Week four - living on the land (in a caravan)

This post arrives slightly late after a busy week celebrating Thanksgiving, birthdays and commiserating the departure of two wonderful interns Bailey and Csilla. After a month it feels like the right time to describe my surroundings, not from the glittering joy of fresh eyes but with a sense of what it feels like to be here 24/7, living, working and being. 

My caravan is a little haven of Laura in the middle of the woods. The fairy lights and felt flowers were up within 5 minutes and the earwigs seemed pleased to meet me.  Down in the woods there is a small autonomous region of the farm known affectionately by us as caravanland.  Six little dwellings make their home here and up in the yard are more with enough facilities to warrant the title caravancity. We share a water supply which to date has not frozen (fingers crossed it will stay that way for a while yet) and I do have electricity which is enough to power the lights and a little oil radiator – together giving off a cosy little vibe, far away from the flat but certainly home.

I am missing my London significantly just now, but then it has been two months since we parted company. The siren chorus is a distant echo in my mind and the bustle seems a world away from the fields of Hertfordshire.  I miss the ever presence of places and faces old and new, pushing my little Goldy down the streets, the company and even the stress  (–which has paled into insignificance after cooking intern lunches) of throwing together a banquet for the book group gang.

In exchange though I now enjoy the most incredible constellations whenever we have clear skies, which (thank you beautiful nature) has been frequently since my arrival. Life has become so much more simple. I have the clothes I need to keep me warm and dry during the days and the blankets to feel cosy at night.  My ukulele keeps me company in the evenings (when I’m not in the pub)  my only significant luxury is the laptop I write to you now using, which also provides the comfort of a film or two on lonely evenings.

The farm is still welcoming and horticulture is certainly the right place for me. Slowly I am learning the names of the different salads we grow and finding my place in the team – at present a source of amusement as I continue to photograph the vegetables, for either their comedy or beauty, and wow are there lots of beautiful vegetables out there.  Next week I’ll pay a visit to the bright lights of the city and I hope it will welcome me with open arms and not seem a shocking mess after when juxtaposed with my current surroundings.

Week three - Box days

(This week’s blog comes with a warning – in that it was written last minute to replace the note I had intended to publish. Perhaps at some point I will share the other, but for the time being it seems wisest to keep to observations and descriptions of my life here in the earliest days and perhaps my more in depth considerations will follow later - cryptic)

As those of you who are in regular comms with me will know, I have been AWOL on Thursdays and Fridays and shall be for the foreseeable future. Not sheltering in my caravan from the impending winter but busying away in the packing shed preparing Farm Boxes to go out on delivery. Interns here are expected to muck in with all aspects of the farm business, including the shop, cafe, pub, admin and box schemes.  It makes sense; we all buy into the ethos of the farm so we should all chip in to make it work – though it’s a harder pill to swallow for some than others. Easy for me to say, I don't have any pub shifts...

Luke and Fran 'packing'

The lovely Fran runs the box scheme and drafts a happy bunch of helpers in to pack up and ship out our produce. This photograph might give you the wrong impression of her, but believe me, there is something about the long hours, rising long before the sun and the pressure to get delivery vans out on time that sends us all a bit loopy.  That said, it’s quite a pleasurable way to spend two days because the four of us get along so well. The long hours do take it out of me, and by the time I roll around to my day off on Saturday I’m about ready to sleep. The boxes themselves really showcase what this farm has to offer and though largely delivered locally there are drop off points in North London as well.

 

With all this time on my hands for contemplation, my mind has been heavy this week with thoughts of the future and what this jaunt in the countryside is seriously leading to. I won’t outline all of my plans here, there is much time for them to unfold and I’m happily adapting them the more I talk and mull over the matter. I have however had one brainwave which could just help me to raise cash for land; this is to slowly build up enough entertaining/potentially raunchy pictures of vegetables to make a book – don’t go stealing my idea now, I’ll share a couple with you to give you a taster... there is potential that with enough time and dedicated veg observation there could be enough material for a vegetable kama sutra :)

Carrot love

 

Celeriac (for those who don't know)

