Golden Square Farm

We are wrapping up our two week stay at Golden Square Farm in Stockland, England. We have both enjoyed our time here very much. Our accommodations are in a trailer that we share with a French man named Amaury who we call “The Frenchmen”. We have all grown quite comfortable in each others company. When we first arrived he would wash the breakfast dishes as soon as we finished eating, which lasted about 2 days. Lucas washed the dishes for the first time today only because I said I was on strike. They use the phrase “That’s woman’s work” often! (In a very affectionate way of course) Dishes aside it has been great being at a farm with another WWOOFer.

Kath and I went to pick up 4 piglets. They were a little shy when we got them home.

Our hosts Kath and Rob have been awesome! Kath is extremely outgoing and friendly, always smiling. Rob is a little more reserved, but still very nice. They are both great cooks, which is a bonus after our last farm! They have two adorable little girls Tabitha 5 and Jamima 3. The children finally warmed up to us just in time for us to leave. We got lucky with this farm because we (The Frenchmen too) are the first WWOOFers they’ve ever had. We can tell to because they treat us like you would a guest or family member. Farmers that have been taking on WWOOFer’s for 20 years make you fend for yourself more. I suspect after a summer of “entertaining” they will lose some of their enthusiasm.

Rob and Kath have owned their farm for only 1.5 years so they have a lot to do. They have a holiday house they just finished remodeling and have their first bookings this summer. On the farm there’s sheep, piglets, ducks and chickens. We can’t forget the 3 cats that are pretty much worthless since they bring mice INTO the house to show everyone. With being such fresh farm owners they have a lot to share about how they have done things, how they may have done things differently and what they still plan to do in the near future. Rob, Lucas and Amaury have been busy with “guy” stuff. Lucas built a flint stone wall, picnic table, and composting box. Then there’s the big project they’ve been working on all week where they rented a digger and tore up the back field to build a composting septic system. It was a lot more complex than it looked to the “woman’s eye”. The guys have been working hard digging dirt and moving lots of rocks with machine and by man power. This was made much worst by the constant cold rain which has caused a soupy muddy mess. I don’t want to complain but we have been stuck in a constant cold rain since we left Germany. We’ve had only a hand full of hot sunny hours.  Lucas was always saying how England would be cloudy and rainy but I chose not to believe himJ (he added that bit). Having the guys be busy has been a great break for me. I’ve had the two weeks to be a big help to Kath with getting some final things ready for the holiday flat, cleaning and doing things around the house that she just doesn’t have time for. To be honest I will take any job indoors just to get out of the rain and cold.

Lucas on the digger

Being on this farm has changed some of our thoughts for the future. Originally we thought I would stay home and man the farm and children while Lucas worked full time. That idea has changed a bit after seeing that Rob stays home and takes care of the farm and children while Kath works 3 days a week. That’s opened my eyes to the idea that I could continue with my massage business while Lucas stays home to farm. After seeing the labor and skill that goes into building a self sustainable life, Lucas may be the more efficient person to do that anyhow.

The stone wall Lucas built with the help of everyone else, collecting rocks & stuff

Our next stop is a small Island on the southern coast called Isle of Wight. We hear the island is absolutely beautiful. The farm is owned by a Chiropractor and her husband. The thing that drew me to the farm beside the thought of an adjustment is their healing garden. Another dream for the future I have is creating a beautiful healing garden where I can do massage. I hope to learn a lot there!

Here is their web site

www.ntc-animals.co.uk/

London

 We only had 2 1/2 days to pack all our sight seeing of London into.  Lucas’ Dad Jeff is very knowledgeable on the history of London. Therefore he sent us an informative email about all the major sites and gave us a brief background on them along with where they were located and how to get there. Thanks to him I had a very thought out plan on what we were to see each day. J Although I planned for us to be a little more ambitious than we were and we just didn’t get to see everything we wanted.  We rented a “cheap” room in an apartment right by Victoria Station which is a huge tube and bus station centrally located. It was about 4:00p.m. Tuesday by the time we got all settled and hit the streets. We first had dinner at a restaurant boasting Great Britain Food!! The food was good enough but not spectacular. We later learned all the restaurants that say Great Britain Food on the front are part of a large chain with the same menu. After fueling ourselves we headed straight to see Buckingham Palace. It was closed by the time we arrived so we didn’t have the option to go inside. We took some excellent pictures and moved on. A few blocks away we located Westminster Abbey and the famous clock Big Ben. Again, both closed so we took pictures and continued on our way. Next we saw The London Eye which is a giant Ferris wheel, maybe the biggest? I can’t remember. We looked from across the river and agreed we would come back another day to ride it. We then walked a few more blocks to Trafalgar Square where there was a huge monument called Nelson's Column. Also in the square is the National Gallery, of course closed as it was now getting pretty late. Our feet were starting to get sore so we started back in the direction of our room. We hit the sheets early with our next jam packed day ahead of us.

