What a beautiful Spring!

Our woodland is finally FULL of Bluebells!

Well.. I didn't know where to start, so I thought I'd just tell you everything all at once, using lots of photo's and very little gibbering... promise : )

Jingo, Shetland ram extraordinaire

We've been lambing, as you know. Thought you'd like to see a few lamby pics. Jingo (above), is the tup of these lambs and he's a bit up himself at the moment. He loves it in the woods. I let him in there every now and again so he can have an explore. The woodland suits him... he suits the woodland.

Nibble

Now, as this is my first lambing I reserve the right to accidentally be swept off my feet by at least one lamb. This is the lamb. Her name is Nibble.

Nibble still sleeps on her mums back, 4wks old now

Nibble explores our World using her nibble. This is the main reason she managed to captured me. She kept nibbling my welly, my trousers, my hair... then she started a game where she'd jump on to my shoulder then off again, ad infinitum.

Nibble likes a scratch

This has of course now led to the disastrous effect of me being forced to scratch her head. Which sends her into a state of bliss. If I stop she paws me. I am utterly helpless.

In my defence, she does it to my visitors too. None of them have been able to resist the Nibble either.

Pedigree Shetland Black Ram

This little beauty was born yesterday morning.

Shetlands: Moorit mum and wee black ram

 He's coming on well and today I happily, but carefully, removed a really gloopy poo that had stuck to him. Happily because it means he's getting plenty of colostrum. Carefully because it was a giant clag nut stuck fast to his delicate wee bum!

Beautiful Black Shetland Ram

He needs a name for his pedigree certificate. Not come to me yet, any ideas welcome!

Hazel Hurdle

Now to some general news... I made a hazel hurdle. I was supposed to make loads more but life got in the way a bit. I really enjoyed making it and can't wait to get stuck in making loads at the end of the yr!

Exmoor on fire

It was about 8pm on April 17th when Leo and I went round to check on the sheep. We have a view of the moor from the gate and we saw a glow on the horizon. It was about a fraction of what you can see in the picture above. This pic was taken a few hours later. At first we wondered if we should call it in, it didn't look very big, could have been someone having a bonfire. Didn't feel right though and so I dived in the yurt, pulled out my maps and called 999. 

No one else had reported it and I worried I was wrong to have called it in. They took it very seriously though & were on the phone for 15mins with me working it all out. 

The Fire Brigade said that about 8km squared burned that night. An extraordinary sight!

Willows adder bite

Willow got bitten by an adder. It was horrible. The first we noticed something was wrong was when we saw a lump on her face, not massive but definitely there. I investigated it & saw a puncture wound. I though it was a tick bite that had got infected & we took her straight to the vet. The vet shaved her and declared it an adder bite! It's rare that vets hold the anti-venom and so he put her on steroids, anti-inflammatories & anti-biotics.

I drew the blue line around the venom site to keep an eye on it spreading. Adder bites in dogs can be VERY serious indeed. She is fully recovered now, thankfully!

Rocket Stove

Finally we have our rocket stove! Wanted this for ages to replace our little cast iron, single hob ring that runs off a gas bottle. It fires a dream. Yesterday a fried brekkie, today pancakes and of course copious amounts of hot water! All from a handful of twigs. AMAZING bit of kit! We got ours from wildstoves.co.uk for £40 and £3pp.

English yew longbow

This, my dear friends, is a work of art. It is a Chris Boyton yew longbow. Leo did the antler nocks, arrow plate and leather handle. I have improved a million fold in using this bow. It fires like a dream, an extension of me already. Each component of the bow has a story, which I will tell in it's own blog post very soon.

Violet Oil beetle

 In the water meadow there are hundreds of Violet oil beetles! I was very lucky to get this picture of two mating. The green gooey stuff between them is poo and the little flies on their backs are feeding on the oil the beetles exude. The female is the giant one on the right. Thanks to Buglife for the extra information on them!

Otter spraint

I'm consistently finding otter spraint in the river now. Still haven't seen one yet!

