Pink Moon, Crisp Morning, Heart Full

Good morning...

It's been a while since I wrote on here. Looking back at my recent posts it seems I've started a few like this!  Well, I hope to write more about what is going on in my life as I've realised that nowhere but here on my blog, can I explore fully some of the experiences I'm having and some of the eye opening things I've been learning. For now though, here's a blether about my morning...

My wee hoose

The weather this year has been astonishingly wet and cloudy. That means not much Sun. That means lots of work trying to keep the animals healthy, as well as ourselves. Living under canvas in this weather is fine but it's a very careful juggling act to stay healthy (physically and mentally), especially when the weather is wet but not cold as it's unpleasant to keep the wood burner going but of course to keep dry & prevent moulds, you have to! No such problems at the moment though, it's blooming freezing so we're back to happily running the woodburner all the time, making toast and stews all day!

Today it's a beautiful, crisp, clear day and all of a sudden I've forgotten the wettest year for 100yrs and I'm filled with the joy of it all! Sunrise this morning was utterly magic, as last nights Full Moon set in the purple sky.

Some of our ex-battery hens free ranging (pic from a couple of months ago!)

In the morning I get up at sunrise to do my animal rounds. Letting out the poultry first and making sure they've got a ton of food and fresh water.  I don't let them out to free range fully until lunch time because I like to see they've got a full crop before sending them on their adventures.

Goatforms (this was them last month!)

Then it's off to give the goats their breakfast and let them out to go exploring. None of the girls are in milk at the moment, which is a real shame, I miss my goats milk!

I take a few moments to enjoy the gorgeous morning, let the beauty of it seep into my soul and give thanks to the Holy Moles for this rare dry, still day to collect my thoughts in.

My boy, Jingo the Shetland ram

I love my Shetland sheep and I particularly love Jingo, my main ram. He's a beaut, with a loving soul, a penchant for the fleecy ladies, fresh hay and head scratches.  The Shetland and Castlemilk moorit girls are looking strong and healthy, so I'll be getting them a ram in within a couple of weeks. Jingo doesn't get a go this year poor lad!

Cheeky stinkdog pinching the warm spot!

Finally, I get to come back into the yurt for my coffee and breakfast in the warm chair by the woodburner... or not...


hen xx

A Winter Solstice I will Never Forget. Such Beauty. Oh.. and Christmas too...

These pictures are a mix of Winter Solstice and Christmas day photographs. 

You can click them to make them bigger. 

The winter solstice sunrise.With the Moon setting over the yurt and shelter. I was weighed down with buckets of chicken feed, straw and hay. I froze (literally) to the spot though to witness this breathtaking scene.

After feeding the animals I went for a wander around the land. The snow is cold and hard to walk on but there's no arguing the magical quality of it. This years winter solstice was made extra special with the full moon and snow.

I only found bird tracks in the snow on the banks of the river. I felt electric walking along here.

Amazing ice sculptures on the branches that stretch across the river & the roots that creep out from the bank.

The light and contrast the snow gives to everything is particularly stunning when trees are involved!

The yurt was toasty warm inside.  You can see how well the wool felt lining keeps the heat in by the fact the roof has lots of snow on it.

Our slopey fields come into their own for sledging! I've got to work on not "teeeheeee"- ing all the way down... it's humiliating...

Cooking our christmas dinner in the dutch oven on the open fire. I cooked roasties in the cast iron pot on the chimenea. That didn't work so well! Still had lots of crispy bits, not attached to the pots though! Will definitely need to get our clay oven built as soon as possible!  I'm only happy if I can have roasties & home baked bread!

Stunning view over to South Wales. Just stunning... did I say stunniiiiiiiing...!!??

Winter solstice sunset also blew my tiny mind. I need more descriptive words for "breathtaking"!

Then the Full Moon rose. It was the biggest Moon I've ever seen.The way it caught the snow making the crystals sparkle like diamonds brought tears to my eyes. 

Our roasted chicken. The dutch oven did us proud :)

Hope you all had a beauty filled day!

Much love,

hen

xx

A walk in the woods and a song in my heart

I've just had a long glorious walk in the woods today with my trusty companion Willow dog.


The moon is so beautiful in the light blue sky. This moon brings with it the promise of the coming winter solstice!


It's easy to forget we are actually living on top of a hill. A very windy hill. That's a windmill in the distance to the left of the lumpy tree.



Oak.


Oak. Wonderful Oak.



The frosty mist was beautifully lit by the afternoon sun.



In this hole a badger sleeps. Away from the likes of Willow and me and our noisy smelly ways.



When I walk through the forest I practice moving silently. Willow doesn't though, so we don't achieve much, but I do it anyway. It helps me to be mindful of every step. I can take in more of my surroundings. Not just the 5 senses, but also the deeper senses that tune you in to the spirit of the forest.

I often sing to myself little songs I make up while I'm in the woods. I recorded today's song on my camera. The audio isn't perfect but I thought I'd share it with you as I've never shared my songs on here before.




Primrose. There is a time beyond winter - there really is!!


These are either snowdrops or winter crocus. I'm betting snowdrop!



So I have had a lovely day even though I have a cold!

hen
xx

Photos of the Solitary Retreat

Here are some pics from the retreat. There will be more when I do my diary thing on my new blog Solitary Retreat. There is a feed just to the left so you can see what's going on over there. Thank you so much everybody for your comments!!!

The cottage is in the middle of this photo somewhere...


Yes, this is a brand new Ashford spinning wheel. For some reason I got a double drive and it's a pig to learn on! My reasoning was that I would be getting Exmoor Horns and therefore needed a wheel that could do a stronger yarn. What I didn't realise was how fiddly it would be to work out!


It's another Hen-head wearing a horny head-bag. I have named this particular bag 'Trinity' after the stitch that I used on it. There's a couple of lines of crosses that run along the head-bag. I worked the crosses out using the trinity stitch. Actually I got bored practicing the trinity stitch and managed to somehow make little crosses in a fluky kind of way!! I loved it though!


This little family came to visit me one day. This photo doesn't really show just how tiny the kittens were, I think it's because their mum was also very young (she is in the middle front, black and white). They were all healthy though and pinged and sproinged their way around mums hunting ground. I am convinced it was their first day out. There was a barn on the other side of the valley that I saw her go into one day when I was watching her through my inspectacles. So she is obviously an un-neutered barn cat. There was a rather heart stopping adventure that they all had that day too, which I'll write about on the other blog!


This is a fairy... shut up, it is...


This was the garden she was tending when I snuck up on her...


Sunset...



Moonrise


Thank you everyone for your kind words of support around this retreat!

Our Land on Exmoor - Summer

Ooooh, it's looking so good on the land at the moment. I've just been camping there and had the most wonderful time. I really needed it after all the thinky thoughtyness of the past few weeks.

The view from my nest to the moor was simply gorgeous...


Here is my nest, it was good...

I had the most peaceful time knitting in the sunshine. Stink dog had the best time revolting me with her stench. This is her in fits of laughter after acting cute, tricking me to cuddle her and covering me with her stinky foulness...


This is a proper animal...


My favourite time of the day, evening. Looking over from my nest to the Bristol Channel and the Brecon Beacons...


I turned around and there she was...