Another good day

We’re now about 70 per cent of the way towards regaining the ground lost due to my illness after another day of solid work.

Our latest team of helpers were led by Paula who brought son Andrew to help with the work and foster daughter S to play with our boys.

Paula’s another cracking worker and very keen to learn rural skills, so we showed her and Andrew how to get the netting hung on the pig pens and then they went at it with enthusiasm.

That took a bit of time and effort, but they were more than happy to stay on so they then cracked on with clearing the area where we want to establish the first of our coppices.

Paula and Andrew hauled dozens of sitka spruce tops up the hill and into the big pig field, where they stacked them ready to be burned. Then they moved all the loose stones and a fair number of boulders from the coppice as well - and all this before lunch!

After lunch, Paula and Andrew’s efficient help saw us plant a couple of dozen ash and hazel, which will form the basis of the coppice.

And before they could go, S took great delight in helping Linda feed and water the pigs. She also loved having the chance to pat a piglet.

Their help, combined with that of Carol, Shirley and David on Friday, has seen us claw back a substantial number of jobs that had been delayed because of my being sick.

With Shirley pledging to come back tomorrow, possibly with even more helpers, there’s a good chance we’ll be back on target by Monday - and Paula has threatened to be back then to finish off anyway.

We still have the gooseberries and tayberries to weed and mulch, the established hawthorn to prune, Delilah and her piglets to move, more trees to plant, some work to be done in the vegetable patch and, possible, the apple trees to prune. But that’s only a proportion of the jobs that were outstanding on Thursday night.

It’s been a good couple of days for us, with me able to take it easy (well, by my standards anyway) and Linda able to do a few things for herself as well, which was an added bonus and very welcome. The boys have also enjoyed having lots of different children to play with.

Thanks to all who’ve helped and sent messages of support.