Spring is definitely on its' way in!

We've been enjoying a wonderfully mild and sunny period which has pleased our two most recent schools. It was coats off and draped over the cob oven during our Forest School session on Tuesday and we were all sorry to have to go indoors....even for lunch! Our pigs are fattening up fast and are due to go to the abbattoir on April 12th which means that we need another chest freezer to store them in. Graham and Jonathon have finished lambing and David has started his so there are plenty of lambs in the fields enjoying the sunshine, some needing bottle-feeding. The dairy herd at Parsonage Farm are going out into the fields during the day which means that the electric fence is back....a favourite job for most children! Two goslings hatched out on Thursday and there are plenty more eggs in the incubators so everything is moving forward in a very seasonal way. We welcome the light mornings particularly and the evenings are drawing out too.

Winter at Nethercott

It's been a long time since my last post and winter is well and truly under way...so much so, in fact, that it is the middle of January and Christmas is well and truly in the oast! We were very snowed out over the holidays so it was difficult to get in and care for the poultry and donkeys. Barry took the tractor home so that at least he could come and go every day while those of us with only cars couldn't get very far at all.
Now we are in 2011 and are 2 schools into the term. We are pleased to be welcoming 3 new schools to start the year with Lark Hall Primary from Stockwell, London here at the moment. The weather has been damp and mild and is now cold and clear and sunny. Lots of cold fingers and toes first thing in the morning! We have established cooking as a regular activity on Tuesdays, when the children make their own tea (pizza, salads and puddings). Next week we will start to operate a three-way division so that we can run Forest School, Toms Talk and cooking every week.
I am posting a selection of pictures taken over the winter and depicting the wonderful bonfire Sunnyhill Primary from Streatham, London enjoyed, as well as some of our pigs which went to the slaughterhouse last week and Lark Hall children cooking.
A Happy New Year to all our friends and farmers!

John Perryn Primary School are here!

After an enormous amount of rain we are now experiencing blue skies and sunshine, although it is very cold first thing. Luckily for us, the rain has left puddles and mud to get stuck in, but none of it matters because we are well dressed up against the elements! Today the children made their tea with our cooks, Leanne and Angela. They made delicious fruit tarts and salads as well as cheese and tomato pizzas and biscuits. There are some real budding cooks among them so maybe they will prepare a meal for you when they get home!
The sky is darkening and it's time to light the log fire and get ready for tea. Tomorrow it's back to farm work for everyone but today was fun and the cooks really enjoyed working with the children.

It's half-term already!

We're coming to the end of our last school week before half term and wonder where the time has gone! The weather has been very kind to us for ages with lots of mellow autumn sunshine and temperatures way above what we could hope for....will it continue for my walk along Hadrians Wall on 30th October? I doubt it!
Kings Hedges have enjoyed a full week watching the pigs grow, their arrows fly and the fires crackle. We will be sorry to see them go and I suspect they may feel the same. I hope every old farmer has a good break and we will be back in the swing in a few weeks.

Autumn is here!

So here we are in the new term and the new year and it's been a restful and enjoyable summer for me...I hope it has for all of you reading this, too! We have been enjoying some of the best of seasonal autumn weather and the fruits of the season are in abundance. On our Sunday walks we have been picking blackberries and eating them in our fruit salads and as blackberry mousse. The elderberries are hanging off the trees and the plan is for Widey Court Primary school to gather them in on the Sunday walk this week. It is a bumper apple harvest this year and Hilary and I have started to pick eating apples for the fruit bowls at Nethercott Barton with the kind permission of Bob and Wendy Barrett. Next week we will be picking for making apple juice and I expect we will make gallons! The potato harvest is safely in thanks to both Prior Weston and Whetstone Field Primary Schools and there has been a real opportunity for everyone to clearly see the route of some of our food from the fields/trees/garden to the plate. The squashes are ready for roasting and form a part of Sunday lunch alongside our own roast pork and all the runner beans are picked and frozen. Three types of chutney have been made, rhubarb, marrow and apple, and will be for sale in the shop.
Four new pigs arrived a few weeks ago and they are already settling in and beginning to nibble at childrens' feet through the bottom of the fence. This time they are very gingery and spotty, two boars and two sows.
The turkeys are sitting on eggs but yesterday and today we picked one out that was definitely full of liquid and not chick, and broke them on a stone to see just what is the worst smell in the world!!!!!!!! Ask the children of Whetstone Field Primary School and they'll have the answer.
On Tuesday we had a great time in the spinney making things out of natural materials; willow snails, wooden medallions with rush rope, charcoal out of burnt willow and bows and arrows which have been played with constantly since then.
So...a lot of fun and a lot of hard work and a lot of food production and collecting...I love the autumn!!!!!!!!

I've been having a bit of difficulty uploading the photos I took of the rapidly-cobbed roundhouse so I'm here to have another try! On Tuesday St. George's Primary from Wrotham in Kent left only one small panel to cob and we had a lot of fun covering the roundhouse (and ourselves) with mud! The weather has continued to surpass expectations and the children have worked hard covering the silage and cleaning out the rest of Colly's Barn as well as the rest of the routine farm jobs. Partly because of the heat, I think they're all quite tired and will be ready for a lie-in at home on Saturday.

Still trying to upload the pictures.