Exhortation from a beauty full friend

These words were sent to me from a friends daughter.  She found them in her mums things once having recently left this earth for exploration and to fly high. I read them slowly yesterday by where my Dad rests on the land and hoped both my dad and my earthy friend Lizzie Land Fairy could hear me, allowing my Self to absorb them and hear. Thanks Jodie.

Gap in Blog posts

Apart from the last one, Sorry if you’ve clicked on here and seen that there’s a huge gap in dates of my posts.  I’ve had blogs in my head but not managed to get them onto the computer.

Simplicity Living

-Myself and Katy ( a young lady I mentor here on the land) sat in the facilities barn after tending to the goats and cutting bracken for the ducks bedding, for a pause.  I had been hand washing our clothes as stupidly I’d pulled the handle off my washing machine (bear with me…the story continues). I grabbed for the book ‘Timeless Simplicity’ by John Lane, and found this to try to explain my ramblings to her on the pleasure, and fundamentally important role to nourish our sense of worth, that you get from tending to ones own basic needs of warmth, clothing, shelter, food etc. Me and D’Arcy used to hand wash when we lived aboard our boat Courtchu (she is now for sale, see website) sat on the pontoon with a bucket, hanging it up in the rigging. I added a few more rambles to Katy about possessing only what we need and connecting with what we do, not going to work to buy things to do jobs for us to free up time and then fill that time with empty passtimes! Anyhow, John Lane is clearly more eloquent than myself:

The Industrialist was horrified to find the fisherman lying beside his boat.

-Why aren’t you fishing? said the Industrialist

-Because I have caught enough fish for the day.

-Why don’t you catch some more?

-What would I do with them?

-Earn more money. Then you could have a motor fixed to your boat and go into deeper water and catch more fish. That would bring you money to buy nylon nets, so more fish, more money. Soon you would have enough to buy two boats, even a fleet of boats. Then you could be rich like me.

-What would I do then?

-Then you could sit back and enjoy life.

-What do you think I’m doing now?

This made me smile.  I invited Katy to wash her own clothes this week and report back next week!!!!

Cooked for by ‘The Hungry Sailors’…. delicious on a beautiful boat too.

Darcy standing on The Morwenna with his Breton Reefer jacket from the second hand shop…and proud of his find!! Dick Strawbridge is signing an old Seamanship book that Darcy found at the reclamation site…it’s signed fro his sister who made James Strawbridge some soft soled crochet ‘Merry Feet’ for his son who has just learnt to walk (they are great as little feet can feel the ground and their muscles develop naturally).  They cooked a great 3 course meal from foraged food that we’d supplied and scallops from Richard Keen (fisherman and diver here in Guernsey).  How lovely to be given such yummy food from the wild and amongst people who care about sustainable food and living.  James has  a series of books out too for more yummy recipes and loves cooking on open fires…suits us! loved the panna cotta made from Mandy and Peter Girards Golden Guernsey goat milk, the scallops with rock samphire were plump, crisply coated and zesty, oh and the tartlet with goats cheese came close to my mums (which still rate higher…and sold at the farmer market at Castel for tartlet and pasty lovers) but I did like that they added carragheen seaweed to it for seasoning….must tell mum.

Hungry Sailors, volunteers and our Gold Green Tourism Business Award

We’ve had a busy couple of months with volunteers and friends lime plastering our greenhouse wall, maintaining the greenhouses, dyeing and making felt with our sheep wool.  We’ve shared the land with campers that have come and gone leaving stories and conversations that spark new ideas, folk on Foraging workshops, Girl Guides and more recently (yesterday) we spent half a day with Dick and James Strawbridge (from ‘It’s not easy being green’ series) for filming on their second series of Hungry sailors with ITV the Morwenna pilot cutter boat (which moored in Portelet for the filming). After we got home, a little tired after wading for seaweed, collecting sea kale, lemons, borage flowers, rock samphire from our greenhouse and being presented with a dehydrator that they made us, we tapped into the email to find we’d been awarded a Gold from The Green Tourism Business Scheme.  I was touched as it took a huge effort to gather the information together for the assessor and an emotional journey of compiling evidence to prove that we have strong environmental ethics.  It wasn’t an easy task, with Hugo on the side of my hip and keeping up with the growing amount of land work….but we got there and the assessor was really in tune with our vision and we both feel quite proud!

The Independent Newspaper have given our camping a thumbs up and included us in their ‘Best nights under canvas’.

http://www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/outdoor-activity/the-50-best-nights-under-canvas-7804848.html

it is really nice to have a seal of approval from The Independent Newspaper that have had a couple of journalists visit us in the last year which has led to them recommending us:

‘From tucked-away retreats and luxury yurts to perfect pitches for getting back to nature, Rhiannon Batten presents the experts’ guide to sleeping under the stars’,

‘Wild Guernsey

Jo says: “Tara and D’Arcy can show you how to forage on their land and the nearby seashore, then cook up wild tapas by the fire: picking winkles out with pins, making wild garlic bread and feasting on freshly gathered samphire. Choose from one of three bell tents or tipis, all a pebble’s throw from the beach.”

Wild Guernsey, Pouquelaie Vinery, Ruette Rocques aux Caulx, St Peter’s, Guernsey,GY7 9HX (07781 122420, wildguernsey.co.uk). From £15 per person per night’

 

 

Trees, thoughts and space for both

We have come back from a holiday in England with renewed strength for our land project  having had conversations with  inspiring people and visited thought provoking places.

Part of our time has been spent amongst trees.  Something we lack in Guernsey, well the sort of woods with big old mature trees, with lichen draped on their arms and dappling light peaking through their skirts. Embercombe was another place we visited and a ‘coming home’ feeling has stayed with me since. Here, my path highlighted once again, a little nudge in my side and a smile as I once again recognise my way, although it feels familiar it is not always clear.  I’m reading mac’s (founder of Embercombe) book and I’m going to buy/lend it to all that I love.  It’s just one of those that you need to pass on http://www.embercombe.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=59&Itemid=188. He talks at the end of the book of people stepping out of the shadows and voicing their concern about the exploitation threatening the core systems of our planet and “Every single time that a conversation takes place which inspires or encourages or emboldens, we secure a tiny victory”.  I hope that we can provide a space at WildGuernsey for conversations like these.