My name is Brigitte, I`m from Switzerland and I have been wwoofing on the G & S Farm since one week now. It is the first time that I`m doing this and I`m really lucky, because Beth and Lee are very nice people and so are the boys Billy and Gerorge.
Beside work there is lots of time to talk, eat, have a glass of wine or stay alone for a while as well.
I`m sleeping in a nice room in the cottage, but it is also possible to sleep in the caravan on the farm.
I like the work on the farm, till now I have been planting, watering, helping with the box scheme and some other small works. They have got four pigs, lots of sheep, three dogs, a cockeral and a horse.
I came to England in order to improve my English and I think therefore it was a good choice to come here, because we converse and they would also ask me whether I`m fine or take me with them to the sea or to another place - today we are going to visit a castle.
So I can definitely recommend this place for wwoofing!
Monday, 29 June 2009
A Wwoofing hosts view
Planting by hand due to gravel like soil
A huge cabbage about to go to the piggies after being infested by caterpillars
Old tractor looking on...as much use as ?? add your own caption
More lettuce, this time showing the wind break we are trialling. if it works and produces better results we'll give it a go around all of the beds.The brilliant Bridgitte has been staying with us for a week now and is fitting in like of the family. It's always a worry that a new guest may not appreciate our lack of modern living, with no t.v. and only a shower for hot water it may seem a little odd these days. Couple that with dirty dogs and cats jumping around every where you try to sit down and a rather full compost toilet on the farm and it probably isn't the nicest place to stay!
We firmly believe in taking a relaxed attitude to living and bridgette seems to have similar thoughts, sharing our love of food and being outdoors makes things easy to organise. A trip to the beach at Alnmouth was a good excuse to get away from the planting for a few hours and have a dip in the good old North Sea.
The fam is going nicely, more hands made light work with our dedicated planting team (box scheme customers and now stiff legged friends Gary and Michelle) of around 3000 lettuce yesterday but with another 10,000 plus plants of variuos types yet to go in the work is far from over, but with bridgette staying for another two weeks we should be finished in no time.
We still need to get sheep in for shearing and need to source some turkeys to get ready for christmas, we are already too late if we can't find organic poults as conventional birds need 26 weeks of rearing to organic standards before being slaughtered and labelled organic.
Our annual review with the bank manager this morning confirmed we are still in need of extra customers but with the vegetable harvest looking promising we should have a better financial outlook this year. On the subject of finances while listening to the radio the other day I heard a women complaining about lack of resources given to people who couldn't find work. How hard it was to struggle by on £1500 per month, after paying her bills she was only left with £500 per month to pay for food for herself and her two children. She had been in this position for seven years and saw no way of ever getting a job and increasing her income. I think its great that we can all know that there is some kind of fall back if needed but is earning less than £30,000 per household really the poverty line. We earned £8,000 last year and this is probably larger than some farms as we have a retail aspect which helps prop up the other less profitable enterprises. Although we do little other than work and all food/social/travel tends to come under this banner we never feel any where near poverty stricken. Surely poverty is not knowing where your next meal is coming from or how your going to pay for an urgent life saving operation not deciding how your going to spend a tax free hand out of £1500 each month.
We firmly believe in taking a relaxed attitude to living and bridgette seems to have similar thoughts, sharing our love of food and being outdoors makes things easy to organise. A trip to the beach at Alnmouth was a good excuse to get away from the planting for a few hours and have a dip in the good old North Sea.
The fam is going nicely, more hands made light work with our dedicated planting team (box scheme customers and now stiff legged friends Gary and Michelle) of around 3000 lettuce yesterday but with another 10,000 plus plants of variuos types yet to go in the work is far from over, but with bridgette staying for another two weeks we should be finished in no time.
We still need to get sheep in for shearing and need to source some turkeys to get ready for christmas, we are already too late if we can't find organic poults as conventional birds need 26 weeks of rearing to organic standards before being slaughtered and labelled organic.
