Catch-up Summary
In short, I've been working like CRAZY the past month or so since I last posted! This included a storytelling evening (26th October, Katy Cawkwell telling Lancelot) which meant working 13hrs straight... and the Samhain festival which entailed working til about 6pm then partying, sleeping over in the roundhouse and working 9-4 the next day to get everything packed away as it was the end of the season! So yeah... now the Camp is shut til March (when we're open to school groups again - it was gonna be April but SOOO many schools want to visit!)
Samhain festival (28th October) was great fun! The day nearly sent me mad from exhaustion (esp. being in the kitchen!) but at least Luca knows how to manage a team of people well, giving them breaks when they need them! The party afterwards was fantastic (as per), with Luca, Andy, Gazza, Arthur, Malcolm and I staying over afterwards. Lots of others came for the party but didn't stay over - I must admit that sleeping on a bench in a roundhouse isn't THAT comfy but then how many people can say they've slept in a roundhouse?! LOL!
We got through about 2 bottles of wine, 2 of mead, a bottle of rhubarb wine and a fair few mugs of ale before the others left, then another couple of bottles of wine and more ale + mead between the rest of us. Hehe. It's so funny seeing Luca drunk and the kinda things he chats about... It reminds you that THE BOSS is still human lol!
The guys and I spent ACTUAL Halloween (31st) at mine, with plenty of ginger cookies, pumpkin pie and choc. crispie squares (all cooked by moi... rather successfully may I add) and Jager+coke for all! We had to watch the pure cheese-horror that is "From Dusk Til Dawn" while eating hotdogs (as is a tradition of Andy+Ben's) too lol. Twas a great evening ^-^ Andy crashed over and then...
Yesterday Andy+I went to the Camp to do some conservation work with Joyce and Arthur (our teacher so to speak). It was fun coppicing hazels and weaving deer baskets around them! *Deer baskets are like woven fences around the trees to stop the deer eating the saplings!* I also learnt about a very rare species of tree called the "service tree" or "chequers tree". It's rare nowadays coz it's so good for making charcoal and building out of that it got pretty near extinction from being cut down quicker than it could be grown! But yeah, we did 3 or 4 hazels+baskets yesterday; bearing in mind these hazels hadn't been managed in about 7yrs so there was a lot of work to be done on each. I also learnt how to use a billhook to strip off small branches and make points on stakes for the deer baskets. So YAY I'M LEARNDING!!! I may be going in on Monday to help with the silver birches and want to go in next Thursday to continue the hazels the other side of the path - LOTS of work to be done as they need thinning out to make sure they get enough light and they currently resemble about a 20metre x 4metre hedge with all the brambles etc. in between too! :S
But yes... now that work isn't keeping me REALLY busy, I've set myself a project. I plan to sort out and re-decorate my room asap! You can see my progress on my 43things.com if you wish!
Anyways, that's you about up to speed on what's been going on lately!
Hope you're all well xXx
Samhain festival (28th October) was great fun! The day nearly sent me mad from exhaustion (esp. being in the kitchen!) but at least Luca knows how to manage a team of people well, giving them breaks when they need them! The party afterwards was fantastic (as per), with Luca, Andy, Gazza, Arthur, Malcolm and I staying over afterwards. Lots of others came for the party but didn't stay over - I must admit that sleeping on a bench in a roundhouse isn't THAT comfy but then how many people can say they've slept in a roundhouse?! LOL!
We got through about 2 bottles of wine, 2 of mead, a bottle of rhubarb wine and a fair few mugs of ale before the others left, then another couple of bottles of wine and more ale + mead between the rest of us. Hehe. It's so funny seeing Luca drunk and the kinda things he chats about... It reminds you that THE BOSS is still human lol!
The guys and I spent ACTUAL Halloween (31st) at mine, with plenty of ginger cookies, pumpkin pie and choc. crispie squares (all cooked by moi... rather successfully may I add) and Jager+coke for all! We had to watch the pure cheese-horror that is "From Dusk Til Dawn" while eating hotdogs (as is a tradition of Andy+Ben's) too lol. Twas a great evening ^-^ Andy crashed over and then...
Yesterday Andy+I went to the Camp to do some conservation work with Joyce and Arthur (our teacher so to speak). It was fun coppicing hazels and weaving deer baskets around them! *Deer baskets are like woven fences around the trees to stop the deer eating the saplings!* I also learnt about a very rare species of tree called the "service tree" or "chequers tree". It's rare nowadays coz it's so good for making charcoal and building out of that it got pretty near extinction from being cut down quicker than it could be grown! But yeah, we did 3 or 4 hazels+baskets yesterday; bearing in mind these hazels hadn't been managed in about 7yrs so there was a lot of work to be done on each. I also learnt how to use a billhook to strip off small branches and make points on stakes for the deer baskets. So YAY I'M LEARNDING!!! I may be going in on Monday to help with the silver birches and want to go in next Thursday to continue the hazels the other side of the path - LOTS of work to be done as they need thinning out to make sure they get enough light and they currently resemble about a 20metre x 4metre hedge with all the brambles etc. in between too! :S
But yes... now that work isn't keeping me REALLY busy, I've set myself a project. I plan to sort out and re-decorate my room asap! You can see my progress on my 43things.com if you wish!
Anyways, that's you about up to speed on what's been going on lately!
Hope you're all well xXx