Spinning

I got some horrible funny tummy (brought in from the outside world of course!) this evening but just managed to  overcome mantum to witness Marie teaching Eva to spin. Marie was given sack fulls of wool from her last work when she left - it's beautiful Cotswold wool, smells great, feels fine (full of lanolin), and very long strands (hence those rich chocolate box villages and grand medieval churches). 

Marie's a brilliant teacher of crafts (natural, fun and very patient!) - really hope she'll have more time and energy to do it for herself and even as an income source. 

Anyway, here's today's photos..

Don't know what happened to this one! Like it anyway..

Carding's incredibly relaxing (pulling the wool fibres through metal spikes - equivalents of even more traditional teasles - to disentangle and clean them); and then resting the pre-spun result on your face feels great and even maybe soothes the tum - despite what my mug might look like. This good life malarkey isn't just about trying to be 'good' (ie evolving asap into some semblance of sustainability in all senses) ; it's also simply life very pleasant :)

Goats, Feast, Barn Dance, Fire - almost a spell

First proper weekend at Trelay, a weekend surely not typical of the place, yet I'm thinking typical of many elements - future plans, work right now, food, larks, and lots of good people.

Cold crisp morning - definitely autumn now. Off to another smallholding, across the border in Holsworthy.. Penborn is home to a fantastic herb garden, a friendly and knowledgeable chap called Peter & his wife, and his truly beloved herd of pygmy and Golden Guernsey goats. As budding goatees we'd come to learn and be inspired, and that's what we got. Heartily recommended. 

Nice shed.. Hope to be able to share photos of ours soon enough -
probably a wee bit smaller :)

 

Smitten..

Call me a softy, but, really, how could you not be?

These girls are even quite well behaved

I give you food, you come home with me

Maybe you can get a bit obsessed. These are just a few of Peter's first prizes..
Had no idea about the importance of blood lines, especially in goats. Still not
entirely convinced, and not sure we need pedigrees for a tiny start up for soap
and cheese! Takes all sorts though; and Good To Learn From Master.

After a day of listening, asking, scribbling, and yea, even milking, back to Trelay to help set up a feast.. We have a communal kitchen in our 17C farmhouse, which is cosy and characterful, but a bit in need of a makeover. We have Ash and James, two splendid brother chefs, who have started a series of fundraising meals to raise some cash to get new surfaces and floor! And we have Kathy, our wonderful events 'convenor'. And we have a communal games room - which multifunctions as home of table tennis and pool tables, random musical insturments, occasional meeting room, strange papier mache tiger, and all sorts of other oddities; and occasional pop-up fundraiser restaurant / barndance 'barn'... And it seems that Trelay has lots of friends and supporters who like to come and visit or stay for long weekends! All this together makes for a lovely event..

We got back too late to be of much use, the cooks and others having slaved for many hours already; but it was good to be able to at least feed them drinks. And to go for an extraordinary early halloween walk (with a focus on treats rather than tricks!) into our woods, the walk lit by about 50 candle lanterns hanging from trees as well as a fantastic full moon. Somehow forgot to grab the camera, but some things are too special for that..

And then what an evening. I was too busy being the world's least glamorous waitress (alongside the world's most glam Marie, Kathy and Catherine), and then too busy 'dancing' to Roger's genius calling, and then just too busy hanging out by the fire into the wee hours so couldn't take many photos, but here's a flavour:

Very superior pumpkin soup

Exquisite duck and multi-way celeriac and ting

Somehow managed to dance it all off pretty energetically..

Jackie and Roger showing how it should be done!

And some freestyle..

Good beast of a fire, expertly tended by John and Isey

Chef last one standing

Life and Death and Life

Back from my sister's wedding in Bristol today - beautiful bride and occasion. And groom too I guess! Lovely though to come back to our incredible home though. 

We got back just in time to say goodbye to our not so little three little piggies, off to slaughter. Good for all of us - adults and children alike - to be made to reflect visibly and gratefully on the reality of meat prodution; whilst also being clear that the animals were really well looked after, and that their meat will be consciously used and appreciated again soon..

A last stroke of the Gloucester Old Spot piglets

Marie and Charlotte looking a little sad

(Can you see the sea in the background?)

Christine, Roger, Ollie and Ash leading them to the trailer

Mud On The Trailer - from Charlotte

Three little piggies off. And a seal found dead on the beach earlier in the day. Won't get too philosophical now - no doubt room for all that another time, and I'll certainly be posting about the reincarnation of those wonderful pigs soon.

And here's a more positive final image of life and new life on a bank on the farmyard, in October, today..

  

Beating the bounds & Crackington Haven

Beat the bounds of Our Estate this morning! Marie's mind whirring about where best to put the goats (delicious hedgerows but not the boggy bits - it's been torrential here recently, so we've got a good idea!), and what to do with the grass that's become too long to be good for the sheep, etc. I know the community's happy that someone with more farming experience has come, but also don't want her to feel too much pressure to take on too much, especially as she's going to be working full time for now. It's bigger and better than I remember, and what wonderful potential to build on the massive amount that others have already done - more food production, more sustainable businesses, more delightful and essential careful harnessing of this little bit of the earth.

And our first trip to and above the local beach of Crackington Haven as residents! It's an amazing place, and these photos are on a dull day at low tide with no fat sandy beach, and no surfers..

Love this first photo of happy us on the SW coastpath

Today was a community work day - although we excused ourselves from this to unpack (and do other nice bits as above..) I did have a chance to see what others were up to! Here's Kathy having planted her splendid herb garden (both culinary and medicinal) outside the communal farmhouse.