Our annual review with the bank manager this morning confirmed we are still in need of extra customers but with the vegetable harvest looking promising we should have a better financial outlook this year. On the subject of finances while listening to the radio the other day I heard a women complaining about lack of resources given to people who couldn't find work. How hard it was to struggle by on £1500 per month, after paying her bills she was only left with £500 per month to pay for food for herself and her two children. She had been in this position for seven years and saw no way of ever getting a job and increasing her income. I think its great that we can all know that there is some kind of fall back if needed but is earning less than £30,000 per household really the poverty line. We earned £8,000 last year and this is probably larger than some farms as we have a retail aspect which helps prop up the other less profitable enterprises. Although we do little other than work and all food/social/travel tends to come under this banner we never feel any where near poverty stricken. Surely poverty is not knowing where your next meal is coming from or how your going to pay for an urgent life saving operation not deciding how your going to spend a tax free hand out of £1500 each month.
Monday, 8 June 2009
Looking good
lettuces after planting..note how stony the ground looks!
Our ancient planter..not quite horsedrawn but close
the polytunnel a few weeks ago, i'll take some more pics to show how quick the basil comes on.
Gary's grade 1. I'm sure your meant to do a real bad job and then you don't get asked to do it again!
This weeks lettuce from the pretendy 'walled' garden, coming to boxes near you on Thursday.Things have been going reasonably well both on the farm and in the shop. The shop being reasonably busy from its first day of opening which is a great relief as it could have gone the other way quite easily. Putting our faith into the hands of the locals has paid off and there support has been consistent.
We now have leeks in the field and the garden, the lettuces we planted what seems like only a few weeks ago will be going in to the boxes this week and hopefully most weeks after that. The difference across the range of planting areas is quite amazing. We have the polytunnel lettuce which are pretty much ready now, the lettuce in the raised beds of the 'walled' garden are maybe a week behind, the lettuce in the lower beds of the walled garden are probably two weeks behind that, with the lettuce in the open field probably at least six weeks away from any thought of being cut.
Carrots are just poking through after the little splash of rain. Chillies are being moved from propagating trays into there resting places in the polytunnel, replacing salad leaves that are coming to an end. Beans are looking good now but the peas are still being hammered by the birds and we really need to get some mesh rolled out to protect them. However the old digger is out of action at the moment so we can't move the nets anywhere, frustrating when the net is about fifty feet from the top of the bed. But i suppose about 150kgs is heavy no matter how far you need to carry it!
The fennel is racing away with so much vigour it's even managed to turn up in another bed. Not sowing on windy days would be advantageous but i don't think we could do all of our sowing in such a short time. Radishes have been and gone, but will go in again a bit later in the season. We managed to start shearing the ewes yesterday with a much needed hand from a friend who came up not knowing what was on the cards. Gary then proceeded to put me to shame with the skills of a barber despite never doing anything like this before, his fleece coming off in one nice, neat and usable piece and mine coming off in many uneven lumps leaving the sheep with the appearance of being attacked by a fox rather than a John Gerrard stylist. My only consolation can be taken from knowing how his back will be feeling this morning. I'll try to get the rest finished today before the damp and warm weather that's being predicted comes.
Of the farm things are hectic too. The vans developed a rather painful noise coming from somewhere that sounds expensive but we've managed to replace the old estate car with a pickup truck that the kids are much happier travelling in. As will the lambs be when the time comes for the trip to the abattoir.
A much needed night out was had on Friday. After hearing a lot of recommendations we went off to Barn Asia in Newcastle to see what all the fuss was about. We let the owner choose our dishes for us hoping to get the best of the offerings. The food, decor, atmosphere and host were all great the only downfall being the lack of ingredients provenance. It would have been the icing on the cake to know the chicken used was free range and the beef British. Surely it takes a huge effort to run a restaurant like this, especially in the recession. Would it really be too much to source meat, fish and poultry that has been produced locally to a high welfare standard?
My other task for today is too secure a new post box, the last one being stolen from our road end. I wonder if its illegal to put our electric fence charger on the box each night after the posty has been. I'm surprised with the amount of invoices in the box lately the thief didn't bring it back with a £5 contribution added out of pity. Still it must have made someone who is down on there luck pretty happy now they know it could be worse!
We now have leeks in the field and the garden, the lettuces we planted what seems like only a few weeks ago will be going in to the boxes this week and hopefully most weeks after that. The difference across the range of planting areas is quite amazing. We have the polytunnel lettuce which are pretty much ready now, the lettuce in the raised beds of the 'walled' garden are maybe a week behind, the lettuce in the lower beds of the walled garden are probably two weeks behind that, with the lettuce in the open field probably at least six weeks away from any thought of being cut.
