Felix in the woods

Check him out! Felix the Landy, bargain of the century, the communally funded, communally driven, one-eyed monster raving Landy!

After yet another amazing repair job from Mr Jalex Nightingale, Felix has matured from excitable stalling stallion to powerful calm workhorse, most happy to be of service. Not only can he transport chicken houses and yurt crowns, but now also timber. Timber extraction extraordinaire from our steep woods down yonder. His greenhouse emissions may be slightly higher than a traditional logging horse, or even logging elephant (I haven't worked it out), and he provides no manure; but he doesn't go far and is a joy to ride.

So pleasing to have a rare burst of energy and help harness him. Pleased to report my maiden drive down the sleep slope into Trelay woods didn't tip him over the edge; that Danny maintained her head in the back through the branches; and that Olly powered him back up again with more fallen fuel, already seasoned, for next season's fires. And another splendid time with dem dappled bluebells.. Click on a pic to scroll through big view.

Spring is springin on the farm! Woop woop!!

After about 15 months of rain and wind and hail and rain in the 4 months we've now lived here - oh and daily mist on the windiest way to work imaginable outside of the Pyrenees - I now understand deep pagan reverence of the changing seasons. That first splash of sun on that first clump of snowdrops... sorry if I sound like an overexcited punter on Gardeners' Question Time (I still can't stand it), or an overzealous Imbolc celebrant (might be closer to that)... but Aaach, how Fine!

The last week or so has been brilliant. Valentine's Day was truly lovely - picnic in a dune surrounded by blues of sky and sea and estuary; ambles and scrambles in secret coves; crab from the local bay. But it's also been lovely to spend 'normal' weekends at our amazing  shared place, just doing stuff with our friends and neighbours, invigorated, together, positive, happy, cheesy..

Last weekend everyone seemed to wake to the rising sun and sap and whatnot, and start digging the veg patch - and start not-digging mulching (some of wet last summer's hay coming to great use finally) - with a peaceable vengeance. Forgot about the camera that time. So here's a sample of some of the goings on at Trelay this weekend...

 

In the Cornish Hedge by our cabin

Below our reed beds..



... a good sign that the reeds are doing their job
filtering out (eco) detergent from the laundry room's outlet..
Should get a few frogs out of this lot!

Fixing fencing for the return of Mumma Pigs post weaning

We're in Cornwall, so must be Pirate FM.
And we knows what's in our meat ere..

Roger preparing digging out cable for the hens'
new place - bigger space, grass instead of
quagmire, and next year's veg patch;
but requiring electric fencing  for now.
Their old spot near the 'village'
will become a garden

Ollie building his treehouse / army HQ.
Useful for supervising some of us
making the new hen enclosure below.
Also to spot any enemy / pirates

Perfect weather for Cadno and his buddy bach, Gareth, to dry out our
winter soggied yurts...

... and to re-oil the frames,
and reassemble ready for the new season!

Click here if interested! :)

Weaning time for the two sows who've farrowed so well.
Twinkle's led from the barn back to her sea views..

..reacquaints her self with Maggie..

.. and is then reminded who's boss.
Or at least told not to sniff bums. Pigs ain't dirty

With mothers safely away, a new task to be done..
Marie went from pig and hen fencing to ear tagging
the piglets with Ash and James coming away from
their flooring / tiling of the remarkable Old Stables
renovation to help Christine pin the 20+ not so wee babies
against the wall.  Very difficult operation, ear-piercing
to humans as well,  but  here's some results...

..proudly displayed!

Have I mentioned that we've got ourselves a Landy?! Here is our
very own Felix. After much ebay drooling, we finally found the
workaday beast of our dreams, within our communal budget
(helps when lotsof people can chip in a bit and then all
share the larks). He's missing an eye, but hey, it's pirate
country; and no need for MOT etc as we're keeping him
on site for shifting stuff - wood from the woods, and..

..no, not a third cabin, but spare chicken coops
that are still really heavy!
We are trying to be green, honest.
That's me driving our landrover by the way..

And another one down there, hearty lifters all. 