We set out early and took the tube to The Tower of London, which isn’t a tower at all. It’s an old castle that they called The Tower because at that time it was the tallest and largest building in London. You have to pay to get in, but then you have the option to take a free guided tour. Our tour guide was awesome! I over heard someone say that they’ve been on many tours there and this guy in particular was obsessed with all the gory things that have happened in the castle. We enjoyed all the stories very much. We got to see right where many famous people were beheaded then buried. He also told us in great detail why they were beheaded. We got to hear about a beheading that went badly because the axmen was a drunk. He kept missing the guy’s neck so it took him 8 blows to finally sever his head. They then do something to the head to preserve it and so the crows won’t eat it and put it on a spike on top of the London Bridge for all who enter London to see what happens to traitors. Isn’t that fantastic!? Just think what society would be like today if we just chopped everyone’s heads off. I bet we wouldn’t have so much debt. We ended up spending a lot more time there than planned. We saw the Queens Jewels which were inside, along with old armor and swords and things. We got to walk the castle walls where the guards used to keep watch for anyone attacking the castle. Both Lucas and I agreed The Tower of London is one of our favorite places we visited in London. After leaving there we walked in the direction of the Great Fire Monument where they mark where the fire started in 1666 that burned the whole city down. That was basically just a large tower that you could walk up to the top. We weren’t feeling that enthusiastic at the time so we moved on down to road a few blocks to St. Peters Cathedral. I guess it’s one of the largest cathedrals in the world. It was quite huge. They charged a pretty penny to get in so we didn’t go inside. If we went inside everything we wanted we would be out of money and flying home tomorrow! I can’t believe what they can get away with charging for these things! After the Cathedral we took the tube back to our room to take a quick nap and get cleaned up to have a nice dinner out.



The clock Big Ben on the right. I forgot the name of the bridge

Our last day to tour we got up early to figure out our train situation for getting to our farm the following day. Then set off back to the Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the Guards. We weren’t aware that the Queen was going to be there so it was a mad house! We couldn’t see any of the guard changing ceremony although we did get to see the Queen! The masses of people were a big bummer so we hopped on the tube to head out to the Camden markets. This was something I read about and really wanted to do. We parked Lucas at a Local Pub so I could go out and shop the markets on my own. That took us right up to dinner time where we just grabbed something cheap in the market and headed back to our room to rest our feet a minute. Lastly we decided to squeeze in a ride on the Eye of London. It was a perfect blue sky day and we were on it for the sunset. We couldn’t have planned it better!

Our three days in London were exhausting, but we loved every minute of it! We didn’t get to see nearly everything we wanted but both agreed we would like to go back again sometime in our lives. It’s a great city with much to see and full of friendly people.



Me & Lucas in front of Westminster Abbey

Lucky us!

The host on our last farm Christian invited us along on his yearly youth camping trip this past weekend. What good luck for us, we were there at the perfect time! Christian is a volunteer fire fighter where he also works with the youth. We went to a small town in East Germany where we rented kayaks and canoes. We loaded them up and paddeled to our first camp site where we pitched our tents.

 In that particular part of Germany there is a few small towns connected by canals. We think we paddled about 15 miles in about 17 hours total all weekend. Our return trip Sunday was supposed to be quick and sweet but no one took into consideration that we would be going against stream and wind. Actually I shouldn't say no one, Lucas mentioned it to me a few times Saturday and then to the group but with the communication barrier no one understood what he was trying to say.  In the end it took a long HARD day of 6 hours (after 8 the day before) to get back to the rental dock.  Overall, sore arms included, it was the perfect way to end our month long travels through Germany.


We are now at a hotel in Dresden, Germany getting ready for our early morning flight to London. :-)





Kayak parking at the restaurant we stopped at for lunch Saturday

Our 2nd farm

We are quite disappointed with our 2^nd farm. The biggest let down is that no one speaks English here. On the WWOOFing site they claimed to speak English and German.  I feel sometimes that they get frustrated with us because we don’t know any German. With the communication barrier we are unable to learn much from them. Christopher is our host and the person we have to communicate with the most.