Carrots are just poking through after the little splash of rain. Chillies are being moved from propagating trays into there resting places in the polytunnel, replacing salad leaves that are coming to an end. Beans are looking good now but the peas are still being hammered by the birds and we really need to get some mesh rolled out to protect them. However the old digger is out of action at the moment so we can't move the nets anywhere, frustrating when the net is about fifty feet from the top of the bed. But i suppose about 150kgs is heavy no matter how far you need to carry it!
The fennel is racing away with so much vigour it's even managed to turn up in another bed. Not sowing on windy days would be advantageous but i don't think we could do all of our sowing in such a short time. Radishes have been and gone, but will go in again a bit later in the season. We managed to start shearing the ewes yesterday with a much needed hand from a friend who came up not knowing what was on the cards. Gary then proceeded to put me to shame with the skills of a barber despite never doing anything like this before, his fleece coming off in one nice, neat and usable piece and mine coming off in many uneven lumps leaving the sheep with the appearance of being attacked by a fox rather than a John Gerrard stylist. My only consolation can be taken from knowing how his back will be feeling this morning. I'll try to get the rest finished today before the damp and warm weather that's being predicted comes.
Of the farm things are hectic too. The vans developed a rather painful noise coming from somewhere that sounds expensive but we've managed to replace the old estate car with a pickup truck that the kids are much happier travelling in. As will the lambs be when the time comes for the trip to the abattoir.
A much needed night out was had on Friday. After hearing a lot of recommendations we went off to Barn Asia in Newcastle to see what all the fuss was about. We let the owner choose our dishes for us hoping to get the best of the offerings. The food, decor, atmosphere and host were all great the only downfall being the lack of ingredients provenance. It would have been the icing on the cake to know the chicken used was free range and the beef British. Surely it takes a huge effort to run a restaurant like this, especially in the recession. Would it really be too much to source meat, fish and poultry that has been produced locally to a high welfare standard?
My other task for today is too secure a new post box, the last one being stolen from our road end. I wonder if its illegal to put our electric fence charger on the box each night after the posty has been. I'm surprised with the amount of invoices in the box lately the thief didn't bring it back with a £5 contribution added out of pity. Still it must have made someone who is down on there luck pretty happy now they know it could be worse!
Monday, 4 May 2009
The Village Coffee House opens
Lambs are growing aswell as the grass, and starting to venture off in little gangs looking for fun games to play. The later lambs are just starting now, with a pair of strong looking twins coming yesterday morning. Hopefully the young hoggs will fair better than the old girls in the milder weather.
Finally after much work, some tears and a little swearing we opened our coffee shop in the village. Its been a long time coming after much wrangling with the usual suspects.
We haven't said much about whats being going for fear of being stopped before we got started but have been working on the idea and the building for six months now. Its such a great business to run alongside the farm and the box scheme as we already have excellent food around us and its seems a shame not to be able to go full circle and prvide it on a plate aswell as a box.
The locals have been very supportive luckily as Longfram is a very tightly knit community..maybe the hard work in the shop has changed peoples perceptions of us 'organic types' or maybe its just the anticipation of B's cup cakes.
Things are going slowly on the farm after a little excitement last week when the rain came and the seeds turned to seedlings, with broad beans, peas, celeriac, romanesco's, fennel, artichokes, horseradish and brussel sprouts all making a little progress which has now stopped as the temp has dropped to averages of 10 degrees daily..i seem to remember this happening last year but the rain never stopped from April right through. The long range forecast is that we are all in for a really hot year though so fingers crossed.
We still need to get all the potatoes in, along with carrots, turnips and parnips and I was hoping to have had all the beds worked ready for the cabbages, leeks and lettuce plugs which arrive next Monday but the new tractor is now dead. Replacing some worn blades on or power harrow with nice new ones has made the tractor work too hard and its unwilling to start again. Lesson learned and the last time I replace old parts with new..sometimes older really is better.
B's horses went away yesterday. Mr. Lovage being sold but mum and his big sister had to go along for the ride so he would go in the trailer, I hoping they won't come back but instead be replaced by some cattle but B's got ideas of a putting Winnie to a heavier smaller horse so we can have a foal that we will be of some use pulling a trailer or roller round the fields. Sounds like lots of work to me but then the horse will never get stuck or break down which would obviuosly prove handy at the moment.
We haven't said much about whats being going for fear of being stopped before we got started but have been working on the idea and the building for six months now. Its such a great business to run alongside the farm and the box scheme as we already have excellent food around us and its seems a shame not to be able to go full circle and prvide it on a plate aswell as a box.
