October 2005

OK, I can breathe a bit easier now... we even took a weekend away! It was our 12th Wedding anniversary on 16th October. Our friend Annabelle offered to look after the farm, so we gave her a crash course (bad choice of words there!) in tractor driving and headed off for the seaside - Tenby, to be precise. It was lovely to have some time alone together. Mark & I realised that this hasn't really happened since March! But I missed the farm and the space and the sky of home so was glad to return laden with some lovely fresh fish bought from the harbour that morning.

The cows came in this month and we celebrated no escapes at all this year!!! This is good news and something we hope will help to improve neighbourly relationships. We also brought the pigs in... well, all except one, who decided that the concrete yard was the most scary place in the world to be... well, that and out in the field all by himself. Caught between a rock and a hard place, he eventually made it in with is nose in a bucket of barley so he couldn't see what was going on. His mates were very relieved (so were we!).

The weather went a bit mad... we had a 70 degrees day during 1/2 term and when my sister, Corinna, came with her children, we all sat outside in T/shirts for lunch!

Our WWOOFers continue to contribute to the farm in wonderful ways. Erin arrived from USA and took a shine to the vegetable garden. We now have raised beds, neatly mulched and covered ready to be planted and hopefully help towards being more self-sufficient in food next year. Gloria taught us how to make wonderful bread... soft and light... even better than the breadmaker. She's now laid up though having broken her shoulder tripping up a step. That's put paid to her plans for travelling to Spain next month.

The farmers markets took a turn upwards too. I've been trying to analyse which markets are good and why... and what happens when we have a not-so-good market, but there doesn't seem to be a reliable explanation. Variety is good, dry weather is good... but other than that... ??? Well, we've had a bit of a dire year financially so it's nice to feel some more cash flowing and we hope this might be the beginning of the upswing we need.

On a note of abundance - blackberries with everything is the order of the month! Jam, pies, cakes, crumbles, sauces, fruit salads, jelly, stewed fruit... you name, we'll try it! (Pork & Blackberry casserole?)!!