Part of wanting to be where we are and live the life we do is because of the space and animals we have, the views and of course it's also about what we can create here. For me thats been about the gardening, creating spaces from fields, turning areas into places to sit and socialise, hanging baskets, a vegetable garden full of food with each space adorned with beautiful touches of detail from found or reclaimed items.
Having the time to take photographs and document the changes has also been a lot of fun, it reminds us how far we have come. The other thing I love to do is write about it all. I've often not had the time to sit and write as much as I would have wanted to. I have also loved what social media has brought to me personally which is inspiration from other peoples projects and the reclaimed ideas that pop up on my feed occasionally.
So as we hit the Spring May Bank Holiday, which after the last week has felt us all feeling like the summer has arrived it's time to reflect on the season to come. Perhaps for some of you this summer also holds projects for your spaces at home. For us its the goat barn construction, a gloriously ridiculous project that we just knew we had to throw ourselves at.
Of course summer should also mean BBQ's outside, bedding plants and grass cutting, it also means roses in full bloom. I have several here and every time I pass I make a conscious decision to stop and smell one bloom. It inspires me to introduce more rose into the soaps one day. The delicate light fragrance is unmistakable and speaks directly of the typical cottage garden.
The cushions are out on the chairs, I'm already looking at getting some sun loungers because we do occasionally sit down long enough to warrant a nice relax on something more horizontal. I love our dining table with throws and cushions, all the bright colours thrown to gather against the south facing black wall of the house. Long ago the tree that casts shade in the afternoon was always pollarded, yet since we moved in we've let it grow on. The shade is perfect for those hot sunny afternoons sitting at the table, the legs once being the huge bases of Leyandii. Two of them, blending to become one huge green cube. Structurally it looked stunning, but for us, two already busy people, it created a huge job that could not be ignored or forgotten for one year. Eventually we cut too hard back into the brown wood, and that was it. The green was gone and never to return. A moments inspiration to cut them down and now we have what we have. So don't be afraid of making a big decision, often it leads to a better use of space.
So today having made soaps this morning, all of them sitting in the fridge for the first 24hrs I'll be finishing off planting out calendulas. I grow them by the 100's, next year probably by the 1000! The long border won't be finished as the material hasn't rotted enough to plant into it yet. This garden and space has certainly taught me to slow down, be patient and to be ok if a project isn't finished when I think it will be. I have the gardens to plant up, more borders to create and the acceptance that this place is a marathon of a project that will take decades, not years.
The business rebranding is continuing and again it's only me here tackling lots of elements so I'm making sure I pace myself because rushing it will create mistakes. Part of the re-branding is this, The Cottage Note Book. Somewhere my ideas can spill out, something more than just about building a new goat barn, but thats also got to start soon, but somewhere to talk horticulture and inspiration. Maybe some of you would love to see what inspired me to create the soaps in the first place, so I'll share more of the environment around our home such as the slate lined hills, the moss and patches of nettles dotted about as well as the blackberry filled bramble corners, I'd really love a blackberry inspired moisturiser in the range!
Of course I can't mention the summer to come without talking about shearing the sheep! This year I arranged to have them done earlier and what a great decision that was. With the sun beating down on us everyday at the moment and promising to hit the mid twenties this coming week I would have been very worried about them particularly with the issue of flystrike. Last year we really got hit a few times with the horrid things. Nothing fills me with more dread than spotting that darker wet patch on otherwise white fleece. They crawl and chew into the sheep's skin causing pain and horrid itching. It can happen within days and the darker fleeces warmer with the sun can be a magnet to the flies. This year with an earlier spray of Crovect, a fly repellent and the fleece coming off this Saturday just gone they are all now ready to re-grow some wonderful fleeces and I'll be set now for a regular spray of the fly repellant over the rest of the summer. Fingers crossed we won't get one issue of that.
What shearing means for us is that summer is on its way. Its a big marker in the year ahead. I've got so many fleeces to wash and many more to still use. They make amazing rugs and cushions, the exact thing our cottage needs, breathable material and with natural colours it adds depth to the interior and adds warmth in winter. Simply walking on a nice rug takes the imagined chill off the room.
Saturday was amazing, and I mean that, utterly wonderful. We still had the chaos of an early start, trying to make sure everything was in the car ready. It was a last minute decision to take both the working dogs Leia and Jet. They enjoyed the running about while we set up a pen, we decided to move the sheep without Jets help initially thinking it might cause chaos as I haven't done much training with him. Thankfully they all went in, the set up was slick and no one escaped. We managed to worm everyone, check over the few lame lambs which we think we can put down to a rocky little steep hill in the other field where you can see the hoof prints of the sheep running about. I've no doubt there were a few pulled muscles from leaping about on that play area, another reason to move them to another field.
The lads arrived and the set up began and with a little tweak after the first sheep were loaded it all seemed to go well. Then a few of the heavier breed sheep pushing inside the pen caused one connection to snap and one Shetland broke free. Steve did his best but she wasn't for coming back in, so in a natural break because I was on hand to move the fleeces and bag them I went into the field. She'd gone into a patch of hedging with Hawthorn and bramble branches. She didn't move as I crouched down and approached her, I made one grab and she pulled her head back looking at me as if "No chance my dear!" She turned and was heading out of a small hole so I threw myself forward and grabbed onto her hips and fleece. Thankfully her fleece wasn't as loose as the other Shetlands as she bolted through the gap with me hanging onto the back of her. I shouted to Steve knowing he was out there somewhere. To the left of me I saw him running. I'd fallen forwards and been dragged through a sheep shaped hole in the hawthorn hedge, I'd felt the nettles on my arms and scratches through my jeans.
Steves recollection was suddenly seeing a sheep bolt out of the hedge followed by me doing a superman impression. He grabbed her up and we dropped her, carefully of course into the sheep pen behind the shearers. So that was everyone done, with cash exchanged and cans of Pepsi on hand, I did say I'd have offered a beer but as it was still before lunch it had felt a bit wrong. The one thing you do is look after your shearer, a good one is an absolute prized asset. Particularly if you have a small flock, and he looks after those with smaller flocks even though he will spend more time travelling to different locations and setting up.
After the shearers had departed I released Jet our working collie. All the sheep were spread over three fields and happily chewing on grass so why should they move. I sent Jet off, with my little known doggy instructions, but he knew what to do. Running off at full speed I fully expected to see the sheep dart about in different directions. As I approached the brow of the hill he was there walking steady to the right, the sheep watching him. Suddenly this crazy dog had slowed down. I gave him one command "Come Bye" and he banked left pulling the sheep off the wall. The sheep moved and he banked behind them, "LIE DOWN" he suddenly dropped, eyes on me, relaxed but still looking, and waiting. "Come Bye' he banked left again pinning them between him and the hedging to the right, as they headed down the field towards the gate we wanted them in. He started to run behind them banking too close and they pealed off the wall a bit, I called him back over and that was enough for them to move on again. "Walk On', and he followed them, that little extra push to get them all moving, 'Lie DOWN" and he dropped again, his job done, they all ran past Steve into the top field.
I jumped for joy, forgetting to tell him 'That'll Do", I was shouting to Steve "DID YOU SEE THAT??" He did it.... sheeping, and he looked very pleased with himself.
And so the summer routine rolls on, ahead of me is planting the last of the vegetable plants out into the garden, using up the last of the potted bedding plants. I'll be watering, checking, weeding and of course working to finish off the new brand. The websites will be tweaked several times more I've no doubt. The soap will continue to be made, I'm rather enjoying my newly arranged kitchen and little office space.
What I do have to remember is that its only just the end of May and that the whole of summer lies ahead of us.
Emma