The locals have been very supportive luckily as Longfram is a very tightly knit community..maybe the hard work in the shop has changed peoples perceptions of us 'organic types' or maybe its just the anticipation of B's cup cakes.
Things are going slowly on the farm after a little excitement last week when the rain came and the seeds turned to seedlings, with broad beans, peas, celeriac, romanesco's, fennel, artichokes, horseradish and brussel sprouts all making a little progress which has now stopped as the temp has dropped to averages of 10 degrees daily..i seem to remember this happening last year but the rain never stopped from April right through. The long range forecast is that we are all in for a really hot year though so fingers crossed.
We still need to get all the potatoes in, along with carrots, turnips and parnips and I was hoping to have had all the beds worked ready for the cabbages, leeks and lettuce plugs which arrive next Monday but the new tractor is now dead. Replacing some worn blades on or power harrow with nice new ones has made the tractor work too hard and its unwilling to start again. Lesson learned and the last time I replace old parts with new..sometimes older really is better.
B's horses went away yesterday. Mr. Lovage being sold but mum and his big sister had to go along for the ride so he would go in the trailer, I hoping they won't come back but instead be replaced by some cattle but B's got ideas of a putting Winnie to a heavier smaller horse so we can have a foal that we will be of some use pulling a trailer or roller round the fields. Sounds like lots of work to me but then the horse will never get stuck or break down which would obviuosly prove handy at the moment.
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
View of the orchard and some of the veggie beds from on high
1 ton of seed ptoatoes arrives - 6 months in the soil and they will hopefully multiply by 7
rhubarb bed coming along nicely
as is the pond digging..
Broad beans and peas finally sown..
lambs starting to come on strong too
Leah the canadian wwoofer busy weeding apple trees.
the 'new' tractor replaces our last old but untrustworthy beast! She may not be a looker but does the job fine...no need for nothing fancy honestly.
the road finally in right through the farm upto our steading area which means an end to wheel barrow commuting.
Even had chance to take the wwoofers to see Embleton Beach and the lovely dunstanburgh?? castle. A good chance to get the dogs in the sea too welcome after shedding there winter coats I imagine.
lambs starting to come on strong too
Leah the canadian wwoofer busy weeding apple trees.
the 'new' tractor replaces our last old but untrustworthy beast! She may not be a looker but does the job fine...no need for nothing fancy honestly.
the road finally in right through the farm upto our steading area which means an end to wheel barrow commuting.
Even had chance to take the wwoofers to see Embleton Beach and the lovely dunstanburgh?? castle. A good chance to get the dogs in the sea too welcome after shedding there winter coats I imagine.Some pics..hope they tell a thousand words as we are a bit too busy at the moment
Monday, 30 March 2009
We've been away from the blog for ages largely due to an unexpected early spring. The weather has been great for this time of year and is a much needed tonic after the winter of discontent!
The biggest jobs are under way with the road finally getting started today...this has been 18months in the planing, waiting and saving so when the big shiny digger turned up on Saturday morning it wasn't just digger envy i was feeling but an overwhelming mixture of anticipation, excitement and satisfaction that things are finally coming together.
Its been a long slog since we first bought the land back in sept 07 and some days i don't feel like we have made any impact at all, but what a difference when the sun comes out. The pond is underway and took no time at all to fill itself, we have cut into an existing clay field drain which should been we get a constant flow of water helping to keep the pond clean which is essential if we ever stock it with something for the pot.
Our first live lambs arrived this morning, two happy things which are straight up jumping around. Quite a contrast to the first arrival of aborted twins last weekend. Despite getting plenty to eat the older ewes seem to be losing condition quickly and we can only hope the situation improves once lambing really gets going. 2 out of 4 really doesn't stack up commercially or morally and the decision has already been made that the oldest will go to the pasture in the sky once the lambs are reared.
We have all of our seeds in place but are yet to make any significant sowings. Beth has got garlic, rhubarb and peas coming away nicely and we have been kept in greens from the tunnel but not sadly not enough for our box scheme just yet. I tried working the soil today but its still a litle too wet for us and i have certainly learned from last season that it just causes more damage to the soil and my mental health to try to get things moving too early. I think the site of bigger farmers out in the fields working the land makes me think that we should be doing something but this really is detrimental to the condition of the soil and is only made possible by the use of massive machines with 4wd systems. I have heard a lot of old farmers tales like not planting till wimbledon starts or not working the soil until the ground is warm on your bare backside and can't help but think we may have lost some ground in the name of progress.
