Lower Shaw Farm Newsletter
- a look back at 2016
We thank those of you who sent us season’s greetings, especially in cards and letters. They were all read and enjoyed, then hung up or pinned up. Along with the Forestry Commission Norwegian spruce treetop wedged into a black sheep bucket with gravel and stones and placed by the Dairy window, the semi-homemade paper chains suspended from the old oak rafters, and the many twinkling lights, your cards all served to brighten up ye old farmhouse. Lovely!
Lovely too, notwithstanding the damp and drizzly weather, was our end-of-year Carols by Candlelight event. In fact, it was once again remarkable, from start to finish! We had a fabulous initiative-taking team to help set up, prepare and decorate the Cowshed, make mountains of mince pies and trays full of gingerbread biscuits, and place candles in jars along the drive and around the yard, to make sure that we really had Carols by candle light. And we did!
And scores of people came, young and old. As they made their way into the Cowshed, some heading for Andria’s magical-wishing pool, Debbie and her in-tune instrumentalists from Music Alive played upbeat seasonal mood music.
Before long, the Cowshed was full, very full. ‘We could not have got another person in!’ said crowd controller and door-woman Andrea. A trio of elves (defined, according to the OED, as ‘sub-ordinate Clauses’) aka Jake, Ben, and Charly, warmed up proceedings with appropriate gravity- defying circus frolics, followed by Linda and her Swindon Community Choir, who led us into song. And then we all sang. Did we sing!
There was a money-raising raffle, and, in the spirit of Christmas, a beautiful baby boy was chosen to draw for the first prize. Rowan was his name. He looked happy enough but somewhat reluctant. In fact, half way through the pick- a-ticket job, he nobly withdrew his tiny hand. Thankfully, his mother did what good mothers do, finished the job, and tidied up after him.
Feedback was fabulous. One attendee, Esme, said this. ‘A big thank you for an absolutely wonderful evening. I brought along my two teenage daughters who are quite hard to impress but they had a lovely time. It was like something out of a Christmas film. Beautiful!’
We raised hundreds of pounds for Christmas Care, who help the homeless in Swindon; for the Harbour Project, who help refugees in Swindon; and for the LSF Children’s Project, which runs ‘life-is-for-learning’ days, in Swindon.
Activities
It never ceases to amaze us that so many good people choose to come to LSF, by finding their way to the outskirts of Swindon, down a little old lane, to a little old farm-cum- smallholding. And that they bring such energy, ideas, and creativity. It’s wonderful and makes us feel very grateful.
Hundreds of people – probably you included - have made their way to LSF, mostly at weekends, for events such as Bread Baking, Jewellery Making, Willow Basket Making, Circus Skills, Yoga & Massage, Walking in Wiltshire, Yoga & Running, In Praise of Trees, Mosaics Making, Crafts Break, Fungus Foray, Cookery School, and Christmas Crafts.
The Family Activities Week in August was amazing, rich in activities, experiences, and friendships. One activity had us creeping around the farm at dusk clutching Bat Detectors, which beeped in response to the bats’ high frequency sonar signals. Fascinating, and bizarrely thrilling.
Throughout 2016, LSF has also been buzzing midweek, to be precise, for the Wednesday Cafe. It’s the day we open up LSF to anyone who’d like to pop in. We offer a farm walk, drinks, home-made snacks and lunches, and lots of play-space and chatting time. It’s lovely, to see people connecting and children running free. A number of parents have emerged from these days to be key members of the LSF Children’s Project.
Weekends and Wednesdays apart, LSF was also in use on most other days. Some terrific people and groups hired our facilities. These included numerous yoga teachers, who run classes in the Hayloft; neighbour Elena’s Breast-mates, providing a chance for mothers who breast feed their babies to meet, greet, and help one another; regular and popular Monday Health Walks; mornings for CALM (Cancer and Leukaemia Movement) to which adults and children come, to meet, connect, play, and support one another; all manner of play and school groups; the regional Farm & Wildlife Advisory Group; regular reading groups; a Writers’ cafe; a Mum’s the Word Writing Group; and the Lydiard Heritage Trust, who are working on a bid to take over the running of our lovely local park.
A couple of special anniversary events also took place at LSF. Swindon Pulse Wholefood Co-op, started by LSF workers in the late 1970s, celebrated its 40th anniversary, with funny speeches, fabulous food, and some only slightly dirty dancing. Another splendid local organisation, the Swindon Ocotal Link, celebrated 25 years of being twinned with the eponymous town in Nicaragua, with, among other things, a traditional dish called Gallo Pinto.
And we even had a book launch, for the publication of ‘our’ Josie’s Vegetarian Comfort Food, which contains many recipes tried and tested at LSF. At the launch, we sold out of books; and they have been flying off the shelves ever since. If you want a copy, contact josiecowgill@gmail.com
Work
We did quite a bit of it in 2016. The detail might bore you but the results continue to maintain and beautify LSF. You may not want to know about how we keep our vegetable garden so productive, the flower pots in the yard so lovely, the drains flowing so freely, and the contents of the cesspit soaking away so sweetly but the improvements to the Anyone’s Loo, by Martin,and to the Bloom Shed, by Stewart, merit a mention. With its new spaciousness and splendid decor, you can use and enjoy the former; and with its watertight roof and useful shelving, you can use and admire the latter.
