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KHR interview
What THE PRESS say
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Blog-2 Sep- The pen and ink sketch of Swallows Nest shown on the left was created by one of our guests and given to us as a signed thank you card. Now we love creativity in any shape and form so we're going to start a competition along the following lines. Anyone who has stayed over the past 9 months is eligible to enter their creation although it must be displayable in some way on the web. Children can enter their work and we have another thank you card created by children that we'll try and display next month. So our competition will run officially from Dec 2009 to Dec 2010 and the winner receives a free weekend break at Swallows Nest before Jul 2011 for their family (maximum 4 persons). This summer has sped past so fast, we can hardly believe the autumn term is about to begin. Jim's onions, garlic and shallots are drying in the lovely September sunshine and we're about to harvest small crops of amaranth grain and quinoa which are treated in very different ways. Down at Otterton Mills, we've source locally milled organic flour for use in our welcome bread, thanks to the good ideas of friends and relatives that have stayed. We were humbled today for the following thanks from a lovely family who've just left: ..."it has been the perfect place to re-charge our batteries. Have really appreciated the beautiful surroundings. Hope to return sometime soon." Do enjoy the abundant autumn harvest and any time out to recharge your own batteries! -8 Aug- We continue to be lucky with our Swallows Nest holiday lets and are priviledged to welcome wonderful guests. Seems to be a fair amount of creativity flowing along with the waters here and a competition is brewing for the Best Guest and Most Creative Guest. More next month! Early mornings or late evenings, the tiny fawn and its mother roe deer often feed on the flowers in the garden, it seems the months-old foal is fond of pink geranium flowers whereas mum prefers the yellow marsh marigolds and white hydrangea flowers. There is an amazing abundance of nature. We're delighted to be on the back page of Jul/Aug Green Living magazine, see www.greenlivingmag.co.uk/latestissue.htm and we're in this month's BBC Wildlife mag. There's a special offer for Green Living readers and we're also offering special early bird bookings for next year. Just to let you know, we're planning an office move on Fri 19th Aug so expect some choas around that time. Finally, celebrating first fruits and grains of the season, we recommend Jim's Jams and his Creme de Cassis made from juicy blackcurrants. Enjoy the busy holiday season packed full of natural things to do! -14 July - Its official, we got our 5* with an extra gold award meaning our marks by Visit England were above 91%! We're pleased to report another great visit from Devon Wildlife Trust who offer much valued advice and support. We also had a moth survey done on the same weekend as the Reiki II workshop. They were both brilliant and we're excited by the amount and biodiversity of moths alone. Today the chirping of a second brood of fledgling birds in the housemartins' nest is silent. This same nest hosted flocks of tiny wrens in the freezing cold winter and its with a tinge of regret that we notice it is empty. Happily Swallows Nest is not empty. When our next guests arrive on Friday, we're fully booked until September. There are abundant crops of soft fruit, our first cabbage of many and great varieties of lettuce that make up the salad bags. In the meantime, we're drying peas for cooking and lavendar for fragrant herb bags. Thankfully, it is cool and there is a little rain so we are not having to water at present while we plan improved water collection and storage. -24 June - Karl a local craftsman and blacksmith made this sign for us made from riggles horseshoes and a lovely piece of ash. We just have to work out the best method of displaying it on the roadside! Good news on the stars and stripes, we've earnt full five stars plus gold rating, pending the paperwork from Visit Britain. Also we're pleased to report a great visit from Bumblebee Conservation Trust who are very supportive and we look forward to the Devon Wildlife Trust visit soon. We checked our plans listed below for Jan 2010 and we've managed all 6 items apart from the photovoltaic roof on the barn due to the capital expense involved but we're always reviewing our sustainability and we've got 6months further review. We attended the local biodynamic group midsummer stirring and applied the biodynamic preparations yesterday and today, co-ordinating with all those around the world who use this form of organic agriculture and gardening. It seems the wildlife like the process as young cub foxes walk past a few feet away from the kitchen window as bold as brass today but thankfully we still have a full count of chickens. Midsummer has brought squadrons of young birds learning to fly along with gorgeous weather, so enjoy this turn of year. -2 June - Summertime is green, growing and gracious here. We're delighted to report the bats are roosting and delighting us with their nightime flying, along with the daytime aerodynamics of all sorts of birds but particularly swallows and house martins whose nests are thriving. We're happy to report Devon Wildlife Trust are visiting at the end of June and we plan a visit from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust who think the endangered shrill carder bumblebee may be nesting near the hedgerows. Our thanks to Julie Mullen who interviewed us on Kingston Hospital Radio. Click on the picture on the left to hear the interview but be warned, the file is 5.3Mbytes and may be a little slow to load. Due to the dry weather, we had white dandelion snow with many white flowers and seeds opening, including peas. Have you tried nettle pesto? Its a nutritious and suprisingly tasty but catch those nettles quickly as its best before they flower. We're also delighted with the nature diary, there's so much going on here its lovely to capture it in the diary and our guests are continuing the good work so we'll be borrowing from the diary to keep you updated here and on our Facebook group. -5 May - Where to begin this month's blog with so many themes and things happening, such as a pair of mallards checking out the pond for nesting but without a central