Are you feeling strained? No? Well my tomatoes are! Wait…don’t leave! Ok, no more tomato puns I promise but I can’t hold back on the many tomato pictures I’m afraid. After years of dreaming, lusting and coveting, my Roma hand crank strainer is finally here. I wrestled only briefly with the assembly instructions before whizzing into action, processing a couple of kilos of freshly picked (child labour) tomatoes. The days (and weeks) of aching arm, wrist and elbow are…
Sometimes I feel confused about my role in life. I am a mother, teacher, partner, farmer, cleaner, organiser, friend, disciplinarian and lover of pigs. In any one day it is easy to feel pulled in many directions. Particularly when it comes to deciding what is right for the boys. Which curriculum choice is the best? Should we focus on reading skills or just snuggle with a story? Am I failing them when I don’t live up to what is in…
For anyone who hasn’t been out here for a while (or at all!) I thought I’d do a bit of a tour to give you an idea of what we are up to every day. First I’d like to introduce our meat birds: These chaps came to us as chicks in July and have been growing fast ever since. They are a commercial breed called Cornish Cross and they are designed to grow quickly and put meat on the breast….
Despite July-like temperatures this weekend, Stephen had to bring in the hay. It has been ‘resting’ in the fields while we got on with our other work but the task could wait no longer. It’s hard to explain exactly why having a huge stack of hay feels so wonderful. Maybe it’s the feeling of self sufficiency, like having endless jars of jam in the larder, I know we can make it through. But I think it is more than that….
This summer I promised myself a break. Last year we built a house and this year we’ve been working on the farm in what seems like every spare moment. Our weekends are dominated by farm work so I’ve tried to compensate by letting our weekdays drift. Not all rules have gone by the wayside, tv is still limited to certain times as is i-pad time. We eat at regular intervals and have predictable evenings and bedtime routines, the times may…
Something that has been lacking in our world of farm making and house creation has been a simple garden. The fields we bought have never (to our knowledge) had a house on them so there was no established infrastructure, nothing to define the space. In terms of house building this is a wonderful boon, we have build the house we wanted, the house that perfectly fits our family. But in terms of the outside space I’ve found it something of…
Yesterday the boys and I embarked on a bit of a herbology lesson by making our own plantain tincture. Plantain is a plant readily available in most areas, it is often found on less lush ground, covering it with it’s generous leaves, spikes pushing their way defiantly out of the clump. Like many ubiquitous plants (often called weeds) it has great healing properties and has the added benefit of being free! Plantain is an astringent so helps with skin related…
This morning was the ultimate combination of sunny and fresh. The blue sky beamed down benevolently as the sun warmed our skin, still warm enough to feel luxuriously cuddled but not so warm as to feel boiled and baked. Perfection. We headed out for a field walk, exploring trees, bushes and hedges along our route. As we came down into bottom field there lay a gloriously large swathe of bird foot trefoil, impossibly yellow, scenting the August air with sweetness….
Everywhere I look at the moment I see abundance. In the garden, the kitchen and in everyday life. The boys are full of beans and beginning to gain confidence exploring outside; the bouquet’s of flowers are changing with the seasons and reflect their journeys to different corners of the fields. My basket contains not just eggs and salad, which we’ve had in abundance for a few months, but now the glowing red globes are starting to make their presence felt….
First of all, thank you for all the kind and thoughtful comments on my last post. It probably seems like I’m about ready to jump under a bus but honestly that isn’t true! I think I just needed to vent, get the self pity out of my system before dusting myself off and moving on. Sometimes a good complain can do the world of good! Thanks for indulging me. Second of all… The first batch of tomato passata has been…