Lamb To The Slaughter

On Tuesday six of our twelve lambs were rounded up, herded into a trailer and driven forty minutes to an abattoir near Chard. They have had five months of life. When I arrived at Pilsdon in March they weren’t yet born. I’ve seen them take their first stumbling steps towards their mothers, I’ve watched them play, racing each other around the field, rolling around on their backs. One of them, Immi, had to be bottle-fed by hand four times a day for the first couple of months because he had been rejected by his mother as a runt, and was so small and frail he could have died at any point. Now it’s virtually impossible to distinguish him from the other lambs, all of whom are as big as their mothers. In fact the only easy way to tell a ewe from a lamb is that the ewes have been sheared so they actually look smaller than their offspring.

Camp Fire's Burning

Around and above us the light seeps away, the wide sky deepening to black.  A red moon hangs silently above the horizon. Stars begin to appear, first one or two, then tens, then suddenly hundreds. The ghostly blur of the Milky Way bisects the heavens. As the temperature drops we huddle a little closer to the camp fire and put on more layers. The younger children have been put to bed, and the teenagers who had been off somewhere else in the field now deign to join the adults, if only to be closer to the warmth.  Conversations murmur around the crackle of the fire. John decides it’s time for some music; he retrieves his guitar and my saxophone from the camper van and he begins to sing some soulful tunes while I improvise an accompaniment as best I can. 

A Day In The Life

I wake in time for the morning service at 7:30am. There are three of us, we share bread and non-alcoholic wine. After breakfast I head to the kitchen to make my first attempt at soft cheese which involves gently heating eight pints of milk until simmering, then taking off the heat and stirring whilst adding Jif lemon juice. Curds form on top which I place inside a muslin bag and hang from a hook over a bowl in the “egg room” next to the kitchen.  Tomorrow I will add chives, salt and pepper, then try to convince people to eat it.

We Are The Champions

The lights went up. The hum of the crowded arena built to a deafening roar as the contestants marched out under the Olympic rings. Their names were announced one by one. As they warmed up the excitement was palpable. These were the best of the best. The honour of many countries – Nigeria, Ukraine, USA, Columbia, Congo and Canada to name but a few – was at stake and would be decided over the next three hours. A hush descended as the four simultaneous matches were about to start. The balls skittered over the surface in flashes of white. The preliminary round of the women’s singles London 2012 Olympic Table Tennis had begun!

The Best Things in Life Are Free

Money. What is it exactly? It comes in pieces of paper with the Queen’s head on it. You can give it to someone in a money shop on the high street who promises they’ll look after it for you, but if they do happen to lose it the government will give it back to you instead (as long as you don’t lose too much). The government seem to be relying on one particular money shop called the Bank of England which can’t go out of business and is the only one able to print more of it whenever they feel like it, which they have been doing an awful lot recently. 

By the River of Pilsdon

Shortly after posting my last blog the heavens opened and stayed open for a good twenty four hours. It was serious this time. The clouds had been practising for weeks in anticipation of a good old-fashioned Deluge and they were going to enjoy it. 

Destiny's Children

Last weekend we had a sudden influx of thirteen additional residents to our community. Destiny our pig had given birth! Each piglet has a black head and hind quarters with a pink midriff and are at their very cutest when sleeping in a jumble on top of each other. Their bedroom is just a couple of yards from their mother so breakfast is quite easily obtained by them all rushing over and nudging her until she wakes up and rolls on her side.