Monday, September 17, 2007






Well here are the photos courtesy of our agents Greenslade Taylor Hunt!

Very depressing time at the moment as I have 15 vewes that were supposed to go to the breeding ewe sales and now are stuck here due to the ban on movement except direct to slaughter, for an unknown period of time which means I am going to have to feed then....AND the day before we got stood still again I had sold over 70 bales of haylage as I knew these sheep would be going 3 days later...........what a mess! Thank goodness the pigs went to the abattoir last Monday!

I have 12 lambs booked for slaughter tomorrow and another lot next week so fingers crossed they can go.

I hate to think how much this is costing bigger farms than us as I should have made about £600 on the ewes.............and my cash flow is not good, at least I don't have huge loans to repay like many farmers inevitably do.

I feel especially sorry for those who have lost their stock over this and those who will go bankrupt as a result of the crisis.

Hopefully we can get sold and moved as soon as possible and have a brighter future!

Thursday, September 06, 2007

STOP PRESS!!

We are for sale! Well the house is! We have found are ideal small farm in Cornwall and now the race is on to sell! £455,000 or near offer will get you a 4 bedroom period house in the beautiful Blackdown hills with 9 acres of which 2 are pasture and 7 wonderful woodland. plenty of parking, outbuildings, etc and the opportunity to rent loads more land locally (I rent about 40 acres and a building within 2 miles) Pass this on to your friends and contacts, pictures to follow!

Tuesday, September 04, 2007



Fibrefest 2007 was a resounding succes for a first go at such a big idea! The photos say it all really........the main tent went up on bank holiday Monday and it seemed huge! We spent several days and several miles of baler twine marking out the stall spaces..........which were then marked on the grass with orange sheep marker spray! Tables and chairs were aportioned and the toilets, bins and garden shed info booth arrived. I now know more about temporary toilets than I ever wished to know!
The stallholders started to arrive from Thursday and the tent started to fill with wonderful stalls such as the House of Hemp and Devon Alpacas shown here constructing their stalls.

Gradually things began to take shape including the little village fair that shared the site. The Blackdown Hills food group had a big marquee and that started to fill with local produce and yummy food from such producers as Beech Hayes Farm and Jackie Rees.

By about 9.30 on Saturday 1st September the tent was ready and the weekend was opened by Brigit Strawbridge from BBC 'Its Not Easy Being Green'..................in the picture she is being introduced by the Chairman of Coldharbour Mill the local working wool museum.

The tents gradually became very busy and I had the opportunity to meet Ruth Paisley 'Woolly Wormhead' who had been running a hat design workshop and is pictured here with 2 of the participants.

On the Saturday night we had a relaxing evening drinking tea, spinning, knitting and chatting while the fantastic Cornish festival band Bagas Degol played in Ashill Village Hall

The last pic is of my stall as I just had to show off my new banner!