The Land
I haven't written a post for aaaaages! Obviously I didn't end up on the welsh farm, so heres a short break down of my recent activities:
- Tried to sell some paintings at a couple of markets, came to the conclusion that making art that sells is not what I want to do / am good at (I still want to make art, but for myself). Mainly drank mulled wine and ate vast quantities of snacks. Apparently the mulled wine really improved my social interactions, I have a feeling they put some of the whiskey in it
- Spent a day at Easton Community Garden, weeding and cutting back. If anyone is looking for some outdoor work they are a really friendly and welcoming bunch and meet on Thursdays
- Started working with some lovely folk on a piece of land on the edge of Bath. Its called 'the Land', which can be very confusing in conversation. Su and her husband Martin own the Land, Martin is in Cameroon right now on tour round a load of villages with some local musicians. Charlie is their friend, she is French and supremely cool. Jim is another friend, Su keeps trying to tell me he is 150, and yet somehow he works harder than any of us. Nobody lives on the Land, they have day jobs and go over to work on it when they can.
We have been preparing the ground to plant some fruit and nut trees (apple, pear, walnut, cobnut). It used to be a market garden about 50 years ago, so we've been removing all the bramble / nettle roots, burning them, planting the trees and protecting them from rabbits and deer. On Monday I was digging a hole for a tree and hit a rabbit hole. How statistically likely is it that there was a rabbit in there when I dug into it? Very very unlikely. I found a squishy thing and was worried I had broken it's back with the spade because it didn't run away, but we recon it was just scared stiff by a monster coming in through its roof. Me and Su felt that we ought to kill it because the rabbits have practically killed several of the trees in the orchard by eating their bark. But neither of us fancied sticking a fork through a rabbits bum, it had the potential to be extremely traumatic.
In the end I just tried to pull it gently out. It looked like a small rabbit until I lifted it up: it was about the size of a cat, and escaped from my hands and ran away, obviously unharmed. To be honest, I think everybody was relieved that we didn't have to hit it over the head with a spade.
The best thing about working on the Land is just being outside again. We all work together from 9am until 4pm which means we see the sunset and notice all the local birds. There is a Robin, affectionately named Catman, who watches our comings and goings, and a sheep and her lamb who escape their field to visit us. Sticking my hands in the soil and drinking tea in the sun and watching the leaves fall off the trees is all deeply soothing, and I always wonder: why would anyone ever want to do anything else?
I'll be doing some more work with Su and the gang on the run up to Christmas. So I'll write another post soon.
- Tried to sell some paintings at a couple of markets, came to the conclusion that making art that sells is not what I want to do / am good at (I still want to make art, but for myself). Mainly drank mulled wine and ate vast quantities of snacks. Apparently the mulled wine really improved my social interactions, I have a feeling they put some of the whiskey in it
- Started working with some lovely folk on a piece of land on the edge of Bath. Its called 'the Land', which can be very confusing in conversation. Su and her husband Martin own the Land, Martin is in Cameroon right now on tour round a load of villages with some local musicians. Charlie is their friend, she is French and supremely cool. Jim is another friend, Su keeps trying to tell me he is 150, and yet somehow he works harder than any of us. Nobody lives on the Land, they have day jobs and go over to work on it when they can.
We have been preparing the ground to plant some fruit and nut trees (apple, pear, walnut, cobnut). It used to be a market garden about 50 years ago, so we've been removing all the bramble / nettle roots, burning them, planting the trees and protecting them from rabbits and deer. On Monday I was digging a hole for a tree and hit a rabbit hole. How statistically likely is it that there was a rabbit in there when I dug into it? Very very unlikely. I found a squishy thing and was worried I had broken it's back with the spade because it didn't run away, but we recon it was just scared stiff by a monster coming in through its roof. Me and Su felt that we ought to kill it because the rabbits have practically killed several of the trees in the orchard by eating their bark. But neither of us fancied sticking a fork through a rabbits bum, it had the potential to be extremely traumatic.
In the end I just tried to pull it gently out. It looked like a small rabbit until I lifted it up: it was about the size of a cat, and escaped from my hands and ran away, obviously unharmed. To be honest, I think everybody was relieved that we didn't have to hit it over the head with a spade.
The best thing about working on the Land is just being outside again. We all work together from 9am until 4pm which means we see the sunset and notice all the local birds. There is a Robin, affectionately named Catman, who watches our comings and goings, and a sheep and her lamb who escape their field to visit us. Sticking my hands in the soil and drinking tea in the sun and watching the leaves fall off the trees is all deeply soothing, and I always wonder: why would anyone ever want to do anything else?
I'll be doing some more work with Su and the gang on the run up to Christmas. So I'll write another post soon.
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