Well, I've made it through the first week and I'm still in one piece, although a bit exhausted. I was going to run through a typical day's chores but every day is different, the only constant being the feeding of the pigs every morning. David, the German student, sort of showed me what we did on Monday although he shrugged his shoulders quite a bit if I asked a question!
The pigs are fed on watered down cider sludge mixed with barley meal and from what I could gather from David it works out at one bucketful per 2 pigs (roughly). The sow with the litter has pig nuts (a concentrate in pellet form) and barley meal mixed with water. If you can imagine the layout of the yard, the cider sludge is kept in big blue barrels close to the cottage and the water tap and container of barley meal are about 20 yards further away. Firstly, the cider sludge is decanted into each bucket until they are about half full and then they are carried down the yard to the tap where they are topped up to about two thirds with water and then one and a half scoops of barley meal are added and the whole lot stirred with a spade. The full buckets are then carried back through the yard, past the cottage, across the driveway, through the entrance gates and down the lane (a distance of approximately 150 yards). Then they are carried uphill across the sheep field to the pig paddock (a distance of a further 50 yards or so) where 9 very hungry 'ciderheads' have been watching your laborious approach with growing excitement. You then have to lift the full buckets to the height of the top of the stock fencing (which has a strand of barbed wire across it) and tip the mixture into the metal pig trough. If pigs would only stand back and let you do this the job would be tricky enough, but when you have 9 very hungry cider addicts pushing against the fence, standing in the trough and trying to get at the food whilst it is still in the bucket you begin to see why it is advisable to wear the overalls provided! Bear in mind that there are nine pigs so that is 5 buckets that have to be transported in this way. Once the food has been delivered you then have to top up their water trough from the large water container that is located next to their paddock - 5 buckets is enough to fill it to a suitable depth although I suspect that David only ever put a couple of buckets in each day.
Back in the yard there are two further in-pig gilts (young sows who have been to the boar but have not yet had their first litter) in a shed and two smaller pigs in another shed. These also have a bucket of cider plus meal between each shed, and then fresh water too.
By the time we had finished this performance it had taken an hour, my arm, shoulder and back muscles were screaming and I just wanted to go and have a long cold drink and a lie down, but no, now we have to water the newly planted trees and shrubs on the bank by the house - more buckets of water to carry, this time from the tap outside the cottage.
On Monday, I was given the task of wild flower seed planting down the driveway, which involved digging out little pockets in the bank, putting in some compost, sprinkling on the seeds and then watering them with........yes, more buckets of water carried from the cottage! At 10.30 we were taken down to breakfast which was a large cooked breakfast, fruit juice, tea and toast and very welcome it was, too. I had already had a bowl of cereal and a cup of tea before we started work, which was just as well.
On Tuesday morning mother pig had decided to have a little snack during the night and was just polishing off a piglet when Howard arrived to check on them (some of them had seemed unwell and semi-paralysed over the weekend and the vet had suggested a Vitamin E deficiency could cause this so they had all had an injection)! This caused a bit of a flap but David and I left Howard to it and did the rest of the pigs and then David went off to pack his stuff as he is leaving today - was it something I said?
Woke early on Wednesday morning, dreading having to do all the pigs by myself, but then I had a brainwave - if I left the addition of water to the buckets until I got them up to the pig paddock and used the water from the container up there I would only be carrying half the liquid weight! and I could commandeer the wheelbarrow to at least push them along the driveway so the only carrying would be up across the field. I am so glad that I'm the daughter of an engineer - my mind constantly looks at jobs and tries to find a better way of doing them; annoying in the early hours of the morning when you're trying to go back to sleep, but brilliant the rest of the time!
Mother pig was just finishing off a hearty snack of piglet when I got there - luckily there wasn't much left of the carnage apart from a small bloodstain and only 8 piglets. After breakfast I was assigned to the builders in the new cookery school and spent the day oiling oak door frames and helping to lay floor insulation prior to the concrete screed being laid.
