Wandering Where We’ll Be

We begin this blog on a somewhat dreary Sunday getting off a train in light rain and being met by Stephen who is picking us up.  His reddish car buzzes us through the streets of Cumberland and Llandissilio.  He is used to driving on , to us, the “wrong” side of the street and navigating his way about this country side.  There is some small talk as he brings us down the last road to the farm.  The road is narrow and to either side of the car is a “wall” of grassy ground about 6-8 feet high.  Some trees are growing here and there on top of these banks and they create a “tunnel” of green in some areas.

At the farm, we park just behind a long house/barn with rockz walls.  Part of this is a guesthouse.  In front of us is a mill which Stephen is refurbishing so Bettina (the other part of this duo) can have a spinning and craftworking workshop in the upper floor and stephen can do woodworking in the lower floor area.  Their 2-floor house was nearbz and we got to sleep in a room with an attached bathroom.  It was very nice.

Over the week, we discovered how self-sufficient Bettina and Stephen were.  They had goats which gave them milk, cheese, yogurt, and meat.  They had chickens which gave them eggs and meat.  They had sheep which gave them wool and meat.  They had a garden with many different vegetables at different times of the season.  They had fruit trees and blackberry bushes.  They had honey from bees.  They made wine and beer and jams, apple cider, and woolen products.  And, above all that, they heated their house with firewood and have their own well.  They also make their own candles.

 Now, on to our itinerary.

Sundaz evening:  We were given a tour by Stephen around the farm and things they are doing there.  Bettina was away in Germany visiting familz and friends so we would not meet here until Tuesday evening.  Stephen made dinner for us.  It was all verz nice.  We did some dishes afterwords then went to bed after chatting for a bit. 

Monday: Brambles.  Stephen and Bettina own this one area that is FULL of blackberry bushes.  This area is bigger than my parents whole yard including the house!  These blackberry bushes can and do vine outward and are very full of thorns.  They are so thick, you cant see through them or under them.  They, in some places, are so interlooped and vined over, they are about 7 to 8 feet high.  I dont mean they just grow to that height.  I mean the vines, which in some places can reach about 20 feet in length, are building an igloo type mound of vines that lay over (and hook together) each other.  Tim, a week later, was just recently still pulling small thorns out of his hands.  Both of our arms were all scratched up as if we had fought a wild and bestial city cat that was in a bad mood.  Tim mostly used a tool called a “slasher”.  Think of a 5 foot baseball bat or thick stick with a small, 1 foot long or so, half scythe on the end that wasnt too sharp (it is not meant to be).  I used the lopper (I called it Cyndi Lauper) to try and thin this bramble knot and take out the bases of these vines in tough areas (like a hill next to this area).  We would occasionally switch tools and also yank out/dig out roots and burn all of the stuff we had cleared.  This clearing was a slow process.  After we had cleared some of the area, we called it a day.  We had dinner and were on the computer a bit (bit is something they say alot around here.  If you have some potatoes or whatever and they are on the counter and you want someone to get them for you, you saz “please, can you grab those bits over there for me” while pointing at the potatoes).  Then bed time.

Tuesday: Brambles.  Today we tackled some of the hill next to the big area we somewhat partially cleared yesterday but nowhere near the whole area we have to do.  Did I mention that beside the blackberry brambles there are also wild rose vines with altogether different thorns.  As if the blackberries werent enough, the wild rose vines acted like a net to hold all these vines of all types together.  They were thinner and ropey.  If the blackberry brambles were alone, they would be easier to handle because they are thicker and by cutting a few at the base and yanking the whole vine out, it seems to go relatively quickly.  Add the thin wild rose vine and you might as well tie it all in knots and have to cut the vines about three times each to dismantle the knot and be able to clear it.  The wild rose vines were prolific on the hill and more and more of them grew in the main area as we continued to clear.  We started burning cut brambles today.  The piles were high.  After this, we went in and had dinner.  Bettina arrived home later on.  We discovered she tends to be the “talker” in the relationship.  Stephen is not silent by any means and I dont mean Bettina is an endless blatherer.  She just has an easier time with seamless conversation.  By the way, tea time is a constant about every 3 to 4 hours.  We would have 2 cups each at breakfast (about 9 am), lunch (about 12-1), after brambles (about 4:30-6), and at dinner if there wasnt homebrew beer or wine.  I personally like it with 2 cubes of sugar or equivalent (I emptied their sugar bowl only once) and milk or cream.  The rest of Tuesday went about the same as Monday.

