least 6 more the following weekend, from another source.
Lunch time 5 students from Coln House School arrived - it was lovely to see them all, and great to have William and David interacting with them. We spent a happy hour raking leaves, and cleaning out a really disgusting water trough in the sheep's field that was frozen & covered in black rotting vegetation! Shannon kindly got my horse in from the field for me, with Helena. And - guess what - we had another burst pipe! (discovered by William)
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| Hard at work! |
Wednesday, after the daily task of feeding and checking the Ewe lambs that are expecting triplets, the guys all went off with Lucy to check the main flock and make sure they had enough water. I collared Steve to help rake leaves again with Danny, which helps keeping Danny's attention - as it seems to be completely obsessed with Lucy (sister) otherwise! We managed about 15 minutes, Steve working tirelessly, Danny talking non-stop and raking occasionally! The others ..
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| Our Herb Wall under construction.. |
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| the contents of the owl pellet! |
Thursday, Bob arrived with arms full of information about Owls - he gave a wonderful talk on owl's eating/feeding habits, and showed us an owl 'pellet' (much talk about what it was!) - before being soaked, and after - lots of tiny bones/sculls of all its prey - it was really interesting. They then set off with their bird boxes and ladders to 'site' them on 3 different trees up the track. They guys will then keep a note of who/what has been using the nesting boxes over the year. (they are primarily used by Great Tits apparently)
Tom & Simon helped put the White Board up in the Portacabin finally - thank you! Tom had spotted some plastic guttering the day before in Ann's garden, and having checked it was up for grabs, we collected all the equipment on our list, for making the rain water collector!
Finally, i have come up with some telegraph poles - i've been on the hunt for some to make our raised beds with, and have been in conversation with all sorts of people! We have been given 2 / 3 and are picking them up today (Saturday) so that we can get started on them next week! Hopefully we can pick up at least 6 more the following weekend, from another source.
Friday, 28 January 2011
Week 2
This week has flown by - Ben & William made more raised beds for the poly tunnel out of old feeding troughs on Monday. David & Hilary planted seeds - corn salad, carrots and acorns - then planted some chitting potatoes - that i found at home! We also have a lovely door handle on the poly tunnel curtesy of Ben & William.
Wednesday and Thursday the weather was lovely - cold and bright. We mucked out the hens & ducks with Danny, and then set off to collect top soil from all the mole hills in the field! This has been put into the ex-feed troughs in the poly tunnel along with some lovely rotted manure from our horses. Danny helped rake leaves for a few minutes, but again his attention wandered very quickly - and he was really only interested in finding Lucy (sister) to go and check on 'his' turkeys! We checked the portland sheep again in the afternoon - and cleaned out their water troughs.
Thursday, Bob brought his bird nesting box over, with some offcuts of wood, that Travis Perkins had kindly donated, so that the students can make their own boxes. The morning was interrupted as the sheep were being 'scanned' before lambing, and i thought the students would like to watch - unfortunately we got there rather too late, but the 'scanning man' very kindly showed the students how his machine worked, and how it calculated how many sets of triplets, twins or singles each ewe sheep was going to have. We have 4 sheep that are not in lamb. Back to bird boxes then, and our three students have made one each, and painted them. Next week, they hope to 'sight' them on the farm, and then keep a diary of 'who goes where'. According to Bob, they will mainly attract Great Tits!
Steve did a great job helping me finish raking and clearing leaves in the garden - and putting them onto our compost.
I had a call last week from someone wanting to practise their dry stone walling - great news! So, Rob turned up today and spent the morning working on our wall - in the bitter cold - brave man!
Wednesday and Thursday the weather was lovely - cold and bright. We mucked out the hens & ducks with Danny, and then set off to collect top soil from all the mole hills in the field! This has been put into the ex-feed troughs in the poly tunnel along with some lovely rotted manure from our horses. Danny helped rake leaves for a few minutes, but again his attention wandered very quickly - and he was really only interested in finding Lucy (sister) to go and check on 'his' turkeys! We checked the portland sheep again in the afternoon - and cleaned out their water troughs.
Thursday, Bob brought his bird nesting box over, with some offcuts of wood, that Travis Perkins had kindly donated, so that the students can make their own boxes. The morning was interrupted as the sheep were being 'scanned' before lambing, and i thought the students would like to watch - unfortunately we got there rather too late, but the 'scanning man' very kindly showed the students how his machine worked, and how it calculated how many sets of triplets, twins or singles each ewe sheep was going to have. We have 4 sheep that are not in lamb. Back to bird boxes then, and our three students have made one each, and painted them. Next week, they hope to 'sight' them on the farm, and then keep a diary of 'who goes where'. According to Bob, they will mainly attract Great Tits!
