April 2006

Well... I thought things couldn't get much worse at the end of last month, but here I am on 30th April, reeling from the news that my dear mum has just been diagnosed with cancer of the colon and secondary in the liver. The hospital are suggesting that she may only have a few weeks or months to live without any treatment, but perhaps she can have some chemotherapy which might extend the expectancy to up to 2 years!!! She's only 72 and has been so full of life until the last few weeks. We all just thought that her resting more was age taking it's toll and her getting more sensible! She's in the hospital in London for more tests and we'll see what the next few days/weeks hold.

The rest of what's happened here pales into the background... but for those of you following the journey of the farm, it's been a bit of a roller-coaster (so what's new!).

Tina & Michael (who I met on a farmers market last month) came and built a beautiful big, airy house for the turkeys. They all have space to display and run and flap and express their innate turkey-ness... and lay eggs :-) Our Ixworth Chicken eggs hatched and we have one with a wonky leg... I have made a hobble for him from sandwich bag ties and given him some homoeopathic Calc Carb. It seems to mean he can now stand up... watch this space!

Our finance conversations have opened some doors! We met a couple of business advisors and a re-branding specialist, we have a budgeting template and some figures to work out, some re-designing of our marketing material and new markets to explore - including Friends of Vowley Farm - and Mark has a potential business opportunity with an internet based project! The universe moves in mysterious ways.

We have been blessed by the presence of several WWOOFers on the farm over the last few weeks. Judith came from Germany and helped with hedge laying, path creation, animal care and some clearing and cleaning that was long overdue. Abby & Jake popped in and took care of the herb garden, and Gloria stopped by to join in with anything that was going on! We are currently enjoying the company of Ed & Jess who with great gusto have cleared the milking parlour, re-constructed a trailer we can use to collect pig feed and done a great networking job on our meat with their friends and business associates locally! Tim has left a lasting legacy in the form of a beautiful new trailer in which I can tow the chiller for my markets. This has make markets so much easier and cleaner... and BIG THANKS to him and to all the other abundant and generous helpers who have shared our life recently.

It looks like the water works in the sky are slowly being turned off. We took a bit of a risk and turned some of the cows out for a few hours each day. They are just the happiest of beings when able to frisk about on the grass.

Our daughter Emily returned from France... nice to have her back... she's such a ray of sunshine. Her boyfriend, Dale, left his job in Chipperfield and is currently staying at the farm... so we're not short of helpers! They took charge of completing the BBQ project that Geoff and Beth had begun in the Winter and we celebrated the end of this month with a rather chilly BBQ in the company of friends.