Clare and Marie lovingly carrying the hens down to their new home.
(Not quite so lovingly the cockerels)

A well-earned quick pint at the Wainhouse, and then back for another
fantastic Cadno roast from a previous offspring of dear Mama Maggie

Cheers to a good day

Next morn on Marie's daily sheep check (and now feed, given sodden fields
and impending Paschal Feasts), we noticed that one poor ewe couldn't run
over as she couldn't see - her wool felted over her eyes in one mean dread.
The one in front's now got a not so cool ball cut, but seems happier.

After that, I attacked brambles by the cabins,
exposing more snowdrops and clearing 'curtilages'; and
then relaxed in the hammock for the first time this year..
before its wire relaxed and dumped me to the floor.
Need to find some good rope for that end..
It's getting chillier and will be bitter yet, so good to have
one last load of wood (possibly maybe the last ever
delivery now we can harvest our own woods more??)
Marie, Jackie, and Christine all somehow appeared separately,
as everyone in so much else this weekend,
to get tasks done more easily together.

Polytunnel
(Margot's away for the weekend, but her convening spirit is there now too),
sheep,
sunset..



.. over Bodmin Moor and Tintagel way..

.. and lighting up the other way.

Cleaning & Tidying

Anyone who knows me will know that cleaning and tidying don't come naturally. To say the least. I was the (girlfriendless) student who accumulated coffee cups brimming with mould under his sheetless bed; the office cad who's not once, not twice, but thrice permanently bananafied (in sight and stench) desk drawers by being oblivious to once-yellow, once-curved, rotting once-things. Living on a narrow narrowboat made me relatively shipshape, but only relatively. Eight years co-habitation with my lovely lady, to whom C&T-ing are natural friends, again has only wrought very small improvements; much more, has imbued her with ever greater tolerance. So, I can't quite believe that I'm spending part of a Sunday afternoon (when it's not even raining) writing on this terrible subject.

I do however think it's a sufficiently important topic to spill some minutiae of fingertips over; and have to trust that the fact you're lingering in this murky place means either you happen to be a fan of the subject, or are intrigued by what the sea air can do to skanky wretches like me, or are really far too bored and need to do some starjumps.

I won't go on, for however hard I try, it is mighty dull. And you might be pleased to read I have no photos this time - wanting to spare you any before & after grossness, as well as being genuinely too involved in the subject to hand to think of it. Suffice to say that Ash, Marie, Clare, our wonderfully spirited working volunteer Tor, and, to a lesser extent, sickly I, have been spending much of our weekend, yes, cleaning and tidying: the communal kitchen, living room, pantry, and toilet/shower in our wonderful old farmhouse, and in our newly re-done games room and office building.

It came from a mixture of impulses: individuals' strong desire, nay need, to share spaces that are clean and tidy, or not to use them at all; from the infectious, powerful energy of a group; and, more consciously, from a recent meeting about our vision for the next year, where there was a strong common thrust that we must invest lots of energy and time, individually and collectively, tidying up the place - not only for our own sakes as residents, but also so that we don't put off people who visit as holidaymakers, volunteers or potential residents who could bring great energy, skills, knowledge, revenue, investment and so on, and who love the location, animals, ethos, vision, etc, but who might be put off by piles of rubble or offcuts dotted about, the cluttered kitchen, the muddy floors, and any implied lack of care and love it might suggest; or indeed people who, in the future, might come here to buy from our dream shop, or participate in our dream courses and retreats.

Now, I know that everyone who lives here does care about and love the place deeply; and that we care about and love our neighbours and friends. And I know that it's a lot to manage - communal spaces and facilities, 30 acres of fields and woodland, loads of building and development projects - whilst juggling jobs and commitments, accounts and emails and campaigns and people stuff and everything, and dealing with the normal illnesses and stresses of life. So cleaning and tidying often get forgotten or ignored as unimportant. I know also that the community has achieved huge amounts in its short existence, especially having inherited vast amounts of junk and chaos. It also seems to me that, like so many other facets of humanity, we're all on a broad spectrum - of dirt & mess awareness, and associated drive to clean & tidy - and that however much some of us say we will try to improve things, we then lose focus or forget.