On Thursday I went out to feed the sow but felt I needn't really have bothered as she was just finishing her protein fix of the day - and then there were 7! Today I spent on my own down at the pheasant pens putting up three strands of electric fencing around the perimeter to deter foxes, and picking up the blue baler twine that had been criss-crossed across the area to deter the goshawks (unsuccessfully it would seem as they can see it too readily and weave their way through it). I was given the use of the farm truck for the day which was bliss as it meant very little walking up and down hill.
On Friday mother pig was just finishing off piglet number 7 when I got there. I was so fed up that I just opened the door and let her out in the yard while I fed the other pigs. Only three of the remaining piglets can get up the others seem semi-paralysed. Howard called the vet when he saw them and we took them away and put them in another shed close to the cottage leaving mum with the three lively ones. After breakfast I did some gardening down at the old farmhouse until 3.30 when I went back up to see to the little piglets. The vet had been and said it was a virus and gave them penicillin which they have to have for the next three days, so they are being kept away from the others. The trouble is they are only just three weeks old and not weaned so I had to try and get them drinking milk from a little trough. I didn't have much success so mixed a little barley meal with it to make a gruel and lay in the straw with a piglet tucked under my arm spoon-feeding it. The things I do!
Saturday and Sunday are my days off but only after I've fed the pigs so it was with some relief that I counted three piglets with mum, and the three poorly pigs were able to get up and walk about albeit a little bit wobbily, but best of all I got them all feeding out of the trough by themselves!
I will leave you with a little poem:
Ten little piglets lying in a line,
Mum got peckish and then there were nine.
Nine little piglets wondering about their fate
Mum wanted a night-time snack and then there were eight.
Eight little piglets dreaming of piggy heaven
Mum 's stomach rumbled and then there were seven.
Seven little piglets in a bit of a fix
Snap went mum's jaws and then there were six.
Hopefully, there will be no further verses to add to this little ditty!
Sunday, 23 May 2010
Sunday, 16 May 2010
I'm finally off!
It's been nearly a month since I last posted a blog I realised when I read back through what I had written. Where did all that time go? I finished my cleaning business two weeks ago and have devoted every waking (and some sleeping) moments to getting the cottage ready for letting. In a weird twist of fate my ex-husband has been helping me at least one day a week with the building work - he's been handling the major construction jobs and I've been doing the decorating and some of the lighter jobs.
The estate agents started off well with two viewings on the day after it was advertised, but after that four more appointments were cancelled before the people even got to the front door. Apparently this is common in lettings but it was really annoying for me because each time they set up a new appointment I had to stop whatever job I was doing and tidy the house as much as possible so it resembled a home and not a building site. They whinged slightly that it was not easy to let a property that was not completely ready, but I told them I had no choice as the 15th was looming and I had to go. Suffice it to say here that it hasn't rented out yet and I have left it empty and forlorn, but beautifully decorated and with new curtains in the main bedroom! I joked with the estate agent that at the rate I was going I would be painting the front door as I locked it for the last time! It wasn't quite like that as I had repainted the front door a while ago, but I did lay some new vinyl flooring in the entrance lobby on Saturday morning!!
I would have gone to my Mum's with the rest of my stuff on Friday evening but it just got too late and I just got too tired, so I waved Dave off with a car load of boxes - he got an amazing amount in the Prelude considering the large sound system that resides in his boot space - and contemplated getting a takeaway as I had no cooking utensils left, but I was so tired that I cooked a jacket potato in the oven and 'fried' bacon and egg under the grill. My neighbour came round to say Goodbye and asked if there was anything I needed. 'You couldn't make me a cup of tea could you, Debs?' I asked, and within minutes she was back with a huge mug of tea and a flask of tea too - what a lifesaver!
Day One of my new life saw me driving up the M5 laden to the gunnels with everything I thought I would need, plus all the last minute bits and bobs that had to go to Mum's for storage. I arrived for lunch and did some unpacking and repacking and then at 3.30 I was on my way to Longhope on the edge of the Forest of Dean.