Week two - settling into the farm

If nothing else this blog is going to serve to help me keep track of time on the farm, and perhaps entertain a few people along the way (this week I tore my trousers falling  through a small piece of farm whilst playing my ukulele to the pigs – yes, I’m  still too shy to play to people). It is starting to feel like I’ve been here for months, don’t assume that to be negative, I am ridiculously comfortable in my surroundings. The damp (and earwigs) have mostly left Shadow, and having now dealt with early mornings for two weeks, cooked a breakfast, lunch and dinner and mastered shower timing I feel like I’m settling into a routine. The adjustment though huge, has been pretty smooth and not at all painful.

Four days a week I’m working on horticulture, which means being out in the fields, or polytunnels at 7am. It’s beautiful to be moving for an hour before breakfast watching the sunrise (above) and using my body until sundown, which is creeping ever earlier as Winter draws closer. The other two days I’m part of a team of four working hard to pack up the farm boxes in time for deliveries, these are long, but so much fun despite the sleep deprived mania (more on that later). On the seventh day, I rest.

In the world of hort the beds are being prepared for Winter now and we're bringing in all the field irrigation to prevent frost damage, we are however, still harvesting tomatoes and peppers which is amazing as late in the year as this. The soft fruit orchard is having a thorough overhaul and I am eager to see the fruits (pun intended) of our work come next spring. We continue to harvest carrots, leeks and turnips which are staples in the farm boxes and shop and salad daily for the cafe and pub - such beautiful fresh food!

I’m hoping that I will see out a full year at Church Farm which will allow me to understand the changing of the seasons in the world of growing. Having said that we’re set for frosts next week so the third week blog might have a slightly different tone... For now I’ll leave you with a picture or our beautiful Berkshire piglets which make me smile on a daily basis, there are 358 pigs on the farm at present and lots of babies. The farm itself is open to the public to walk around so if you come to visit you'll see lots of these cuties yourself.

First week on the farm

So this is it, after six months in the planning I have moved onto Church Farm and spent my first week working in horticulture. Wow what a change. We're out in the fields by 7am each day which makes my wake up almost two hours earlier than back in London... this will certainly take some getting used to.

Each week I'll be working 48 hours over 6 days in exchange for a small sum of money but most importantly food (and beautiful fresh food at that) and board (in the shape of Shadow - my little caravan). In return I am lucky enough to be part of a wonderful community of people, all of whom have a passion for sustainable agricuture, which means not only a happy communal lifetyle but lots of fascinating and inspiring conversations about the future of the world we share.

This week I've been learning the ropes out in horticulture ('hort' to those with more experience) and under the guidance of Rik have been planting and harvesting some sumptuous treats. The fields and polytunnels here supply the on site shop and cafe, as well as the pub over the road (part of the Church Farm family) and the farm boxes which are delivered weekly. Which means it is non stop. I've had the pleasure of seeing the process through from planting to customer this week. Harvesting, packing up the boxes and going out on the delivery rounds which was wonderfully satisfying.

After week one I am feeling happy to be spending so much time outdoors, and rather fortunate that the weather has been so kind. It is all still very new to me and therefore not at all monotonous, but I know that will be a risk in the months to come. London is a world away and after four weeks out, by no means forgotten but I am not aching to go, in fact I think it will be the end of this month before I am back.

Dear London

September 2011

To my dearest London

Here we are on the verge of an ending and a new beggining; after four years together the time has come to part.


The rose tinted specs have come off and on more times than I can count in our time together, but truly my love for this city is unrivaled. The passion and tenacity of your people is inspiring and has helped drive me to this change in myself and my direction in life.You have been good to me and we've had fun, the sights and samples of life so varied and exciting, but it had to end sometime, after all, I am a country girl living the city life.

It seems right to go out on a high and this last year has been like no other. The little world of farm:shop has opened my eyes to the possibilities out there and I've seen that I can chose to lead the life I most desire.



I am going to pursue a brand new path and seek out all things sustainable and nourishing.

So off I venture, to foreign shores for my space and then to the caravanland to see what a big country farm can teach me, and this isn't just any old farm...