Blogs from Devon, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 15

The first vegetables we sowed were potato seeds. Before doing this RM, AP, Naarah and Juanjo had weeded the entire bed using forks and trowels. We had never sown potatoes before so this was a good learning experience. It wasn't hard at all, anyone can do it. Rob taught us his method, we first sectioned lines in the bed sticking in a wooden narrow pole at both ends. In this instance there were 4 vertical rows. Two rows contained one type of potato and the other two another two types of potato. You use a string line marker so the rows are straight, this is basically a piece of wood with string attached to another piece of wood. You can buy this type of kit too, metals ones. Once you have your rows you can start ... read more

We all spent a morning with the subject of herbs used for medicinal purposes. Diana is a medical herbalist so is the perfect teacher. AP loved this part and has had an interest in the old ways of medicine for a long time. Many herbal remedies have been discovered over hundreds of generations of interaction between people and wild plants, though much of this knowledge is now lost in the mainstream of culture. Indeed many medicines are in use today originate from herbal origin. Medical herbalism differs from traditional medicine in that it aims to treat a person holistically - the cause (or more usually a multitude of causes) not just the symptoms. The herbalist will do a thorough interview with the patient - ask them about their diet, lifestyle, daily routines, trauma, digestion, breathing, immune ... read more

Rob showed us the routine for the ducks in the morning of day two so this became AP and RM's responsibility every morning. We feed them their grain, give them water, get their bath going (from a baby's outside tub that Rob found discarded!), and then they go off and forage for slugs through the day, before we put them back in their pen in the evening, so they are warm and safe from any foxes. We enjoy doing this as the ducks keep themselves to themselves and aren't really aggressive at all (except a couple of males to other members of their flock). The ducks lay eggs all year round and we get anything from 4 to 9 eggs a day. They are Khaki Campbell breed of duck, they can't really fly or produce much ... read more

We helped Rob set up his monthly Sunday stall in Hartland Farmers Market. His van had broken down so we had to load up Charlie with all the goods. We had some breakfast and went for a walk with Juanjo and Naarah around Hartland Quay and saw a couple of waterfalls.... read more

On Thursdays we pick food to sell at Tavistock Market on Fridays. One of us goes with Rob - RM went on the first week, AP on the second, and Naarah on the third. The market has been going for about a thousand years. It’s in a big hall and has many stalls selling all kinds of stuff - food, antiques, clothing, books etc. It has lots of local shops too - cheese shop, butchers, fishmongers, so you can do all your weekly shopping here, it’s got an old fashioned market town feel to it. Rob knows many of his customers well, they flock for his delicious kale (a spinach like plant) and his other fruit and vegetables. It's a different feel to shopping in a supermarket.... read more