We have had lots of help recently from friends, customers and also from our first wwoofers Rob and Leah. The wwoof system works on the host farmer offering accomadation and food in exchange for a fair amount of labour. Its a great way to get an insight into other cultures and is what introduced me to the farming way of life when i spent 3 months wwoofing in Australia years ago. We've got volunteers staying with us pretty much right through the summer and are looking forward to meeting new people with open minds that are doing such a great thing with there time. Wwoofing is open to pretty much anyone and we've got people of all ages some bringing children and dogs etc from all other the world coming to join in. The wwoofers first day has been spent sowing chillies in the tunnel and helping move the pigs onto a new bed which should keep them content for a few weeks. Pigs love grass, which was a surprise to me...you alsways see apples and barley and that type of thing in images of pigs but they do love nice fresh grass to graze too.
Planning permission has at last been granted on the coffee shop for the village so while Beth work out her menus of organic goodies I'm working out how to get out of fitting the laminate flooring! I'm more an outside job person. There is loads of work to do yet but we hope to be open to catch the last easter weekend and get the opening underway when there are lots of people around.
Things are at last looking up for us and whats going to be the best season for us both is about to get underway...the gut wrenching feeling of excitement can only be compared with the night before christmas but the day never comes..
The biggest jobs are under way with the road finally getting started today...this has been 18months in the planing, waiting and saving so when the big shiny digger turned up on Saturday morning it wasn't just digger envy i was feeling but an overwhelming mixture of anticipation, excitement and satisfaction that things are finally coming together.
Its been a long slog since we first bought the land back in sept 07 and some days i don't feel like we have made any impact at all, but what a difference when the sun comes out. The pond is underway and took no time at all to fill itself, we have cut into an existing clay field drain which should been we get a constant flow of water helping to keep the pond clean which is essential if we ever stock it with something for the pot.
Our first live lambs arrived this morning, two happy things which are straight up jumping around. Quite a contrast to the first arrival of aborted twins last weekend. Despite getting plenty to eat the older ewes seem to be losing condition quickly and we can only hope the situation improves once lambing really gets going. 2 out of 4 really doesn't stack up commercially or morally and the decision has already been made that the oldest will go to the pasture in the sky once the lambs are reared.
We have all of our seeds in place but are yet to make any significant sowings. Beth has got garlic, rhubarb and peas coming away nicely and we have been kept in greens from the tunnel but not sadly not enough for our box scheme just yet. I tried working the soil today but its still a litle too wet for us and i have certainly learned from last season that it just causes more damage to the soil and my mental health to try to get things moving too early. I think the site of bigger farmers out in the fields working the land makes me think that we should be doing something but this really is detrimental to the condition of the soil and is only made possible by the use of massive machines with 4wd systems. I have heard a lot of old farmers tales like not planting till wimbledon starts or not working the soil until the ground is warm on your bare backside and can't help but think we may have lost some ground in the name of progress.
We have had lots of help recently from friends, customers and also from our first wwoofers Rob and Leah. The wwoof system works on the host farmer offering accomadation and food in exchange for a fair amount of labour. Its a great way to get an insight into other cultures and is what introduced me to the farming way of life when i spent 3 months wwoofing in Australia years ago. We've got volunteers staying with us pretty much right through the summer and are looking forward to meeting new people with open minds that are doing such a great thing with there time. Wwoofing is open to pretty much anyone and we've got people of all ages some bringing children and dogs etc from all other the world coming to join in. The wwoofers first day has been spent sowing chillies in the tunnel and helping move the pigs onto a new bed which should keep them content for a few weeks. Pigs love grass, which was a surprise to me...you alsways see apples and barley and that type of thing in images of pigs but they do love nice fresh grass to graze too.
Planning permission has at last been granted on the coffee shop for the village so while Beth work out her menus of organic goodies I'm working out how to get out of fitting the laminate flooring! I'm more an outside job person. There is loads of work to do yet but we hope to be open to catch the last easter weekend and get the opening underway when there are lots of people around.
Things are at last looking up for us and whats going to be the best season for us both is about to get underway...the gut wrenching feeling of excitement can only be compared with the night before christmas but the day never comes..
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