Well one year on and what has changed? Well Hubby and I sat down and asked ourselves this question the other night over a glass or two of wine and this is what we thought...
1. I didn't work on Fridays - I do now
2. Hubby was stressed with high blood pressure - his blood pressure has dropped and he is not stressed
3. I cycled to work - I don't now
4. Hubby spent 3 hours + on the M25 - he doesn't now
5. Son had 34+ in his class - he has 24 in there now
6. Weekends flew by in Oxford - they don't now
7. Our income was 2/3rds higher
8. We were careless with money, spending alot of it on stuff we didn't really want /useless tat - we are carefull with money now and really think hard about things before we buy them
9. Son had less freedom - he has loads more now
10. We didn't feel part of the community and didn't know many of our neighbours - we really feel we belong and know all our neighbours
11. We had no animals - we now have 4 chooks, two cats, two pigs and two sheep
12. Hubby and I were 3stone heavier between us - we are 3 stone lighter now!
13. We took a lot of things for granted - we really appreciate things now
14. We were always rushing around - we seem to have more time to do things now
15. We dreamed about having a smallholding - we have one now!
16. We were happy - we are really very happy now
......and we are really pleased we took the leap
Sunday, 12 September 2010
Friday, 10 September 2010
Just a normal weekend!
Haven't posted for such a long time as we have been busy! Downsizing and stepping off the hamster wheel is an exhausting process you know
Had a friend around last weekend - oh had nothing planned but blimey she must have thought either a: What a hectic life we lead as city farmers or b: we had put together a rather good show!
She arrived on Friday only to find Hubby and Son getting ready for riding. The evening was spent in the usual way (if it sunny) down the local pub which is in the middle of nowhere but seems to attract hundreds of people. A couple of ciders later and first event occurred - deal done with regard to the purchase and collection of two pigs the following morning.
Saturday morning dawned and off we went to choose the piggies - we arrived at destination and friend and I were greeted by lots of lovely little piggies. We chose two girls and Hubby & co started to load them into the Landy. First pig in and when the second was coming over friend said - I think that is a boy, look he has dangly bits! A quick check of pig and she was proved correct. Whilst waiting for the exchange, friend looked at pig in Landy and confirmed that this too was a girly pig - whilst waiting for second exchange piggly tried to escape out of the back of the Landy. Hubby had previously said that a small electric fence would be OK for these as they could not jump high - mmmmm........ Pigs safely locked in Landy and off we went. Arrived back home and proceeded to load pigglys into the field. Pigglys escaped and friend had to run around trying to get them back into the field. The afternoon was spent at a food festival where the highlight was pig racing - seemed to me that we had already witnessed this event and indeed after experiencing the so called "proper" pig race, ours was much better! Evening drink on the terrace (aka flat roof) and friends popped in. Whilst having a drink Hubby was told that he should stack the bales of hay as it might rain - Hubby had beer in hand and wasn't having any of it but friend persisted so Hubby and friend went off in the dark into the field to stack hay. Neighbours arrived to assist with the hay stacking as they do! Visiting friend impressed with activities so far but little did she know how exciting Sunday would be!!
Friend hugely impressed when she awoke to find Hubby up, dressed and out in the shed making space for hay. People who know Hubby will also be impressed by this as the only time he is ever up , dressed and out is when he is skiing. No snow to be seen anywhere but it was the threat of the soon to arrive farmers that got him into action. Frantic activity in shed, 4x4 arrived with neighbours to help, another 4x4 arrived with farmers. Landy out with trailer "farm boys" standing on side of 4x4, sitting on top of trailer with bales of hay. "Farm girl" arrived to help in the harvest. Neighbour's daughter saddled up horse in car park for a ride. Friend much impressed by all this activity and thought Hubby was very hardworking on Sunday morning. "Was he usually like this?" ........ I could leave a space here for Hubby's friends to fill in! Shed full of hay - looked and smelt good but no real need for all this hay unless we turn the shed into some kind of farm activity centre. Oh did I forget to say that during all this harvesting activity neighbour decided to deliver the two sheep that we purchased so friend and I frantically tried to put in the electric fence as per Hubby's useless instructions. Sheep arrived and placed into field.
Ahhhh rest at last and a quiet afternoon - oh no - we had planned a BBQ on the beach. Loaded Landy with large Weber, surf boards etc and all climbed in (Well Son had to go with neighbours). Arrived at beach - raining. Not to be put off, Men decided to go surfing and left friend and I at BBQ with a box of wine. Well it could have gone one of two ways, but embracing the good old British spirit we put waterproof coats on, lit BBQ, opened box of wine and played rounders!
As another friend so excellently put it ....." A normal weekend for your friend then?!"