Wednesday Itinerary: Brambles and rain.  We continued, in the main area, today to cut brambles and after about 4 hours, the rain started being a constant.  We went in for lunch and tea , hoping the rain would stop.  Nope.  We cut up some apples (lots).  Some for apple crumble (I liked how Bettina said this word) and the rest for freezing or other fruty deserts or whatever.  It was still raining and Tim and I would have still gone out for more brambles but Bettina said we had done enough so we read, went on the computer and various other stuff til dinner and bedtime.

Thursday Itinerary…not brambles.  We went to Tenby on the coast.  This town/city was really cool.  It is on a 100-200 foot cliff or maybe taller.  Walls face the ocean on top of the cliffs with steps which look weathered from ages of being lashed by storms and winds leading down to a sandy beach tanners would kill for on a sunny, warm day.  We had clouds and wind with slight bits of rain.  It was sunny at the end of the day though.  We wandered the narrow, winding, hilly streets.  Went up (literally) a narrow alley and ate at a place called “The Plantagenet”.  It had good food and wine.  Had tea later on, at another place.  Breads and cakes go with it if you are English/UK oriented so we did those as well.  Yummy.  Tenby was really fun to wander around.  After that, back to the farm to eat and sleep.

Friday…Itinerary…Brambles.  We slashed and lopped our way to finishing about 1/3 to 1/2 the area that needed clearing. 

Kill wild rose vines and mow down anything seen that even resembles a blackberry bush (raspberry bushes look extremely similar) trying to take hold is still my first impulse when I see these plants and probably will be for quite some time.  I faced a new plant today.  Stinging nettle nailed my arms.  I might as well have collected the honey from the bees Stephen and Bettina have without any protection on my arms.  Lumpy, swelling, yuch!  After all this, we went in and had a nice comfortable evening as usual.  Tim even did some wool spinning on a drop spindle.  If you dont know what a drop spindle is, think of an old wooden top that spins when kids spin it with their fingers as a toy.  Now make the wooden dowel part the kid actually spins about 1 foot long and make the round part wider and that is a drop spindle.  I never knew they existed.  I just knew about the spinning wheel.

Anyway…

Saturday morning itinerary: Pack up, eat, take a picture of Stephen and Bettina, ride to Clunderwen train station and begin the next part of our trip.

Thanks Stephen and Bettina for letting us wwoof at your place.

Dan

Scotland… sounds exotic, with lots of plaid tartans, bagpipers and whiskey, right? Well, from where I’m sitting right no, it seems pretty “normal” — well, mostly normal. The dog I just heard slurpng down his water dish is now standing in front of me, wagging his tail and looking for attention. It’s evening, so I look out the window to darkness; soft ceiling lamps brighten the room. A guitar leans against the wall behind a music stand with a music book on it. A piano, also with an open music book resting on its stand, sits in the corner just over my shoulder. I hear the faint theme music from a movie that Dan is watching in an adjacent room. I have just set down a book by Bill Bryson called “Notes from a Small Island,” which had been suggested by one of our hosts, Robert, as appropriate reading for travelling in the U.K. Then, there are comfortable love seats and chairs on a wood floor with area rugs. And, CDs on a small shelf spill over onto the top of the nearby piano. And, behind me is a hutch with photos of smiling children and nicely dressed adults.

What in this room reminds me that I’m not at home — in fact, that I am probably far from home? One of the most mundane things: the electrical wall outlets are wider than they are tall and contain an on/off switch for each of the two outlets. And, the outlet itself doesn’t accept the typical two vertical and one round prongs that we have in the U.S. Rather, it accepts a plug with three rectangular prongs, two horizontal and one vertical. Hmmm… what else? Two fiddles sitting on a table in the corner. The two oldest boys are taking fiddle lessons. Sam (the oldest boy) began by taking classical lessons, but switched to traditional because he enjoyed the music more. And, let’s see… the wood burning stove. The house in which our hosts live is heated with wood in the winter. And, by the way, they’re working on rigging up a big metal drum to convert used deep-frying oil into bio-diesel to fuel their cars.