It only took 40 minutes and was really easy to find. I went to the main farmhouse next to the Craft outlet as instructed and rang the bell - no answer. As it was a farm, I thought perhaps there was a backdoor that everyone went to so I wandered all round the building but found no sign of life. I rang the bell again (it was a very loud bell) - still nothing, although there were two cars parked out front, so I went to the craft centre and asked if they knew where everyone was. 'If the cars are there they can't be far away', said a helpful lady in the teashop. I went back to the front door and without much hope of a result rang the bell again - still nothing. 'Well, this is a good start!' I thought, but then, mustering the new laid-back me, I decided to sit in the car and read a book until someone noticed me, as surely they would. About half an hour later I looked up to see a man approaching looking slightly bemused. I leapt out of the car, put on my most winning smile and introduced myself. Luckily they were expecting me but due to a rather heavy lunch engagement he and his wife had been asleep! I was then directed out of the farm and up the road with the instruction to 'take the first driveway on the left and the old farmhouse is at the top of the hill - you'll be sharing it with two German wwoofers - a girl and a boy, but the girl is leaving tomorrow.'
I duly took the first driveway which turned out to be a very steep stony farm track and drove uphill for about half a mile, passing fields of sheep and lambs and a small paddock with pigs in. At the top of the hill were a pair of very nice wrought iron gates set in some rather grand stone pillars, so I drove through and pulled up outside the farmhouse. This turned out to be a rather dubious-looking cottage. The door was not locked so after knocking I went in calling out a cheery 'Hellooooo' - no answer. I was beginning to think that I had come to the wrong place, but there was signs of building work and restoration going on in the outbuildings surrounding the cottage and no other obvious house further along the track which finished just beyond the last barn, so I went back and had a look inside. I felt a bit like Goldilocks in the Three Bears House and half expected someone to come back at any moment and demand to know what I was doing there. Downstairs there were two rooms - the sitting room and the kitchen, and upstairs there were two rooms - both bedrooms. Both rooms were in use, although thankfully unoccupied - now that would have been embarrassing!, but I couldn't work out which room I was supposed to sleep in, although the bigger room was marginally more tidy (if a student squat could be termed tidy) but the other bed was strewn with clothes, curtains and bedding and had a broken leg. Now, the astute amongst you, those that haven't already dropped off with the sheer length of this post, will have noticed that there was one room conspicuous by it's absence - yep, that's the one - no bathroom, and more pertinently at this point - no loo! Beginning to feel a little desperate in more ways than one I had another look round outside and following what appeared to be a well-worn path, located the privy which surprisingly had a flushing toilet - what luxury - but no electric light, so now I know why I was told to bring a torch.
Feeling relieved to have located and used the loo, I decided, in the absence of any better idea, to have a look round the outbuildings and came across several sundry sheds containing Gloucester Old Spot pigs, including a sow and litter of eleven or twelve young piglets. Having exhausted that exploration I was wondering what to do when Howard (the bleary-eyed man) arrived in a truck and seemed surprised that no-one was home. He proceeded to give me a guided tour of the fields and woods around the farm - the woods are filled with bluebells at the moment and wild garlic too and was very quiet - I shall have to have a good look round later on my own.
Returning to the cottage he showed me which room I was in and casually placed a chock of wood under the broken bed so that I had somewhere to sleep at night. The routine is that wwoofers don't work at weekends except to feed the pigs in the morning, the working week day starts at 8, followed by a full English breakfast down at the main farmhouse (I'll need it if I have to walk up and down that hill every day) and then more work 'til about 4. Apart from breakfast during the week all other meals are self-catered with ingedients provided by the farmer. I must admit to feeling slightly short-changed at the moment - an 8 hour day in return for one cooked meal, some very random ingredients for self-catering and accomodation that lacks a little in the comfort zone - still it's only for two weeks!