Our digs for the week, like I said clean!

At the farm they have about 3 hectors of land that has two fairly small gardens, many fruit trees, and some horses. Everything here is very well maintained and groomed. On our first day of work we had to trim a bush, weed, and sweep the front sidewalk. We were both surprised that our work for the day was to make the front of the place look pretty! At Ulf’s farm there was no time in the day for such silly things. The farm has two large buildings sectioned off into apartments that house the whole Neumann clan. We’ve learned that the farm has been in the family for many generations. There are a total of 5 families that live here currently. We have noticed that everyone has their tasks they do daily. Grandma takes care of the bunnies, Christopher the sheep, his father is an all around fix it guy and Markus’s family tends to the horses. They are very well organized and planned in that way.



Part of the small garden

The biggest difference between this farm and Ulf’s farm is self sustainability. Here they are not self sustainable. They have two gardens and some animals; they buy most of their groceries at the market. Ulf’s farm was a well planned out operation. Everything he did affected something else in some way. All the weeds we pulled went to the chickens or  pigs whose crap was then used as manure for the gardens. Anything we didn’t eat was fed to the pigs, so he had essentially no waste. He had fresh milk; cream and cheese daily form the milking cow. He harvested vegetables from the garden, made jams from his fruit trees and meat from his pigs, cows and chickens. We can’t forget about the honey the bees produce!  Almost everything we had to eat at Ulf’s was self made on his farm. Pretty much everything we’ve ate at our current farm has been processed crap! Things I don’t even buy or eat at home. Ulf told us many times that he feeds us better than any other farm ever will. At the time I didn’t believe him but now I think there may be some truth to his words.  We’ve said many times now how much we miss Ulf. We had long hard days while staying on his farm but we were rewarded for everything we did. Most of all we learned form him. We feel we can’t complain too much though, we do have a safe and clean place to rest our heads at night.

Ulf, Me and Lucas the night before we left

 We’ve spent the week catching up on our planning for future travel. Next week we fly to London where we’ll spend 3 nights sight seeing. Then we take a train to south England to our first farm in the UK. We are really excited to travel the UK for many reasons, and English is one of them!



My favorite thing about this farm is the baby horse

Much to do!

Our last few weeks at Ulf’s farm have been great. He has been generous with everything and has made us feel very comfortable in his home. He feeds us excellent food and a lot of it! Ulf says “the only way to not get fat while staying here is to work hard.” Apparently I’m not working hard enough because my pants are getting a little snug! We have had many jobs while staying here; I’m going to give a brief description of each below. Some we have enjoyed very much and some not so much. All have been a great learning experience.

Harvesting Strawberries- I only had to harvest strawberries one time, in the freezing rain. I did such a crappy job Ulf had to send Lucas out after lunch to help me do it again. We got more strawberries the second time than the first. I guess I was just too picky, only picking the perfect ones. Needless to say Ulf has not asked me to harvest strawberries since. I am ok with that. J

Hoeing the fields- In the beginning I much preferred to be down on my knees picking weeds than using a hoe. Ulf says “hoeing is like a violin, it takes at least 10 years to master.” We have to pick and hoe weeds a lot! I am getting used to the hoe and don’t mind it as much anymore.

Mucking out the stables- This is a job I do not like at all. Ulf says some people LOVE this job. I find it very hard to believe. Lucas and I had to muck out the pig pen together, which was very dank. The smell is so bad it actually burns your nose and eyes. Lucky for me I got the job of holding the door shut so the pigs couldn’t come into the area that Lucas was cleaning.

 A few days later Ulf very casually asked me a half hour before lunch to shovel all the shit off the concrete slab in Lucy’s area. My reply was “right before lunch!?!” He said, “A half hour is plenty of time for this job.” I have to say although I had to do the heavy lifting with this one it wasn’t as bad as the pig pen. Cow crap doesn’t burn your nose like pig shit does. I filled the wheel barrel four times with cow crap! I did manage to finish just in time for lunch to hit the table (although I no longer had an appetite).

Planting crops- Just yesterday Ulf got 1000 small plants that needed to get into the ground. Lucas and I worked on it all day yesterday and today. This is a pretty easy job, although being bent over for such a long time got really hard. Monday Ulf put a fresh coat of manure on the field we were working on. It was a real treat slipping and sliding through that! Plus the smell was a constant reminder of
what we're digging in.