island its not safe. A pair of nuthatches waited at the bird feeder like jewelled birds first thing in the morning and the hirundines are starting to nest. Jim's polytunnel has tomatoes growing and we've got help from Jim's fantastic mum who is now 84years planting up seedlings, bless her! We're beavering away in here as the change in ownership has meant we have to re-earn our quality stars and stripes. In the meanwhile, guests have asked us to start a Facebook group for them to post photos of their stay here and we've also loaded photos sent by email, so do look us up. Jim's daily blog on Twitter and Facebook seems very popular and he's healing well after his knee operation which has delayed some of the planting. We're delighted that the new hedge created by laying beech trees has greened up and many of the willow and other hedging is growing well, another small step on our woodland management. Enjoy the late but lovely spring as we move into summertime! -12 April - The first swallows are circling, the woodland has a carpet of wild sorrel with its white bell-like flowers, lambs of a caring local farmer thrive in our fields and the ponds have some lovely blossoms including a mixture of white or purple flowering snakeshead fritillary. Its great to share this with guests, family and friends! Good news as we write, the polytunnel is going up and Jim has his first orders for plants to sell. Our Easter guests had the first wild swim of the season and gently rowed the small flat-bottomed boat in the spring sunshine. We had wild ducks visiting, both mallards and pintails. Earlier, the buzzard fished out frogs but left the frog spawn that has now hatched into tadpoles. We’re delighted with our first woofing, in more ways than one; we’ve had invaluable help with planting out and building perfect wood piles with the help of a young WWOOFer*. Then we’ve also been learning about the woof - the archaic form of weft - as in threads that run crosswise in a woven fabric our guests have been learning to weave. However, we have also hit a few problems along this journey but no doubt they will resolve in time. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy this lovely spring season. *WWOOFer is a Willing Worker On an Organic Farm and provides experiences in sustainable living – we’re not registered yet as organic but we are organic gardeners and members of Henry Doubleday Research Association (HDRA) here at Riggles Farm House -26 Mar - A brilliant Marchtime, with gorgeous weather and spring flowers. We've made great progress, revamping the web pages so a big thank you to all those involved particularly David Dambe. Those of you who asked about our March blog, apologies for its lateness. We're being encouraged to write a weekly blog but let us know if you think a more regular monthly one is enough! We're delighted to get planning permission for the polytunnel and its now ordered and due to got up in a couple of weeks, We've made connections with other small retreats in the immediate area and further afield, including a wonderful visit to and linking with The Hilfield Peace and Environment Project at Hilfield Priory near Dorchester www.hilfieldproject.co.uk/jumpoff-ecology.htm Delighted to join the Blackdown Hills transition group http://blackdownhillstransition.org/,
a hub to support and encourage community action that reduces carbon
reliance, and plans for energy Also, we joined South Devon Biodynamic organisation and Tom Petherick of Cholwell Farm www.cholwellfarm.com/ where Jim helped make the seasonal biodynamic preparation which we then spread here while we seriously consider biodynamic organic registration for our produce. Finally, we're enjoying our guests staying here at Swallows Nest and we welcome Easter, its guests and visitors. -15 Feb - -6Jan2010- Its a snowy January here after wonderful festivities and New Year, where we warmly welcomed and so appreciated our wonderful guests including the retreat at Swallows Nest. We participated in some of the inspirational meditations and set out some of our plans for the year ahead while admiring that full moon, so watch this space! Here are some of the plans we hope to bring to fruition this year: 1) a polytunnel to extend the growing season, along with clearing of brambles and other snail and slug shelters 2) photovoltaic roof on the barn - thankfully the roof is already strengthened in anticipation of the extra weight 3) connections and research into small retreats including reiki training in Swallows Nest between holiday lets 4) hedgerow, coppice, woodland and tree management including wood fuel cycle 5) updating the links on the webpages to reflect our developments here 6) chickens and their protection from our resident fox familes. Finally, many of you are asking how we're doing and how we spend our time. Each day in the winter we take about an hour to clean, prepare, light, tend and fuel the wood burning boiler. We are amazed at how much time we spend on admin and care of Swallows Nest including the webpages! Also, today we had fun clearing snow from paths with the help of Barker, our border collie. So we are looking forward to the longer days and more clement weather to get going on our projects and growing those seeds. Enjoy a healthy, peaceful and productive 2010! -16Dec2009- Jim and Lesley Rogan moved on 27th November 2009 with the vision to care for our environment and make a difference. We feel so fortunate to be given this opportunity at the special site and to look after Swallows Nest to welcome newcomers and those returning for a holiday. We are also lucky that our first Swallows Nest let was to the perfect couple and we are priviledged to have welcomed them as our first guests. Moreover we can only thank all those hundreds of people who have sent us well wishes as emails, phone calls, lovely cards, candles, pottery not from Upottery, flowers and even a beautiful olive peace tree! Moreover the people here are warm and welcoming too. Jim returns today from his three week commute to complete his notice on his conventional job, so watch these pages develop as we do! For now, we will be resting over the festive season, preparing for the year ahead and pouring over seed catalogues while Swallows Nest is let as a retreat over the same period. So we wish you a peaceful and fulfilled Yuletide Season with a year ahead of unlimited possibilities. Jim and Lesley |
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