Caterpillar

This giant hairy caterpillar lives in the woods. I would dearly love to know what he's going to be!

Caterpillar

I thought he was a bit cute actually... What with those long eyelashes, little tuft of hair and nonchalant chomping away of the grass while I stuck a camera in his face!

Spring foraged salad

I'm feasting on a lot of wild foods at the moment, it's fantastic! I spied a chicken of the woods growing form one of our oaks. Should be troughing on that in the next week or so!

Save Our Woods board meeting

After a long adventure away in Oz, Karen came to stay to catch up on all things SaveOurWoods.co.uk.
We hatched many plans!

Beautiful Sunsets

So.. this is just a taster of what's been going on down here on the farm. I'll try to be a bit more prolific in my blogging to keep you more up to date!

Now I'm just off to do my nightly rain dance... it takes a few weeks to work sometimes *ahem*



hen xx

Bushcraft Weekend on the land with @WildelyCreative!

I had a visitation on the land this weekend, Karen of Wildely Creative came to stay.  The weather was foul so instead of bivvying in the woods we made camp in the bender.  After a tour of a bit of the land it was fantastic to sit by the wood stove, carving spoons and spatulas, sharing stories, beliefs and dreams.

When the weather was good, we had a ping. Karen was a natural at it. Strong stance and good eye.. 7 bullseyes wasn't it Karen?!?! :) The only thing to distract us were the Buzzards playing over head, oh and the odd pesk from Stinkhound!

Last night I got a new bow which is well over 6ft, 34lb & much more powerful! That's my last ping on the bow in the pic below. My first bow...

We tapped a young Birch tree and managed to collect a cup full over night. The purity of the sap is astonishing, after a few minutes I get a wash of feeling totally energised. Only lasts a short time but it's definitely there.

Ok.. now I appreciate that the next picture is probably not going to excite you at all but it's one of the most exciting things I saw this weekend! There's Bluebells in an area of regeneration between the woodland and the coppice. In the few years I've had the land I've only ever seen one Bluebell. This deer track has created a perfect seed bed for Bluebells to pop out of. After decades of over grazing with cattle and Bracken creeping in, finally, finally, finally I'm seeing the benefits of letting the land rest.

 On Saturday night the stars came out and the half moon was diamond bright. Intensifying the weekends spiritual adventures. The next day everything was luminous. Mosses, lichens, branches, grass, stone, all of it, totally luminous.  Everything was bursting and glowing with spring.

We saw 8 stags over the other side of the valley on Saturday night too. They got chased off by my neighbours lovely little Exmoor ponies. Who celebrated by chasing each other as fast as they could up and down the side of the hill!

I'm really grateful to Karen for keeping us warm using her fire lighting kit and cooking the best breakfasts and BEST baked chocolate bananas ever! I'm also grateful to her for being efficient with fuel, water and our space.  Thank you Karen :)




hen
xx

Why am I Doing this Solitary Retreat?

Well... erm... I don't know. It seemed a good idea when I booked it and then, well, I'd booked it hadn't I? I couldn't cancel it, that would be rude!

I am afraid that I am not up to this and will want to come home after the first 3 days (which are notoriously difficult to get past). I am afraid that I will be staying somewhere, very remote, that I don't know. I am afraid of the night time, when it'll be dark and there will be noises I don't recognise. I am afraid that all the meditation and solitude will encourage things to emerge in my mind that I will not be able to deal with. I am afraid of coming home and being a different person to my family and friends. I am afraid of being alone.

Fear. The greatest cause of inaction. Maybe that's why I am doing this retreat? These fears, in reality, are not real. I am conjuring them in my mind as a reaction to my fear of change and my fear of what will emerge without distractions to protect me.


Well, enough of that, here are the main reasons I booked the retreat:

1) The Great Turning.

"The Great Turning is a name for the essential adventure of our time: the shift from the industrial growth society to a life-sustaining civilization.

The ecological and social crises we face are inflamed by an economic system dependent on accelerating growth. This self-destructing political economy sets its goals and measures its performance in terms of ever-increasing corporate profits--in other words by how fast materials can be extracted from Earth and turned into consumer products, weapons, and waste.