That all said, the blindness to, or acceptance of, D&M enjoyed by myself and others at the lower end of the spectrum must not be at the expense of others in the community, or indeed to the wider strategic wellbeing of the organisation! Which is why it was - gulp, can I say it? yes! - fantastic to scrub toilets and rip up old carpet and install boot racks and paint floors and walls and scrub some more for hours. I congratulate and applaud others who have done it almost all weekend; and I'm really happy that we are committed not only to clearing up our own mess in a spirit of 'leave no trace' and to performing our rotas diligently, but also to spending time collectively tackling older piles of stuff and half-finished projects, and making the site even more beautiful! I also really enjoyed it: drinking coffee, eating cake, listening to terrible Mr Motivator Muzik, and working happily alongside friends and neighbours.

And that said, I really need to go outside now and get some more healing sea air.. And then keep at it.

Lovely Clovely Clovelly ~ Herring Festival

Well, another splendid day. Started off with great excitement as I put on something half sporty for the first time in far too long to take to the high seas with Boscastle & Crackington Gig Club! For years I've enviously watched crews rowing these gorgeous old pilot boats, and thought that's way cooler and more hardcore than anything you can do on a river. Beautiful sunny morning, no winds, seemed ideal for it. Sadly when I got there, the waves were still too rough to get out of Boscastle harbour safely, and this crew knows not to mess with nature - not only did they live through famous flooding and destruction several years ago (the club being founded in its aftermath as a brilliant way to help community rebuilding), they also capsized and badly damaged their boat earlier this year. Thankfully just managed to patch her up in time to take part in the rather more genteel jubilee pageant.. So, no outing this morn (and possibly not till Spring now, boohoo); but good to get to know members over a consolation breakfast in the harbour caf, and hear great tales of epic voyages and famous victories over south coast crews (despite their increased ability to get out and train!)

Dry verandah and trainers -
not v representative of the farm!

So, back to a Sunday community work day - ahem - morning. Marie and Ash making mountains of loaves; the rest of us moving chicken hutches and planning larger spaces for a brood, and tackling the big barn's accumulation of Stuff in preparation for the imminent move-in of the pigs for winter farrowing. 

Hearty lunch prepared by James, and then some of us off on a jolly to Clovelly - how could we resist the strange pull of a Herring Festival up the coast?? I really like the fact that as a community we have a healthy mix of doing our own things, working and eating together often, and going out together sometimes - sharing cars and in this case 'looking after' poorly Clare's kids, Charlotte and Ollie. Anyway, enough words... Will let the photos do the talking. 

In a landi taxi down to Clovelly - didn't really
like the path being closed off; but hey, fun ride

And there you are!
Boat building & flax demos on the beach

Photographer's heaven
(I was thinking the place, rather than Olly neccessarily)

Not a bad venue for your market stall..

Some genius magicians

Lovin it

Tall fisher folk round ere

And this bloke

What it's all about. Apparently the one place on this stretch they 
could build something like a habitable port village into the cliffs. Amazing results...

Proper balconies

Am sure there's a caption for this.. please feel free to suggest..

Ditto!

Another amazing accident, unfortunately
Mr Dogfish not as alive as Clovelly

Or maybe tossed overboard? 

Caption??

Sea Shanties

'Kipperman' and his acclaimed History of the Herring

Not a bad front door..

..or view

Hand drawn cart still only way of transport for
most of the bottom bit of the village...

..and foot and sacks for the upper parts...

..and the ubiquitous hand drawn sledges!!

Old Sea Dog in the New Inn
and His Amazing Dog Fish Egg

 ..considering whether he
should dissect or try to hatch it

Looking at photos of the waterfall idiots

And an underage conga eel we managed to sneak into the pub..
Taking a cheeky peek out of his sack

And back home, a new challenge for masterchef

Sorry to any veggies/vegans out there. But at least this unintentional
catch was sold on a herring stall. And we got all our £7's worth!

And the rather delicious and tender reason for the season

Alongside some of our bakers' produce from the morn..
Hungry?