So, who are the hosts we are staying with? They are Robert and Justine and their four children, Hazel, Sam, James and Angus. Hazel is 15; angus is 4; and I’m not quite sure of the ages of Sam or James who are somewhere between. They live in the beautiful Scotland highlands near Strontian, Scotland on Loch Sunart.

Hazel is a very bright girl (soon to be young woman) who takes pride in her various arts, crafts and photography projects and wants desperately for the family computer to be back online after an upgrade, so that she can “talk” with her online boyfriend, who lives in England.

Sam, with dark, wavy hair, plays fiddle, a bit of piano and a bit of guitar. He also plays Shinty, a sport, a sport somewhat similar to field hockey that’s popular in the Gaelic regions of Scotland.

James, also with dark, wavy hair, is a very bright young boy who — based on hearing his attempts — and his mother’s urgings — to complete a writing assignment — seems to be too impatient with the act of putting pencil paper to put his thoughts into writing. He is also the child (of all the Dunn children) to be pegged by a neighbor as having “high hohpes” of being a true capitalist despite his parents’ left leanings.

Angus — little Angie (said AYN-GEE, with a hard G) — the first of the kids to greet us. The blonde, four-year old Angus, naked as a jay bird, ran out to meet us, grabbed Dan by the hand, and led us upstairs to see his “new” room.

So, where are the kids now, you ask? Angus is already in bed, and the others are in town for either sport or youth group activities.

[Entry finished at a later date]

Dan and I are sleeping in a caravan (that’s what they call a camper in the U.K.) owned by the Dunn’s. It’s very comfortable, with electricity, water and a heater. However, we eat meals, shower and hang out in the house. We grab and eat our own breakfasts and lunches in the kitchen, but we eat suppers with the family around the table. The food is always excellent, and the wide-ranging discussions at the table are fun and informative. (We’ve learned quite a bit about British pop culture!) Although, James thinks the discussions are boring: “We’re just talking again,” he’ll groan as he grows impatient withthe inactivity.

So, what kind of work are we doing? Well, the Dunns began a mushroom-cultivating operation earlier this year, so we’ve seen and helped with most of this process. Very simply, bread-loaf-sized blocks of the mushroom-growing medium, including sawdust and wood chips, are sterilized by heating, inoculated, sealed in a specialized plastic bag and held at about 80 degrees F. Later, the blocks are remmoved from the bags and placed in a special, climate-controlled “fruiting” room. (No, that’s not where Dan does his impression of Jack from “Will and Grace.” ) There, the mushrooms grow, and we harvest them using a small knife. For more detail, check out their website: http://ardnamushrooms.co.uk/

The Dunns also have a vegetable garden, six pigs and several chickens, so we’ve helped a bit with the garden and with feeding the pigs. The other small tasks we’ve helped with include picking up the drum for bio-diesel conversion and “turning” a compost bin that is part of a community composting project.

When we weren’t working, we did several short biking and hiking trips in the neighboring highlands. But, Friday was a beautiful day, so we did a longer hike to the top of nearby Beinn Resipol, at a height of 2772 feet. Since we started essentially at sea level, we hiked up nearly every foot of those 2772 heet. The trail was very wet and muddy along most of the route, but the 360 degree views at the top were MAGNIFICENT!! Robert drove us to the starting point, and we hiked to the top and, then, improvised our way down the opposite ridge, ending up — after much mud and brush — back at the Dunn’s. The entire hike, including a short lunch break on the slope, took just under six hours. Upon returning, we washed up,, had an excellent curry supper (Thanks, Justine!) with the family and, then, participated in their “family movie night” by watching the eerie film, “Godsend.” It was a great way to top off our excellent stay with the Dunns!

I still occasionally ask myself that question -- most recently, when I wrote the letter to our landlord to end our lease.  Here I was, writing a letter that told our landlord that we were moving out, but we have ... [Continue reading this entry]