Tag: Bodger’s Yurt

C’est la Saison d’Amour

1st of October, Chilli Joe our handsome Jacob ram was introduced to the ewes, it’s the season of love in a Barry White kind of way for our flock. It’s the first time Joe has had to “work” so we are hoping he’s not a Jaffa (seedless), always a risk when you are only using one ram. The gestation period for a ewe is approximately 147 days (same as the highest break in snooker), so we need to be looking at the ewes closely towards the end of Feb.

All the yurts except the Bodgers’ have now been taken down, cleaned and put away safely in the barn for the winter. Our lovely new neighbours at the bottom of the hill helped us to pack away the decks, they’re the only things we need help with as they are cumbersome and heavy, so thanks guys! The Bodgers yurt will have to come down later so we need to make some space in the barn. I’ve done my best to make all the water pipes safe from the cold by draining down the system and lagging the brass fittings, last winter we lost a lot of the brass connectors to frost in our harshest winter here to date.

We’ve been busy bottling, pickling and preserving anything we can from the kitchen garden before it’s too late. The chillis seem to have done well so that should keep us warm on those cold winter evenings!!

We managed to get down to the roundhouse for our halloween celebrations – it was very beautiful down there and it’s nice to reflect and raise and glass to all the people who helped to create this lovely space, that period of time will always be a special memory for me. Thanks again xx

Thank you, thank you, thank you, you lovely people!

Thanks so much to everyone who helped to create this amazing space! The memories and friendships which grew out of this build will last longer than the building itself, it’s all about the people you meet along the way, as always.

Big love, Matt and Wendy xxx

Finding the right spot – October 2011

     Levels and holes – November 2011

    The Henge – April 2012

     Raising the roof celebrations – June 2012

     All done – relaxing with a beer – July 2012

     Finish Exterior of the Roundhouse Kitchen

Finished Internal of Roundhouse Kitchen at the Bodgers’

Time is Marching On

Well the daffs have flowered and faded since my last blog, which is an indication of just how busy we have been. All the willow that needs to be cut for this year has been cut and we have plenty of poles for yurt building which are now waiting to be peeled ready for next year’s yurts (we’ve even got long roof poles for 6 metre diameter yurts, which I hope to build one day). We have had a really good crop of Salix Purpureum for basket work and the Salix Triandra isn’t too bad considering the drought we had last summer and as a bonus we also have lots of willow chippings for mulches from all the off cuts as well.

 

 

We managed to run a couple of living willow bower courses down at the plantation, always a good day with a big three course lunch and wine to break up the physical and mental strain of forms, shapes and weaving techniques. It’s always a bit comical to see the bowers leaving on top of peoples cars at the end of the day, huge voluminous baskets precariously balanced heading off down the hill!!

Work on the roundhouse is gently moving forward, all of the verticals have been cleaned up and oiled after the worst of the winter weather and the henge is basically made but not fitted and all of the rafters are ready to go on.

 

We have done a mock-up reciprocal roof on the lawn to try to work out angles and spanning and the central opening size, it seemed to slot together well and was very strong, all reassuring stuff! The Bodgers’ Yurt composting toilet is now in position and a beautiful thing it is too, thanks Kit, great work!

 

The lambing is all but finished now with just one more expectant mum in the group, mainly singles this year but at least we’ve had a few more ewe lambs than last year to bring some young blood into the flock. Males in agriculture, as in life some would say, generally have a bad time of things ending up on the plate much sooner than females!

It’s not long now until the yurts will be up and running again, it all seems to have come round very quickly as usual, I shouldn’t be surprised anymore!

All the best, Matt