Utilize the Methods

“Dance Party Rooms” have been a necessity for my adult life sanity. Jan gave us a radio this morning for our kitchen. The one that was already out there did not work. So we listened to a silly program while we cooked and music while we ate. We heard Heart, Lady Gaga, Destiny’s Child, and Alicia Keys. This means that after we finished eating, we had our first dance party. And it was awesome. As was our lunch; we made rice and potatoes in a green curry sauce. So good. All this was after a morning of Jan giving me an introduction to the chores on the farm which will now be under my care. And I will be paid for doing this work. I start with the chickens and the new cockerel. He’s six months old and Jan only brought him home two days ago. He’s quite lovely. I will change their water, clean out their beds, make them new beds, feed them, collect the eggs, and once a week I will clean the floors as well and compost all that which will be dredged out of the chicken house.  Then I will make sure the horses have the food that they need. The horses are actually the easiest, very good at taking care of themselves.  After that I’m off to the barns for straw and hay. There is a difference, yes. Hay can be eaten, straw is mostly for a bed, and although it can also be eaten it has less nutritional value. If you didn’t know, now you do. Feel free to tell your friends as they will no doubt be most impressed. I will have to bring the straw and hay into the cow field. First I have to shovel shite into the compost pile. Then I use a pitch fork to hoist the hay into the feeders above my head. Lastly twice a week I will lay down the new straw for the cows in their covered barn space. Jan assures me that this part is fun, and he demonstrated. He wouldn’t let Daniel help because we weren’t being paid yet. There will be times when I may ask Daniel to help me, just for company and probably only in the beginning until my friendships with the animals develop into something more deep and meaningful. The chickens are easy, as I’ve already said, they love me. I know this because they peck at my wellies; a sure sign of chicken love.

It started out yesterday as a rainy morning yet by the time we worked in the woodland the sun had joined us. Daniel and I cleared huge sticks and branches off of one of the paths before we began moving tree trunks from the riverbed. There was a wind storm that made a big branch fall causing another tree to tumble.  Enter Jan’s chainsaw and The Durrant Duo to pick up the pieces.  It’s almost unbelievable how muddy we get and still it’s work I enjoy doing. We also moved one pile of stacked firewood onto another pile of stacked firewood. This firewood needs to be sold. It might be a little late though because the weather is actually getting warmer. After we finished our work, lunch and tea we went into Crediton. Jan needed some products from the farm feed store and while he collected these products with a fork lift Daniel and I walked around the store fantasizing about buying new purple and emerald green wellies, new gloves, and nice warm raincoats. This is a very different kind of fantasizing than my shopping in the states. We did a bit of human food shopping and came home for a bath, a glass of wine, and a simple dinner.

Today would be a lovely day to take more photos of the home, which has been requested by some of you. Daniel thinks that perhaps uploading the photos is taking up a bit of bandwidth here which is limited. I did not even know that to be a possibility because we always internet spoil ourselves. However, I can at least take a few photos because the sun is out and the sky is so very blue.

There is an extra bike that Daniel is going to fix up and ride and slowly but surely I’m talking myself into tackling these hills with my running shoes. You are never walking flat here, it’s either always up or down. In the end it will of course make me a stronger runner, and for now the truth is I’m just baulking. It is six miles to the woodland from here and the only place I know how to get by heart. Twelve miles seems like a good first goal. Eventually I’ll run it twice and be ready for the marathon.