Back in Bournemouth right now, last week at Combe Farm, east of the river Otter, Devon:
- Feeding/watering/mucking out the pigs
- Mucking out the Arabian horses
- Wrapping hay bales
- Feeding the chickens
- Moving a great deal of poo from one place to another
- Herding Cattle
Weather held out well on the whole, only one day of torrential rain. 280 acre farm set in C18th parkland. The horses were beautiful but we didn't have much chance to work with them, being as this week was the preparation for the Open Day which was yesterday. Hope all went well with that.
One of the best experiences for me was herding cattle, I wouldn't have thought that 4 people could herd 110 cows/calves, but we did - with a slight hiccup sending half the herd back over 3 fields to where they'd come from... So back to the beginning we went and got it right the second time.
Tasha the cat caught a rabbit as big as herself and was very reluctant to give it up... But the rabbit escaped, surprisingly unhurt.
Four of us (and a tractor) mucked out some of the pigs, the sows and piglets, which involved the relocation of many square metres of 2' deep poo... Wasn't so bad - the fresh stuff was a far less pleasant experience!
We left Combe Farm with one of our new companions-in-WWOOFing, Emma, on a beautiful Saturday morning, we parted ways in Gittisham under the multitude of thatched roofs, Emma wandered towards Honiton, hoping to hitchhike to Gillingham, Dorset in search of a free love commune down that way. We wonder how that worked out... We jumped on a bus to Exeter and spent a good night at a backpackers hostel in town, failing to locate WWOOF hosts with any vacancies or any suitable Couchsurfing hosts who weren't 30 minutes train ride out of town. Next morning, on our way to the bus station in Exeter and our Eastbound bus, we received a call from a phone box in Honiton, it was Sean, our other comrade-in-shovelling! He had split Combe Farm that morning and was on his way East to Axminster and the hope of some farm work out that way. We're going to try and get him some work with us at Lower Upcott, our next host, where we are headed on Friday.
All of the animals were great at Combe, though the potential of the place seemed a little unfulfilled to us Greenhorns - why buy eggs in Tesco when you have 20 or so chickens living with you?
Photos from Combe Farm are available here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/elttotybot/sets/72157607161147008/
Here's a video we made early in the week!
Now we reassess what we are going to carry in the near future, I for one have far too much weight on my back!
STOP PRESS!! :
Just this second had word from Sean, he's been in a B&B in Axminster the last two nights, hoping to get over to Lower Upcott with us at the end of the week. He might have to return to Combe Farm to pick up the caravan he was living in, which all depends on the good grace of his nephew, living nearby at a secluded Christian community. We'll see.....