Oh, and we picked some particularly juicy sloes from the hedges of both Trelay and the coast path to add to our winter gin first berried in Gloucestershire.. At the top above some proudly goodlifed bread. Wonder how long that and the tidiness will last :)

Arrival!

We're here! Long day driving vans about, exhausted. Having meowed mournfully much of the way, done five large poos just as we approached Bude, and now facing a week of confinement, poor fella, Captain Cat is finally purring! No noise from upstairs (there is none!); no noise from anywhere. And outside, the most wonderful stars. Amazing how quickly you forget how stunning they are; and all you need for this marvel is lack of clouds and lack of town. Oh...and the sea - so blue and huge suddenly as it appears at the crest of the hill coming onto the 'Atlantic Highway'.

Great to have people here to help us unload and shove things through the door; and then to be cooked for, and have easy chats, and then easy early goodnights. Of course there will be issues with people - personalities, roles, costs and so on - but so there is in life anywhere; and here's a little hamlet microcosm, a real life period drama right now, where we will be challenged and challenging and will work things out, learning, growing, harvesting. I know I'm tired and wine kissed, but I think it's truly fair to feel really optimistic.

Intro - Before We Move

Less than 2 weeks until we move to Cornwall! All those happy hols ended by grumpy trips back up the M5 are now finally evolving into us actually living down there, by the sea, by the cliffs, and on the land...

We've handed in notice to our jobs and tiny flat; we've been accepted by the community as first-stage associate members, and are getting minutes of board/management meetings; we've been told we can have the wooden cabin we love; Marie's got a job fairly near by and I'm in the middle of applying for one; we've got a great mentor there; I've been given loads of demijohns through freecycle for winemaking; I've contacted the local gig boat club; we've hired a van for the move... It's happening!

I'd been anxious about telling managers and colleagues at work - some sense of guilt at jumping ship at a time of both developments and closure next year of the homeless hostel I manage; and also not wanting to sound too smug and gloating at my life change! What's been brilliant though is everyone's enthusiastic support - that you've got to follow your dreams, have the balls to go for things so you don't end up with regret on your deathbed, etc. And it's been fantastic learning new sides to people - one colleague has a 10 acre farm back in Somalia that he really misses; another Greek colleague grew up with pet goats who were best friends, even after they broke into her bedroom and ate her duvet; and my dear regional boss also kind of likes getting maggots out of flystruck sheep! I know I've worked hard in the sector and given a lot of myself (and hope to continue to in some way) and that it's the right time for us to make this move, but it's still lovely to feel a sense of blessing from everyone!

Communicating this leap to my parents also made me a bit apprehensive. I'm 34 and obviously old and wrinkled enough to do my own things; but still, it was important to me that they understood and were positive about it. We've already lived fairly unconventionally - since leaving university 12 years ago, I've lived in China for several years, Canada for a bit, and as a residential volunteer in a Scottish community for young homeless people (also on a smallholding) where I met Marie. We then lived as 'wwoofers' at some really inspiring smallholdings in Wales and England, on several organic farms that Marie's worked at, in a cabin in a wood, on a lovely but sometimes truly frozen narrowboat, and all sorts of stepping-stone rented places in between.. Having sold the boat, and with the privilege of some more inheritance money, my loving parents were finally thinking we might settle down and get on the property ladder (my mum's an estate agent who's given endless sound advice!) Yet we're moving to a community of lots of different characters, where (after a trial period) we'll hopefully invest and share in a mortgage as company directors, giving up jobs during a recession and moving to a pretty isolated spot where they're unlikely to be abundant as the wildlife. Yet all of our parents have been really positive once they've got their heads round it! 

It's not just the beautiful location and the big waves down the hill. It's the opportunity for Marie to use all her experience, insight and loving care to have some of her own animals (we hope to buy goats and make cheese and soap), and help look after the shared pigs, sheep and hens - as her own boss, or co-op comrade! And for me to spend more time on the land, milking, hedgelaying, building things, growing veg, etc - all the things that I've loved having tastes of, but never had sufficient time, stability, or energy really to get into. I really like how Trelay Farm is now, but am also very excited about the potential of the place to become more productive and approaching something like reasonable self-sufficiency in food, energy, water, and income sources; as well as being a place of holiday, retreat, therapy, learning, inspiration for others. The community has made great strides in its 5 years so far renovating and expanding the hamlet, get polytunnel, veg plots and businesses going, evolving legal and work structures etc; and now there's further vision, energy and detailed plans to grow these considerable shoots :) It's not only a viable way for us to be closer to the earth without being millionaire peasants; we're also really drawn to living more healthily, resiliently and mindfully (defined by the community as economic and social, as well as environmental, sustainability) - for the benefit of individuals there, but also as one of many tiny models for a better future. Lots of things we've been trying to do and yabbering about for years, all happily coming together. And by the big blue/black sea.. 

High minded and happy stuff..but there will be challenges of personality clashes, money, long dark winters and much much more. Having spent two really informative interest weekends down there though, I'm really confident they will be challenges well worth struggling through, and it will be more than worth it for me/us/the wider us..

Well, that's more than enough. Got a wee bit carried away.. If anyone's made it this far, thank you; I hope that was a vaguely coherent introduction; and I hereby solemnly promise never to write as much in a post again! I'll be wanting to be out and about apart from any considerations about you.. To follow will be random little snippets and photos of what I get up to at Trelay which I really hope will be of interest to family, friends, as well as anyone considering coming to stay or live there..