Steve did a great job helping me finish raking and clearing leaves in the garden - and putting them onto our compost.
I had a call last week from someone wanting to practise their dry stone walling - great news! So, Rob turned up today and spent the morning working on our wall - in the bitter cold - brave man!
Friday, 21 January 2011
First week back!
Monday was pretty dreary weatherwise - but it was lovely to have William and David back with us. We had a new volunteer, Hilary, who worked with David and I, making (or trying to make!) a hazel and ash tripod thing, whilst William spent the morning with Ben making a tool rack. We had some new arrivals Monday night - 6 Rhode Island Red chickens - Jake & Daisy were not best pleased next morning! We had a lovely feedback form from William, saying the 'best bit about the project' was looking after his friend David - and the 'bad bit' was cleaning his boots!!
Wednesday and Thursday, the weather was beautiful - cold and bright. Danny has decided to do just Wed mornings, and was hugely over excited to be back - and of course the first thing he asked was -"where are my turkeys?" - Actually they are still here on the farm, and so we may yet get 'turkey eggs'! The students have been collecting 'breeze blocks' for the raised beds, and made a lovely bird table yesterday. We are checking the portland sheep each day, as they are not far off lambing. Great excitement, the Rhode Islands' laid their first egg - sadly it looks as if we will have at least 3 cockerels (we are undecided about one!) and so may have to take 2 back to the market to trade for some more hens.
We still have no electricity - and terrified of any more burst pipe incidents - i have resorted to turning off the water supply every time there's a hint of freezing temperatures, just in case....
It's great having the students back - we could do with some more - these funding cuts really are proving trying, but we are working on it. They are full of enthusiasm and constantly thinking of fund raising ideas - so watch out! We have four new volunteers too - Gemma wrote a great article in the local paper before Christmas, and we said we needed more help! Last but not least i would like to thank Legs for her cheeky green gingham checked curtains - they have transformed the Porta Cabin - much more cheerful!
Wednesday and Thursday, the weather was beautiful - cold and bright. Danny has decided to do just Wed mornings, and was hugely over excited to be back - and of course the first thing he asked was -"where are my turkeys?" - Actually they are still here on the farm, and so we may yet get 'turkey eggs'! The students have been collecting 'breeze blocks' for the raised beds, and made a lovely bird table yesterday. We are checking the portland sheep each day, as they are not far off lambing. Great excitement, the Rhode Islands' laid their first egg - sadly it looks as if we will have at least 3 cockerels (we are undecided about one!) and so may have to take 2 back to the market to trade for some more hens.
We still have no electricity - and terrified of any more burst pipe incidents - i have resorted to turning off the water supply every time there's a hint of freezing temperatures, just in case....
It's great having the students back - we could do with some more - these funding cuts really are proving trying, but we are working on it. They are full of enthusiasm and constantly thinking of fund raising ideas - so watch out! We have four new volunteers too - Gemma wrote a great article in the local paper before Christmas, and we said we needed more help! Last but not least i would like to thank Legs for her cheeky green gingham checked curtains - they have transformed the Porta Cabin - much more cheerful!
Friday, 14 January 2011
2011 Project!
We have all the students that took part in the pilot project returning - and hope to have some new students joining us soon.
Having had a great article in the local paper just before Christmas, we have some new volunteers joining us next week - so watch this space....
Friday, 10 December 2010
Final week of the Pilot
Sadly we had to cancel David and William on Monday again, due to a) the freezing weather conditions and b) the burst pipes we had in the portacabins over the previous weekend! Unfortunately we had forgotten to lag the pipe work, not thinking that we'd have such a cold spell before Christmas....
On Wednesday, great excitement, we arranged to meet our three students and their carers at Winstone, as our local Hunt were meeting there 'on foot'! (It was much too treacherous for horses!) We introduced them all to our masters, and Simon the huntsman, and they sampled Mrs Barnes' legendry fruit cake, and delicious hot sausages prepared by Sue G! We set off across very snowy fields at Simon's almost trotting pace - quite difficult to keep up cross country - but we were never far behind. We had a spectacular view across from the Caudle Green road to part of Miserden Wood across the valley - it was a great sight to see the hounds working and the odd dash of colour from Simon, and to hear him on the horn... I think we walked about 8 miles at least - we ended up the far side of Miserden Park, leaving hounds running towards 'Whiteways' (Gloucester way!!) and then walked all the way back to Winstone. Luckily, Sue was at home, and gave us all large cups of tea & coffee to recover - thank you Sue! I'm sure we all slept well that night!