Had a friend around last weekend - oh had nothing planned but blimey she must have thought either a: What a hectic life we lead as city farmers or b: we had put together a rather good show!
She arrived on Friday only to find Hubby and Son getting ready for riding. The evening was spent in the usual way (if it sunny) down the local pub which is in the middle of nowhere but seems to attract hundreds of people. A couple of ciders later and first event occurred - deal done with regard to the purchase and collection of two pigs the following morning.
Saturday morning dawned and off we went to choose the piggies - we arrived at destination and friend and I were greeted by lots of lovely little piggies. We chose two girls and Hubby & co started to load them into the Landy. First pig in and when the second was coming over friend said - I think that is a boy, look he has dangly bits! A quick check of pig and she was proved correct. Whilst waiting for the exchange, friend looked at pig in Landy and confirmed that this too was a girly pig - whilst waiting for second exchange piggly tried to escape out of the back of the Landy. Hubby had previously said that a small electric fence would be OK for these as they could not jump high - mmmmm........ Pigs safely locked in Landy and off we went. Arrived back home and proceeded to load pigglys into the field. Pigglys escaped and friend had to run around trying to get them back into the field. The afternoon was spent at a food festival where the highlight was pig racing - seemed to me that we had already witnessed this event and indeed after experiencing the so called "proper" pig race, ours was much better! Evening drink on the terrace (aka flat roof) and friends popped in. Whilst having a drink Hubby was told that he should stack the bales of hay as it might rain - Hubby had beer in hand and wasn't having any of it but friend persisted so Hubby and friend went off in the dark into the field to stack hay. Neighbours arrived to assist with the hay stacking as they do! Visiting friend impressed with activities so far but little did she know how exciting Sunday would be!!
Friend hugely impressed when she awoke to find Hubby up, dressed and out in the shed making space for hay. People who know Hubby will also be impressed by this as the only time he is ever up , dressed and out is when he is skiing. No snow to be seen anywhere but it was the threat of the soon to arrive farmers that got him into action. Frantic activity in shed, 4x4 arrived with neighbours to help, another 4x4 arrived with farmers. Landy out with trailer "farm boys" standing on side of 4x4, sitting on top of trailer with bales of hay. "Farm girl" arrived to help in the harvest. Neighbour's daughter saddled up horse in car park for a ride. Friend much impressed by all this activity and thought Hubby was very hardworking on Sunday morning. "Was he usually like this?" ........ I could leave a space here for Hubby's friends to fill in! Shed full of hay - looked and smelt good but no real need for all this hay unless we turn the shed into some kind of farm activity centre. Oh did I forget to say that during all this harvesting activity neighbour decided to deliver the two sheep that we purchased so friend and I frantically tried to put in the electric fence as per Hubby's useless instructions. Sheep arrived and placed into field.
Ahhhh rest at last and a quiet afternoon - oh no - we had planned a BBQ on the beach. Loaded Landy with large Weber, surf boards etc and all climbed in (Well Son had to go with neighbours). Arrived at beach - raining. Not to be put off, Men decided to go surfing and left friend and I at BBQ with a box of wine. Well it could have gone one of two ways, but embracing the good old British spirit we put waterproof coats on, lit BBQ, opened box of wine and played rounders!
As another friend so excellently put it ....." A normal weekend for your friend then?!"
Wednesday, 16 June 2010
Country Lesson 2 - In order to eat meat you have to kill something first!
Well the day dawned bright and sunny. Hubby went over to have a word and say thanks before he took Sausage and Bacon off to piggy heaven. Now I am under no illusion where meat comes from, that is why we named our pigs Sausage and Bacon - and they have had a fantastic life compared to some of the pigs that are intensively farmed to produce our pork and bacon....BUT it was actually harder than I thought this morning saying goodbye to them. I have not got as close to them as Hubby as he has done most of the feeding, but when I saw them driving off the vision that kept on springing into my mind was of their little ears flopping over their eyes as the followed me around the edge of the field. I loved the way they used to wiggle their bums as they scratched themselves on their pig ark, I loved the way they used to squeal when they heard the gate open or the car on the gravel as this usually meant that food was on its way, I also loved the way you could hear them snoring from our garden. I am not getting too sentimental though as this is yet another lesson in how to live the Good Life in the country. Something has actually been killed to produce the meat on our plate and this will be happy pork it will have the fewest "air miles" on any pork that I have ever eaten, it will have had a good pampered life, and it will have no chemicals pumped into - still Hubby and I did have a little sigh and I have to admit I had a little tear in my eye when we looked at the empty ark. Streaky and Smoked are about to be born shortly though so time to move on - how did Son cope with all this you may ask. Was he upset by the stark reality of the country way of life - Oh No! When asked if he felt a little sad he replied "No just tell me when can I get my black pudding!".