A revolution is underway because people are realizing that our needs can be met without destroying our world. We have the technical knowledge, the communication tools, and material resources to grow enough food, ensure clean air and water, and meet rational energy needs. Future generations, if there is a livable world for them, will look back at the epochal transition we are making to a life-sustaining society. And they may well call this the time of the Great Turning. It is happening now.

Whether or not it is recognized by corporate-controlled media, the Great Turning is a reality. Although we cannot know yet if it will take hold in time for humans and other complex life forms to survive, we can know that it is under way. And it is gaining momentum, through the actions of countless individuals and groups around the world. To see this as the larger context of our lives clears our vision and summons our courage."

Joanna Macy -www.joannamacy.net/

I was going to write all that myself, but Joanna Macy has said it all! Since I was in my early teens I have been an activist and aware of the World as it is in the description above. With my teen angst I fought and fought and got angrier and angrier. Nothing changed except there was a bit more anger in the world.

Now I understand that there is an individual responsibility. I can't change people. I can only live my life. So my resposibility is to find out the best way for me to live to benefit the whole. I can't do this easily while I'm being distracted all the time. So I am taking myself away for a bit to have a look and see where I am at and what I can do with that.

2) Meet myself.

On my last solitary retreat I met myself for, what felt like, the first time. Sounds odd doesn't it? Well, the experience of it was odder. I am an actual person made up of a bundle of experiences, atoms and things. I don't plan to work out what that actually means, that would be like meditating on what's beyond the edge of the Universe! It's just an interesting feeling realising that you are a being. A human being. Part of a long line of human beings and only one of infinite beings in the Universe. It's so cool, so liberating and really puts you in your place!

3) Have a nice time.

I plan to have a thoroughly nice time. I enjoyed my company the last time and don't see why this time will be any different!

The Great Turning and Solitary Retreats

The Sheiling, Dhanakosa

Last year I spent, in total, about a month in retreat in an attempt to settle my mind, answer some painful questions about our Earth and decide whether the direction I was headed was the right one. The final week of this was in solitary retreat in a hut in the Scottish foothills of Balqhuidder.

One of the retreats I attended was based on the Great Turning using the Work that Reconnects - conceived by the incredible Joanna Macy.

"The Great Turning is a name for the essential adventure of our time: the shift from the industrial growth society to a life-sustaining civilization." Joanna Macy

Please use the links to Joanna Macy's website to learn more. She has some strong answers to help us deal with our pain in this time of the Great Turning and give us the strength and inspiration to keep going and understand our feelings.

In my playlist is a song called the Elm Dance. Please take some time to have a look at the details of this powerful song and dance.

My plan was to go through the Work that Reconnects retreat and then immediately spend a week in solitary retreat allowing myself to let what emerged settle and what couldn't emerge, emerge... all with no distractions.

There is no way I suspected what I was about to experience. Just one week in solitary retreat, doesn't sound very long I know, but believe me, it's not easy. One week set aside to be alone without any distractions has had one of the most profound effects on my life. Going on solitary retreat clarified the job of learning and living. It's effects still permeate my everyday life, even when I'm being a bit rubbish. I had never really met myself. Finally, there I was, all fragile and powerful. Quite frightening to behold but also in need of care, attention and protection. For the first time I was able to feel compassion toward Hen and understand just how deeply important it is to be compassionate to oneself.

A Hen head, 5th day of Solitary Retreat

A week isn't long enough. To begin with though I think it's sensible to give yourself a chance and ease yourself in by starting with one week and then building yourself up. As I said, it's not a simple task. If there is one gift you give yourself in this life, I would suggest going on a solitary retreat should be somewhere near the top of your list. This website is brilliant goingonretreat.com.


View from the Sheiling

The solitary retreat photographs are fuzzy because I realised half way through the week I had a camera on my mobile phone. I hadn't thought of it before because there was no mobile reception up there! I'm happy I took the photo's!