Shades of Hansel and Gretel

I realise that it's been a while since I last blogged - doesn't time fly when you're enjoying yourself! I have certainly enjoyed my first Wwoof job, even with the cannibalistic sow, and have been invited to return whenever I want to for however long I want to which has really boosted my confidence.



The second week of my stay was very hot and I started feeding the pigs earlier in the morning so that I wasn't completely exhausted by 9.00am. The good news is that mother sow didn't eat any more piglets and the three left with her were usually to be seen scooting in and out of the barns at high speed, as I used to let her out into the yard during the day where she mooched about and found shady, muddy places to wallow the hot hours away. I must admit that there were times when I wished I could join her! The three poorly pigs continued to improve slowly whilst they were having their course of antibiotic injections, but the day after the course finished one of them had a very bad relapse. Again, he cheated death after a further injection and all three were still alive when I left, although they certainly weren't out of danger and I do worry that no-one would have had the time to spare to look after them as there were no new Wwoofers due for a couple of weeks and everyone else was always so busy.

I had a disastrous walk on the second Saturday that I was there - I'd planned a gentle 3 mile walk, partially on forest trails and therefore shady and cool as the day was searingly hot, to an Abbey that had the remains of a Cistercian monastry in the grounds. I encountered my first problem when I emerged from the wood at the end of the farm into a field and discovered a herd of cows, calves and a large Limousin bull all lying in the gateway of the field that I had to cross! I'm not usually nervous of cattle but I thought caution was a good idea so found a gap in the hedge and squeezed through that instead. After that the way was along a farm track, down a rocky path past some cottages and onto the forestry trails and I happily sauntered along listening to the birds and generally enjoying the day, until I realised that I had been walking for ages and there was no sign of the woods coming to an end. I began to feel a little like Hansel and Gretel, but decided not to retrace my steps as I must surely be nearly at the furthest point from the farm. Eventually I emerged, by way of another field containing another herd of cows, calves and Hereford bull, onto a road near a village called Blaisdon (famous for its plums) and several miles further on from where I should have been! Suffice it to say that, realising my map reading skills were rubbish, I walked back along the road - a distance of about 4 miles, in the blazing sun. I reckon I had walked at least 8 miles by the time I got back and I was completely exhausted and my water bottle (yes, Karen, I had remembered to take one with me!) was drained to the last drop. On the Sunday I did very little!



When I look back on the second week of my stay I can't remember what I really achieved, even though I worked for 8 hours every day. I did quite a lot of weeding in the flower borders at the main farmhouse, and I sanded down a lot of teak garden furniture that had been stored in a barn over winter and was needed in the craft courtyard for members of the public to sit on. I also helped clad the end of a barn in waney-edged timber and make a dovecote to go in the apex of the same barn wall and of course I fed the 'ciderheads' every morning, too. Even the local pheasant population were constantly on the lookout for cider-soaked barley that had been dropped and even helped themselves out of the buckets if I hadn't rinsed them out thoroughly. After many not-so-subtle hints about how I liked cider, I finally got to try the farm cider - it was not your usual scrumpy, but a far more sophisticated drink with a slight fizz that was extremely nice drunk straight from the fridge!



Finally, on Friday 28th May I packed up my little car, bid the old cottage a fond farewell and drove off through the Forest towards Monmouth and a week of R & R with my family before I started on my next Wwoofing adventure.