Another small but significant domestic refurbishment was completed, by Jesus the carpenter, in the mistress bedroom: a fabulous fitted handmade wall-length wardrobe. It’s a joy to behold, especially from bed with a morning cup of tea!
Animals
Of all the animals at LSF, the hens in particular had a mixed start to the year.
It was Christmas Eve (babe…) in the back porch, when we discovered that one of our hens had escaped the hen- house and made herself a nest on a partially-curtained shelf among the waiting flower pots and bric-a-brac.
Even though this was entirely the ‘wrong’ time of year to hatch chicks, which is normally a springtime activity for hens as it is for wild birds, we decided to let her sit it out and see what happened. We named her the Rebel Hen.
Three weeks later, instead of the more usual mid-January sights of snowdrops and light dusting of snow, LSF had two midwinter miracles: hosts of golden daffodils and a clutch of six chicks.
The following Sunday, with the chicks barely a week old, Nature showed herself to be truly raw in tooth and claw. Mid-afternoon, in broad daylight, a fox ran across the car park and bit the head off our best-laying speckled hen!
We rescued her lifeless body from his bloody jaws and, practical thrifty realists that we are, plucked her, gutted her, and, with the addition of a few tomatoes, onions, and chorizo, made a delicious Spanish Chicken Stew, which fed three of us for two days.
But the fox was not done with us. One morning at the end of January, we heard poultry in the paddock making alarm calls and saw a big brown fox by the greenhouse, with a black chick in its mouth and mother Rebel Hen going crazy.
We ran out, shouting. The fox scarpered but the black chick was gone; and we were sad.
Two hours later, the black chick reappeared and joined the other white ones as if nothing had happened.
Seeking enlightenment, we asked the black chick how it had escaped the jaws of death, but it told us nothing. Just gave a cheeky cheep and a look that said, ‘You don’t know all you thought you knew about chicks and chickens!’ -- Yet another puzzling life-is-for-learning day at LSF.
And now, at the year’s end, the hens are all fox-proof by being locked in, night and day, on strict instructions from DEFRA, to help counter the spread of Bird Flu!
Our four-legged stock, the sheep and pigs, have no problems from vulpine predators or avian viruses. They lead a life of luxury. In winter, they dine in on supermarket leftovers; and in summer, they are out frolicking freely and being adored by visitors. Although recently, one sheep ‘gave’ its life, to help feed us.
People
In one sense, the most important people are people like you, our visitors! It is you who bring/s energy, muscle, magic, difference, creativity, and money, all key factors to the well-being of LSF. Without you, LSF would not be what it is, and, in answer to the question, ‘What do you actually do at LSF?’, at least one resident would not be able to say, mischievously but proudly, ‘We farm people!’.
And we have some lovely farm people, especially down Caravan Alley. It’s a pretty cool community of youngish circus, slackline, and musical folk, lured there by home-bred Jacob and the LSF vibe. They include Casie & Fergie, makers of nice signs and sounds; Guy & Amy, slackline and tree-felling helpmates; and Ben & Charly, who bring muscle, acro-balance, and chicken-charm to the farm.
Jacob himself has had a full year, with slackline and juggling engagements that have taken him to Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Mexico, and, in his travelling Mercedes truck home, to Wales, Scotland, Holland, and Denmark.
His twin sister Anna has also been far away, working in Camp Management for the Norwegian Refugee Council.
She is based in Beirut, Lebanon, where she is learning Arabic, has run three Half Marathons, and happily says, ‘I feel almost more at home there than in London!’
Senior sister Rosa has had a terrific year with her Rosa Bloom clothing company, with pop up shops in London, stalls at festivals, including Glastonbury, Wilderness, and Secret Garden Party, with certain celebs buying and raving about her stuff, and Oxford Street’s most famous store commissioning her to dress their Santas, in sequins!
Personal Trainer and resident fitness-adviser Claire, not only helps in key tasks around the farm, while working all hours to keep a whole lot of other Swindonians fit but also found time to study for and qualify as a Sports Therapist, and come 4th in the European Duathlon Championships in Germany.
LSF lynchpin Andrea, as well as relentlessly multi-tasking and being perpetually busy beyond the call of duty, somehow managed to slip away from LSF for no less than three excursions overseas: to the jungle in Central America, to her relative’s stamping grounds in Austria, with Anna, and for some serious walking in Greece.
She has also cared for and found a lovely care home nearby for her ageing but delightful if forgetful aunt Dorli, who regularly brings her serenity and sweet smile to LSF. It is Andrea’s serious approach to regular sessions of yoga that doubtless help her keep up this level of activity.
Matt has been pretty active too, not only with regular and routine LSF duties, including bread-making in his favourite frilly pinny, but also reaching a parkrun milestone of 250 runs, and kept busy with the twenty-third Swindon Festival of Literature, Artswords reading and writing projects in Swindon, and a trip to Paraguay, which culminated in the somewhat sad, for him, sale of his little house and garden by the river.
If you want to know more, about any of the above, you’ll have to visit us in 2017. We hope that you will! Till we meet again, keep warm, keep well, and in touch.
Best thoughts and all good wishes for the New Year!