Down On The Farm

We're staying on a farm halfway up a Pennine hill right on the Lancs / Yorks border. We eventually made it on Monday night and got instantly treated to a slap up meal. Let me introduce you to the family...

The farm is owned by Ben and Penny, who are both full-time anthropologists and live in the house with their 12 year old daughter Laurie and Pickle the cat. There is currently a Kiwi WWOOFer here called Bryony, who has stayed for 3 months but is leaving on Monday. There are four goats - Cheeky the male, Misty the mum and Coco and Fudge her daughters - and three chickens.

We're living in what's affectionately known as The Piggery. It's an out-building to the main house, and as well as housing pigs it has also formerly been a grave and a bridal suite. It's slightly spooky but quite cool as well. The worst thing is the stream that runs down behind it - it can be quite a palavar to get out of your sleeping bag and go to the main house if you need the loo!

On Tuesday Bryony showed us the ropes and we set to our main project - creating a level place for a trampoline. You see, a trampoline is rather dangerous on the side of a large and pretty steep hill. So we've been digging trenches and then filling them back in as we work by a bit of trial and error. Hopefully we can get it complete before we leave.

On Wednesday I milked my first goat! Misty was very obliging, and althought I squirted more up my arm than in the bucket the first time, my attempt yesterday was a bit more successful. Bryony thinks I'm a natural, I'm not so sure (stop sniggering at the back there!) The goats are fantastic and my favourite task. They all have their own personalities, and watching them happily munch on grass is a wonderful thing. As is drinking a cup of tea made with the milk you squeezed out yourself - all very satisfying. We took them up to the top of the hill to graze on Thursday. Walking up that hill is hard work on it's own, being dragged my a goat made me realise just how unfit I really am! As well as drinking the milk Ben also makes cheese and yoghurt.

I've also done my first weeding, planting (runner beans) and pruning (cherry tomatoes). Us three WWOOFers spent most of yesterday pulling a huge amount of bracken out of the ground. It's nice to do things where you see the results so quickly and so obviously. The weather's been gorgeous, although it's been a bit hot for all this manual work. It's a fairly leisurely atmosphere though, and we always make sure we stop for a cup of tea or a good feed.

The food has been fantastic. Ben's an excellent cook. It's all been veggie, and I haven't missed eating meat at all (although we got fish and chips after we came back from a nearby town to watch the footie!) Yesterday we had a great combined effort for lunch, making a Mexican bean stew with guacamole and nachos.

The car has broken down so we missed the Marillion gig on Thursday (absolutely gutted!) Not sure if it's repairable, or what we'll do over the next few weeks. Could be a bit awkward getting to Glastonbury...

I'm physically quite exhausted, but I've been really enjoying working out in the open air. The views are fantastic, I'm starting to get a nice bit of a tan and I might even be a little less scared of spiders than I was a week ago!

OK, off to see if I can find somewhere nice for you to view my pictures from...