Ploughing

Springy did about ploughing in her MLB today and lo and behold outside in the field opposite the house the farmer turned up with his tractor and plough. We've now got a beautiful chocolate brown field with furrows through the window.

22nd March - Spring is in the air - skylarks over fields are doing their busy song, woodpecker was hammering a bit, crow was cawing, rook nests are in the tops of trees, and our robin pair kept going into the conifer tree with bits of moss and other assorted nest building material.

13th March - We've been carding more wool too. It's full of bits - bugs, straw, grass seed. However, we have quite a fluffy pile now so we're hoping to get the dye pot out later during the week and make some orange wool. :)

 

4th march - We've had sunshine all day today so we have been out in the garden...digging up ground elder (a bit like spaghetti with its roots - tangles everywhere) - clearing the ground making way for abundance in the summer (well that's the hope). :)

 

 

 

Class Three Steiner blocks and lessons

We've done the Old Testament stories in relation to The Creation, the story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden (which Springy thought was unfair), the tale of Noah and his Ark (and again Springy thought this was unfair against the animals who got left to drown), Joseph and His Coat and the story of Moses in the bulrushes.  We went to see the Tutankhamun exhibit at the Musuem of Museums in December which tied in to Egypt and Moses.

We're reading Farmer Boy as our read aloud (although 9-year change Springy doesn't like it).

Springy can manage knitting basic knit stitches but I need to find her a teacher because I'm not getting it through in the right way to her.  I also have a spinning contact (the same as the knitting tutor) who I hope can give her a lesson in spinning wool.  She's done weaving before and also is a member of the Embroidery Guild so has done some interesting projects through that.  I'd also like to get her going with crochet but again I'm limited in my own skills with it.

Our building was a willow dome.  We still need to find a yurt to look at.  We studied about igloos earlier in the autumn.

I still need to do more on weights and measures.

In relation to farming, we have some seed potatoes.  Money is tight as usual but I'm hoping to get a raised planter to have some carrots and leeks or salad crops this year.  I bought Springy a child-sized garden fork so she can dig up the back bed herself and turn it into her own vegetable patch (or flowers or herbs).  I hope to get a little garden rake and hoe as well for her (I noticed her enthusiasm when she played with some real but child-sized tools the other week).

Lambing

This morning we went to see the newborn lambs at a local organic farm.  They had several hundred sheep in the flock.  The ewes had loads of lambs and all were adorable.  We saw some that were 5 minutes old with the umbilical and placenta still on show.  Fresh hay was being given to the ewes and there were lots of lambs skipping about with their dangly tales.  I got several large bags of lambs' wool to use for needlefelting and dyeing.  It's of no use for spinning because it's a second shearing (too short).  However, I was so happy because I got it for free.