Cleaning jars- It rained here for a week straight so Ulf had to get creative with jobs for us since we couldn’t be out in the field hoeing. My job for two days was washing jars for honey and sausage. Three of the pigs went to the butcher this last Wednesday so Ulf needed the jars cleaned anyhow. I probably hand washed a couple hundred jars. The best part was being in the kitchen right next to the warm stove. Everyone else had jobs outside in the cold and rain.

Digging potatoes- This is Lucas’ all-time least favorite job. He has to dig potatoes Friday morning before the store opens. This is really hard work! Plus the large amount of potatoes he has to get. Since the first day I have helped him to make the work a little easier. He gets very crabby from this job. He told me “we are NOT growing potatoes back home!”  

Honey production- We are very fortunate we were here for the collection of honey. Ulf “stole” the honey from the beehives (We got to watch). Then Lucas or I had to open the combs by scraping off the wax. Then put them into the honey spinner and spun all the honey out of the combs. The honey goes through two strainers and collects in 5 gallon buckets. We Filled 9 buckets. Lucas has to stir the honey by hand everyday until it gets milky (about a week). Then Ulf puts the honey into jars that get labeled and go onto the shelf to sell. It’s quite a sticky mess but a lot of fun! We both enjoyed every part of the honey process and we still want to have bees some day.

Opening the honey combs

We have to work hard, get dirt under our nails, animal crap on our shoes and hay in our bras (maybe just my bra) but so far it has all been worth it. By the end of the week we get to be a part of what goes into Ulf’s store and then onto our and other peoples tables. Getting to know Ulf and how he operates his organic farm is the best part of our experience so far. We are quite sad to be leaving Saturday, but are also super excited to see the next farm, meet the next family and start the next chapter of our adventure.

A small cage Lucas built for holding momma & baby birds

While I was washing jars Lucas was building a table

Our first day as a farmer

We woke up in time for breakfast (amazing since we don’t have an alarm clock) then out to do work at 8:00 sharp. The morning started fairly easy, Lucas was harvesting strawberries and I was sent to the green house to plant and tie up tomatoes. It was a hot sunny day and very muggy and hot inside the green house. When I went out to visit Lucas in the breezy field I commented on how nice it was and told him “I wish I was doing strawberries.” He said “he wishes he was in the green house.” I said to him “I think the grass is greener on the other side.” We continued this work after our 2^nd breakfast until lunch.



The strawberry field

While eating lunch (usually our biggest meal of the day) Ulf said he had to meet someone at 2:00 to do hay bales and that he needs one of us to help, the other was welcome to come along and watch. Lucas volunteered to be the helper since my allergies were a mess. The guys got started and it was Lucas’ job to catch the hay when it flew out of the shoot of the machine that makes it. I got myself a comfy spot in the sun and watched them go around and around and catching hay bale after hay bale filling the trailer until they started to fall off the back. We then drove them very slowly back to the farm. Lucas was quite the site to see! I wish I would have taken a picture of him. I asked at the time but he was too grumpy to let me. He was covered from head to toe in straw and dust, he was so sweaty from the hard work that it all just stuck right to him. He had two little white spots on his face where his eyes managed to survive the debris. (I still chuckle when I think back)

I feel that this would be a good time to tell you about the swimming hole. It is a man made hole in the ground full of water. It looks much like a small pond back home. (see picture below) Ulf told us we are welcome to swim in it any time we like. Also, he showed us the sign near by stating that it was a NUDE swimming hole! He said “you are welcome to wear your swim suits like most other young adults do, but beware when you are around the swimming hole.” We both agreed in private that we did NOT want to swim in that thing with or without our swim suites! We also had no interest in seeing Ulf in the nude. We never thought that the very next day Lucas would be more than happy to jump into the swimming pond, NUDE even! He was very eager to get the itchy straw off his skin and was not allowed in the house that filthy. I fetched him a towel and some clean clothes while he relieved himself of the itchies in the swimming pond. Hahaha!



The swimming pond. Behind is Ulf's log cabin that he built on wheels because the government would not approve him to build it.

The swimming pond up close and personal. Needless to say there is many frogs that call it home.