I fetched some things from the car and sat down to wait for something else to happen. Eventually the two Germans returned - they were students who had just finished school and were waiting to go to University in September, so they are very young but very pleasant. Unfortunately, the girl who is leaving today has much better English than the boy who is also quite quiet naturally, so the next few days could be a challenge.
After a reasonable (for me) night's sleep I woke at 5.15 to the most amazing dawn chorus. I pulled on my clothes and a coat (it was raining) and went outside to the privy, then I made a cup of tea and whittled a plug for the stone sink out of a potato - nothing if not resourceful! and then I had a wash in tepid water - I forgot to mention that there is no hot water unless you boil a kettle and that's not enough to warm the stone sink - I must find a substitute for a washing up bowl later!
Well, it's now 3pm on day one, and we have just finished a not-too-bad Sunday lunch of chicken breasts cooked in the oven, broccoli and mashed potato; the German girl has departed via bus, train, train, train and bus to Cumbria; I have had a drive through the very lovely Forest of Dean and we have fired up the ancient Raeburn in the kitchen as it dawned on me that that is what heats the water - eventually! I also found an old washing up bowl amazingly unholed in one of the outhouses - so another small blessing to add to the collection! Strangely though folks, I am actually enjoying myself so far, but of course, tomorrow is the first working day and then we shall see....................
The estate agents started off well with two viewings on the day after it was advertised, but after that four more appointments were cancelled before the people even got to the front door. Apparently this is common in lettings but it was really annoying for me because each time they set up a new appointment I had to stop whatever job I was doing and tidy the house as much as possible so it resembled a home and not a building site. They whinged slightly that it was not easy to let a property that was not completely ready, but I told them I had no choice as the 15th was looming and I had to go. Suffice it to say here that it hasn't rented out yet and I have left it empty and forlorn, but beautifully decorated and with new curtains in the main bedroom! I joked with the estate agent that at the rate I was going I would be painting the front door as I locked it for the last time! It wasn't quite like that as I had repainted the front door a while ago, but I did lay some new vinyl flooring in the entrance lobby on Saturday morning!!
I would have gone to my Mum's with the rest of my stuff on Friday evening but it just got too late and I just got too tired, so I waved Dave off with a car load of boxes - he got an amazing amount in the Prelude considering the large sound system that resides in his boot space - and contemplated getting a takeaway as I had no cooking utensils left, but I was so tired that I cooked a jacket potato in the oven and 'fried' bacon and egg under the grill. My neighbour came round to say Goodbye and asked if there was anything I needed. 'You couldn't make me a cup of tea could you, Debs?' I asked, and within minutes she was back with a huge mug of tea and a flask of tea too - what a lifesaver!
Day One of my new life saw me driving up the M5 laden to the gunnels with everything I thought I would need, plus all the last minute bits and bobs that had to go to Mum's for storage. I arrived for lunch and did some unpacking and repacking and then at 3.30 I was on my way to Longhope on the edge of the Forest of Dean.
It only took 40 minutes and was really easy to find. I went to the main farmhouse next to the Craft outlet as instructed and rang the bell - no answer. As it was a farm, I thought perhaps there was a backdoor that everyone went to so I wandered all round the building but found no sign of life. I rang the bell again (it was a very loud bell) - still nothing, although there were two cars parked out front, so I went to the craft centre and asked if they knew where everyone was. 'If the cars are there they can't be far away', said a helpful lady in the teashop. I went back to the front door and without much hope of a result rang the bell again - still nothing. 'Well, this is a good start!' I thought, but then, mustering the new laid-back me, I decided to sit in the car and read a book until someone noticed me, as surely they would. About half an hour later I looked up to see a man approaching looking slightly bemused. I leapt out of the car, put on my most winning smile and introduced myself. Luckily they were expecting me but due to a rather heavy lunch engagement he and his wife had been asleep! I was then directed out of the farm and up the road with the instruction to 'take the first driveway on the left and the old farmhouse is at the top of the hill - you'll be sharing it with two German wwoofers - a girl and a boy, but the girl is leaving tomorrow.'
