Ahhh so here we are again…
I’ve been here at Tregoss Barton for just short of two weeks now, still un-sure what to make of it. It’s definitely NOT what I expected, but what was I to expect, really? The only other WWOOFing place I’ve ever really visited would be Culdess, and that was more of a holiday that a place to live & work.
As I’ve told various people, in fact pretty much aired to the world, it’s luxury (to an extent). For the majority of the time I have a KING SIZED (not the afore mentioned double) bed with a down duvet, an en-suite with shower, and 2 windows both with a good view (although tonight I’m in my van as Johnathon’s daughter is coming down). Daily food is good, starting with a breakfast of porridge, honey, juice, and tea (herbal, none of that nasty brown stuff!) before working for an hour and a half up until 10:30am for “tea break”. Most of the time this will consist of fresh bakes bread toasted (2 slices each), spread with whatever we can ever imagine – I generally opt for butter and Marmite for the first, and whatever takes my fancy for the second… “patchwork” seems to be the current favourite, with one quarter just butter, another butter and Marmite, another peanut butter & Nutella (like those Reeses peanut butter cups), and the fourth could be cherry conserve. Oh, and more tea (a whole little teapot for meee!). Another 2.5 hours of working before lunch at 1:30pm (yes, it’s pretty regimented!) which either Johnathon, Forest or I will cook. Johnathon likes creating pretty much anything (my favourite so far being the vegetable coconut green curry), Forest seems to lean towards stews, and on the one occasion so far that I’ve cooked it’s been pasta bake with olives & sundried tomatoes… I need to find some pescatarian recipes which aren’t too spicey (sadly the majority of my recipes include meat or spice… eep). After lunch there will be another 2 hours of working before ending at 4:30 and having the rest of the evening off to fend for ourselves.
Work for me mostly consists of digging small trenches to plant hedges in, landscaping the top field, digging turf, etc. Recently found that the compost toilet is a pretty good place to briefly hibernate when the wind gets too cold, and that the horse box (we have no horses) has a shower in it. Work also includes constantly throwing a stick for Dogga the dog (if he gets his own way and I don’t chuck it up a tree).
Who do I work with? Currently here, there is myself, Johnathon the chap who owns the place, Anthony who’s been here a while but soon to leave – in his spare time he makes surfboards out of wood and hopes that they float, Forest who I met a few years back in Bristol, and Dogga the dog (Anthony’s). We all seem to get along pretty well.
Me... with a found toad on my head, outside gypsy wagon "Ellie".
Beans I got out of the other beans. Pretty pretty!
Dogga & gypsy wagon Rosie, up in the top field (my field)
A lovely lichen coated stick.
So have I had any life out of WWOOFing? Yes I have! My first Monday night Lisa came along and we went to a nearbyish pub called The Five Pilchards where we drank, ate, and were merry… then last Friday, Forest & I drove to Falmouth after “work” and met up with Lisa and Phil to see Peoples String Foundation playing at The Poly; they were really good as per usual (though not as fantastic as that time back in late April / early May) although it was very odd seeing them for the first time without Lukas on double bass (since he abandoned ship to go to 3 Daft Monkeys a while back…). Everyone seemed to enjoy things and that night I slept in my van just up the road from my old house. Good nights sleep, surprisingly! Except for the small moment of slight worry when someone decided to shake the van...
On the Saturday I ran a couple of jobs for myself about Falmouth then drove off in the lovely sunshine up to Gwithian on the north coast, there I parked up next to Anthony & Dogga and found Phil. All was good, I sat in the sun on the cliff for a while watching people out for the day on the beach and in the sea, drawing up sketches for pictures and pondering life. Later that day I drove to Lands End YHA to meet up with a few folks & went to a strange but good (better if I wasn’t so tired & slightly grumpy) gig at St Just town/village hall. Blue grass band called… oh I can’t remember. Blue something? Sunday morning I woke & drove back to here on the Lizard; to get to anywhere from here it’s a pretty long trip as we’re stuck right down on the pointy bit of Cornwall! Can see Falmouth from the top field, but it takes an hour or so to drive as the Helford river gets in the way.
The bluegrass band...
Evening activites here have included playing Boggle, watching a DVD, and scribbling.
A rarer activity happened yesturday (I’m guessing by the time this is posted it’ll be more than yesturday, but the day really isn’t important in this tale). I was just digging turf up by compost bog, when a strange techno trance track came on on my iPod! I’d been singing along to previous tracks and so thought “gyerggh! What is this?!” but for some reason decided to give it a chance – perhaps because it was 24 minutes long.
Soon enough, I actually got really in to it and decided to have a bit of mental dance time – carefully tucking myself out of sight behind afore mentioned compost toilet so that if any fellow co-workers were to come along they should not think I was doing a ritual towards the toast God, or something (toast God is a VERY good God). Part way through my manic dancing, I noticed two things:
1) pretty much all of my “groovy moves” (is that what we call things to do with trance / techno music? Probably not…) were somehow related to more agricultural tasks such as, well, digging ditches and waving pitchforks. Trying to correct this and look a wee bit cooler in case any dog walkers passed in the field behind I soon noticed that
2) it was far too soon after lunch, and this strange dancing really wasn’t doing much for my digestion. Never the less I continued for a short while longer until it just got too much, and then stopped.
I had fun, though. I do miss the feeling you get when you step into Cyberdog in Camden and feel all the strange electronic bass penetrating you in a way which feels almost dirty.
Apart from the deranged dancing, and tonight watching Dogga frantically humping his doggy bed for a good hour (mixed up with a quick lap around the kitchen table every 5-10 thrusts), not much has occurred. Tomorrow Forest & I are off to Porthleven in search of wool & good meaty pasties, and maybe I’ll even get out again – sadly I can’t get hold of anyone via their tellingphones.
What a shame the strange (and un-repeatable on this here public blog) dream I had the other night cannot come true in some ways.
Over & out for now, as I’m getting REALLY COLD and need to curl up UNDER my duvet!
Saturday 19th November, I’m the size of a whale (Forest & I drove to Porthleven to rape & pillage the wool shop, so I made use of the fact I was there and bought me a flakey steak pasty from Horse & Jockey, then watched the waves. Mmm).
Wool acquired, we’ve now made camp in the conservatory to make use of the wool. Yesss.
My van bed this morning (9am)
Watching waves in Porthleven.
Porthleven lichen. Delicious.
Work wise I've been mostly doing a "30 day drawing challenge" in the evenings, pretty much just doodles... as well as a couple of wave based things.
30 day samples:
(myself)
(my current favourite animal... hares)
(my favourite friends!)
Wave observations:
And now for other folks creations!
Levi Feldt. Please.
Ellen Rogers photography.
Cassandra Smith.
And Rima Staines... I've been following her (online only, sadly!) for a while now, her work never ceases to impress.
Some websites which caught my eye:
Pompom bunting, I shall make this... maybe for my van...
Re-imagined childhood drawings
I'll have this really expensive skirt, please
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