Meadows Topped

Management of wildflower meadows is always tricky and one where you will receive a lot of different advice. 

This year rather than make hay on it, we (I) topped a few weeks ago it using a flail mower. This mulches the grass up, cutting it finely, so it won't sit in swaths on the top of the grass. 

The Pigs Keep Growing!

 A little pig update. They are growing well, they keep getting longer! 

What Does A Small Channel Make From Youtube?

Well to answer the question I made a video about it! 

But I'll give you a clue - It's not much! But it might surprise some people, as I often get people thnking it's far more than it is. 
 

Pig Sign

Writing an article each issue for Woodcarving Magazine means I'm often trying to think of things to carve. And often something I wouldn't give myself the time to do otherwise. I think I've had nearly 40 articles in Woodcarving Magazine alone! 

This pig sign is a case of that. I had fun carving it though. 

Sets off the pig pen quite nicely.  

Carved in oak, all by hand. 

If you ever have ideas for future projects I could carve then let me know! 

Pizza Oven 5 Years On

We built the pizza oven 5 years ago now, back in 2021. It was a lot of work a the time, especially as we built the whole thing out of cob (the mix of clay, straw and sand). We spent many, muddy, happy hours together building it. 

When we built it we were told it would only last about 2 years before it would need rebuilding. This I thought was fine as we have the materials here, and it's quite a fun job. 

We built a shelter over it to keep the rain off but have never sheeted it over like we have seen some do. Five years later it's still here, as good to cook on as the day we built it. 

 There are a few cracks (and they get a lot bigger when the oven is hot), and each year the children make a few repairs with clay (the white you can see above is some of their modelling clay rather than what's in the sib soil here that we built it from). Bit it's needed no matentance other than that. 

I do get the children to light a few fires in it in winter, and when we start to use it in spring I never do a big firing straight away, instead I'll do a few smaller fires first. 

It's looking very much like it has a few good years in it left yet as well. 

Anyone else built an oven from cob? How long did yours last?