Monday, 7 June 2010
Why are the weekends longer?
I have noticed over the last few months that despite working one extra day (yes won't let Hubby forget that) the weekends actually seem so much longer. When I go back to work on a Monday I feel like I have been away for absolutely ages and ages. I am not aware that I enter some kind of black hole when I return home on Fridays or that my car transforms into a Tardis so why do I feel that way. I think it is down to chilling and not having to rush around doing things so the weekend starts as soon as I leave work. When we used to come down to the cottage a lot we would be packing up and then driving and so the weekend didn't really start until we arrived at the cottage at 10.30pm. We then had to leave at 1pm on the Sunday to see the rellies so that ate into the weekend too. Wierd really, but in a nice kind of way!
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
Duck Guilt
Should you feel guilty about a duck? That is the question that is causing me some brain ache at the moment. It all started with Banjo the rescue duck who we homed as he was being picked on by our neighbours ducks. He has settled in well with the chooks and seems to be thriving. He is an Indian Runner Duck. We have a pond in the garden and he loves it, really loves it, he splashes around, quacking away to his hearts content. The dilemma is when we leave the chooks and Banjo to roam the garden they eat all my plants. So questions are:
1. Should I leave them roam the garden eating my plants so that Banjo can have a splash?
2. Should I leave them in the their run with a little trug of water for Banjo to splash in and save my plants?
3. Should I leave Banjo out to get at the pond and leave the plant eating chooks in their run? Will Banjo get separation anxiety?
4. Should I even be bothered about their feelings?
5. Have I gone all soft since I moved to the country?
1. Should I leave them roam the garden eating my plants so that Banjo can have a splash?
2. Should I leave them in the their run with a little trug of water for Banjo to splash in and save my plants?
3. Should I leave Banjo out to get at the pond and leave the plant eating chooks in their run? Will Banjo get separation anxiety?
4. Should I even be bothered about their feelings?
5. Have I gone all soft since I moved to the country?
Monday, 3 May 2010
Now that's a nice hedge!
Our car journeys used to consist of "Oh that's a nice car, I think it is an Aston Martin DB9 I would prefer it in graphite How about you?" " Oh I think it has to be British Racing Green" or "Look at that house that is enormous" or even if driving in a city "Oh look she is carrying a Mulberry" but how things have changed since moving down here. We drove to Brecon yesterday and the main things you could hear in the car were....."Now that is the Landy we need, look it is a long wheel base and has a pick up at the back!" "Yes but would you go for the pick up or just the back where the seats can come out?" "Mmm, not sure but it would have to have checkerboard on it", or "look at those pigs, now they have shade, I am sure ours should have some shade" or Hubby has recently focused on hedges! "Look at that hedge, that is a nice hedge, see he has put the uprights in to stop it from falling over" or "See he has tried to do that hedge, but he hasn't left any connection to the tree base so it will just die!" or " See how they differ up here in Brecon, they leave them a little longer" or just simply "Nice Hedge!"
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Scavenger Hubby and the Domestic Goddess
Role reversal has happened yet again and I find myself taking on the role of Domestic Goddess - I cannot stop baking - as I am still in fat club the product of my baking is farmed out to neighbours and work. I am baking cakes, muffins, banana bread and lovely New Zealand brekkies! I even had a cake stand from John Lewis (who else please?!) for my birthday. When I brought it home and showed Hubby he asked what is was - it was very obvious what it was. I told him it was a cake stand as I had always wanted one -- oh really he said funny enough I seemed to have forgotten how many times you mentioned that you would like one of these. Well what I meant really is I always looked at those lovely magazines with bunting and lovely sheds and things in the garden, white muslin blowing in the wind and a cake stand on the beautifully laid table and I thought oh I would like that it looks nice.... well I now have the cake stand and soon the bunting. I have my eye on the old brown shed too a lick of pastel paint (in this season apparently) and Bobs your uncle! I even have my sewing machine back out - how times have changed - mmm he says. Hubby on the other hand is turning into my Dad and scavenging things to make things out of - oh he says coming home with some old pallets I can make a tool holder out of one of those, or a grow bag stand out of this....mmmmm. But to top it all he came home the other day with half a tree in the back of his landy - he had driven past it several times and it was just calling out to him to bring it home to make things out of and to burn some of it. So he went back with his trailer and chain saw and cut it up. There was so much of it that his saw was blunt and he had to stop - but at least he asked the farmer if he could have it. So in the large shed we now have lots of wood - which Hubby describes as "table", "stool" "trendy square block of wood thingy that you see in Living etc " mmmm I said!
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