 Once cleaned up Lucas then had to pitch fork all the hay off the trailer onto the ground. That is where I had to load 5 bales at a time onto a wagon and walk them to Ulf where he would throw them up into the loft. Lucas was now in the loft where he would then get them, throw them over a wall, climb the wall himself and then arrange them in a suitable fashion! (Keep in mind the loft was very hot and muggy) We did this over and over again until we had no more left. We then had to go back and get all the ones that fell off the trailer. Lucky for us the trailer got stuck in the mud towards the end and that is what ended our work for the night. It was 8:00 by the time we got back for dinner.

We woke the next morning so sore we were barely able to walk. It was a cloudy day so Ulf wanted to start right away and get the rest of the hay up into the loft so it wouldn’t get ruined by rain. Thank goodness this was a smaller load or I don’t think I would have made it. I should mention that we call Ulf “The machine” He will be 50 this month and he has more strength and endurance than anyone I know. He amazes us more every day.

That is how we started our very first day of work, on our first farm of the trip, Moving190 bales of hay!

Ulf's solar panels that generate enough power to run the farm. He also owns a wind turbine that generates enough power to run his entire village 

Meeting Ulf

We have not been able to get connected to the internet at the farm. I have been writing my blogs in word to post later. I am now in a hotel in Berlin, Germany connected to the internet so here is where I left off last.

We got off the train in Peine, Germany (Pronounced Pyna) on Saturday afternoon with no idea where to go. Once again wanting to rid ourselves of half the things in our pack! We found a restaurant and sat down to order some food and when I looked out the window I saw across the street a Taxi business. I was washed over with relief that we found a taxi!

Here is some of the farm!

The cabbie who claims to not speak English was quite the driver! We feared for our lives when the speed limit was 60kph on a very tiny two lane road and he was going 120kph. Not only was he speeding by double he also felt the need to pass slower drivers on the way. 20 euro later the Taxi dropped us off safely (to our surprise) at Ulf’s farm, which was in the middle of a small village.  There was no apparent place to go. He has many doors and owns two houses on the street. First thing we found a place to drop our bags then very unsure of what to do or how to find this farmer we slowly started to look around. Some things that I first noticed was cob webs all over the house, un-groomed flower gardens, bird houses everywhere and houses all around.  I was thinking what kind of farm is this and what the heck did I get us into? We were wondering around for about five minutes when Ulf pulled up in his old Mercedes station wagon. He was very friendly and smiley, first offering us food and drink. Asking if we needed to rest? We just had dinner at the restaurant and I was very excited to see what this place was all about. He showed us around the farm and introduced us to all the animals. Lucky Lucy the milking cow, six pigs, six colonies of bees, many chickens, five baby geese that he bred, two ducks with bigger babies and many other birds that I cannot remember all currently breeding. After showing Us around he said it was time to eat. Over dinner he told us he has much more land around the village. He invited us to go with him and his aunt in the morning to see it all. After dinner we went to our living quarters upstairs to unpack and get settled in.




Lucky Lucy-  she visits me every morning for an ear scratch!

Yes, I've had to eat a lot of pork!

There is only 2 baby geese left. They both think I'm their momma and follow me around. I've named them Baby #1 & Baby #2

The next morning we went with Ulf in his station wagon to pick up his Aunt who was very sweet but did not speak English. She kept talking to me in German, Ulf assured me that as long as I smiled and looked friendly, I would do fine. Although I still have no idea what she tried to tell me. We then drove to the prairie where Ulf keeps his cattle, another field where he keeps his sheep, where his ex girlfriend keeps her horses (she lives in his other house above the store), another plot of land where he grows his potatoes and rye. Then there is also the lot of land across the street from him that has strawberries, earlier planted potatoes, and some German beans and we can’t forget the two green houses stuffed with different vegetables and Herbs. Overall he has a lot to take care of and it’s only him to do it all, which explains some of the neglect in less important areas. In his words “if it does not make him money or bring him food, he does not waste his time on it.” The rest of Sunday was very laid back. Ulf walked us through his daily routine. Up at 7:00 to have breakfast, work at 8:00, 2^nd breakfast at 10:00 (coffee and bars he baked), Lunch at 1:00 where we take a 1 1/2 hour break, then dinner at 7:00. Overall I am very fond of the schedule. By the end of Sunday we were feeling bad for eating free food and doing nothing all day. We were very excited to see what a work day would be like. Oh my, were we in for a surprise!



Inside one of the green houses

Just some pretty flowers on the farm