Thursday was our last day - so we invited all the students to lunch in the house. Tom, Steve & Simon arrived on time at 10am, and spent the morning working furiously to get the poly tunnel cleaned out and cleared up, and they made a compost frame with Bob. Danny, our other regular Thursday student, arrived early - and could hardly contain his excitement - he kept saying he had a surprise for us - and i just knew he was about to tell us all immediately - we managed to keep his busy cleaning out the ducks for a short time - his attention span was shot to bits with the excitement of it all...! David arrived at 11am, and i kept him busy in the house, peeling apples for the crumble, as it was much too icy up on site for him - He was a great help, along with Steve, Danny's carer, they helped preparing veg, and making paper chains to decorate the kitchen! I think we ended up with 17 of us, squashed in round the table - all my helpers were invited, and the 7 students with their carers. It was a great lunch, and i was particularly touched when Simon stood up and gave a speech at the end of the meal (he said he was shaking with nerves!) to say how much they had all enjoyed taking part in the pilot, and were really looking forward to coming back in January. Ps mustn't forget to mention Danny's surprise - yes, he dressed up as Santa!! - complete with his green wellies on the bottom - i had to play 'Jingle Bells' at his entrance - very special!
For my part, it has been an exhausting, but exhilerating experience, and the highs definately outweigh the lows - there is no better feeling, than when you hear how much these students have got out working alongside us for the last few weeks. Roll on 2011, and let's hope we get the funding to move the project onwards and upwards!
Happy Christmas to everyone, and see you in the New Year!
On Wednesday, great excitement, we arranged to meet our three students and their carers at Winstone, as our local Hunt were meeting there 'on foot'! (It was much too treacherous for horses!) We introduced them all to our masters, and Simon the huntsman, and they sampled Mrs Barnes' legendry fruit cake, and delicious hot sausages prepared by Sue G! We set off across very snowy fields at Simon's almost trotting pace - quite difficult to keep up cross country - but we were never far behind. We had a spectacular view across from the Caudle Green road to part of Miserden Wood across the valley - it was a great sight to see the hounds working and the odd dash of colour from Simon, and to hear him on the horn... I think we walked about 8 miles at least - we ended up the far side of Miserden Park, leaving hounds running towards 'Whiteways' (Gloucester way!!) and then walked all the way back to Winstone. Luckily, Sue was at home, and gave us all large cups of tea & coffee to recover - thank you Sue! I'm sure we all slept well that night!
Thursday was our last day - so we invited all the students to lunch in the house. Tom, Steve & Simon arrived on time at 10am, and spent the morning working furiously to get the poly tunnel cleaned out and cleared up, and they made a compost frame with Bob. Danny, our other regular Thursday student, arrived early - and could hardly contain his excitement - he kept saying he had a surprise for us - and i just knew he was about to tell us all immediately - we managed to keep his busy cleaning out the ducks for a short time - his attention span was shot to bits with the excitement of it all...! David arrived at 11am, and i kept him busy in the house, peeling apples for the crumble, as it was much too icy up on site for him - He was a great help, along with Steve, Danny's carer, they helped preparing veg, and making paper chains to decorate the kitchen! I think we ended up with 17 of us, squashed in round the table - all my helpers were invited, and the 7 students with their carers. It was a great lunch, and i was particularly touched when Simon stood up and gave a speech at the end of the meal (he said he was shaking with nerves!) to say how much they had all enjoyed taking part in the pilot, and were really looking forward to coming back in January. Ps mustn't forget to mention Danny's surprise - yes, he dressed up as Santa!! - complete with his green wellies on the bottom - i had to play 'Jingle Bells' at his entrance - very special!For my part, it has been an exhausting, but exhilerating experience, and the highs definately outweigh the lows - there is no better feeling, than when you hear how much these students have got out working alongside us for the last few weeks. Roll on 2011, and let's hope we get the funding to move the project onwards and upwards!
Happy Christmas to everyone, and see you in the New Year!
Wednesday, 8 December 2010
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