I duly took the first driveway which turned out to be a very steep stony farm track and drove uphill for about half a mile, passing fields of sheep and lambs and a small paddock with pigs in. At the top of the hill were a pair of very nice wrought iron gates set in some rather grand stone pillars, so I drove through and pulled up outside the farmhouse. This turned out to be a rather dubious-looking cottage. The door was not locked so after knocking I went in calling out a cheery 'Hellooooo' - no answer. I was beginning to think that I had come to the wrong place, but there was signs of building work and restoration going on in the outbuildings surrounding the cottage and no other obvious house further along the track which finished just beyond the last barn, so I went back and had a look inside. I felt a bit like Goldilocks in the Three Bears House and half expected someone to come back at any moment and demand to know what I was doing there. Downstairs there were two rooms - the sitting room and the kitchen, and upstairs there were two rooms - both bedrooms. Both rooms were in use, although thankfully unoccupied - now that would have been embarrassing!, but I couldn't work out which room I was supposed to sleep in, although the bigger room was marginally more tidy (if a student squat could be termed tidy) but the other bed was strewn with clothes, curtains and bedding and had a broken leg. Now, the astute amongst you, those that haven't already dropped off with the sheer length of this post, will have noticed that there was one room conspicuous by it's absence - yep, that's the one - no bathroom, and more pertinently at this point - no loo! Beginning to feel a little desperate in more ways than one I had another look round outside and following what appeared to be a well-worn path, located the privy which surprisingly had a flushing toilet - what luxury - but no electric light, so now I know why I was told to bring a torch.
Feeling relieved to have located and used the loo, I decided, in the absence of any better idea, to have a look round the outbuildings and came across several sundry sheds containing Gloucester Old Spot pigs, including a sow and litter of eleven or twelve young piglets. Having exhausted that exploration I was wondering what to do when Howard (the bleary-eyed man) arrived in a truck and seemed surprised that no-one was home. He proceeded to give me a guided tour of the fields and woods around the farm - the woods are filled with bluebells at the moment and wild garlic too and was very quiet - I shall have to have a good look round later on my own.
Returning to the cottage he showed me which room I was in and casually placed a chock of wood under the broken bed so that I had somewhere to sleep at night. The routine is that wwoofers don't work at weekends except to feed the pigs in the morning, the working week day starts at 8, followed by a full English breakfast down at the main farmhouse (I'll need it if I have to walk up and down that hill every day) and then more work 'til about 4. Apart from breakfast during the week all other meals are self-catered with ingedients provided by the farmer. I must admit to feeling slightly short-changed at the moment - an 8 hour day in return for one cooked meal, some very random ingredients for self-catering and accomodation that lacks a little in the comfort zone - still it's only for two weeks!
I fetched some things from the car and sat down to wait for something else to happen. Eventually the two Germans returned - they were students who had just finished school and were waiting to go to University in September, so they are very young but very pleasant. Unfortunately, the girl who is leaving today has much better English than the boy who is also quite quiet naturally, so the next few days could be a challenge.
After a reasonable (for me) night's sleep I woke at 5.15 to the most amazing dawn chorus. I pulled on my clothes and a coat (it was raining) and went outside to the privy, then I made a cup of tea and whittled a plug for the stone sink out of a potato - nothing if not resourceful! and then I had a wash in tepid water - I forgot to mention that there is no hot water unless you boil a kettle and that's not enough to warm the stone sink - I must find a substitute for a washing up bowl later!
Well, it's now 3pm on day one, and we have just finished a not-too-bad Sunday lunch of chicken breasts cooked in the oven, broccoli and mashed potato; the German girl has departed via bus, train, train, train and bus to Cumbria; I have had a drive through the very lovely Forest of Dean and we have fired up the ancient Raeburn in the kitchen as it dawned on me that that is what heats the water - eventually! I also found an old washing up bowl amazingly unholed in one of the outhouses - so another small blessing to add to the collection! Strangely though folks, I am actually enjoying myself so far, but of course, tomorrow is the first working day and then we shall see....................
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