The canopy

The days are so full of different activities, that I don’t have time and energy to write posts, but I try :) At least I try to write :)

Today I took out my new canopy which I bought last year but didn’t have chance to use it and asked Mick to install it. It is standing now giving in hot noons some shadow. We want to install it to house wall to make it more stabile. Also Mick continued today with nets in chicken coup collar. The nets are nearly stretched. Tomorrow they should be ready and I will be able to let poultry graze there safely. We need eggs! And in order to have them, hens need eat well lots of fresh green grass and worms.

I have repaired the wire in orchard where stallion eats grass and made breakfast and cooked lunch for us. This time it was chicken soup with vegetables, chickens and groats with tomatoes. Dessert – pudding and jelly. For supper we have eaten sandwiches with vegetables and egg.

Mick repaired heater cable, so tomorrow hot bath. I have prepared bread for baking. Tomorrow morning we will have fresh, warm bread.

After supper we went by bikes around the area. We cycled several kilometres across 4 villages. It was nice trip. We checked if my bikes are okay and they are okay. They are ready for longer trips. Mick says, that while he was cycling across France and Spain he was able to cover distance of 100km daily. For me it is too much, but 40-50km I can do daily.

Securing chickens

Today in the morning we first milked a goat and then went with Mick to cut some bushes in the orchard. For breakfast we had sandwiches with ham and tomatoes, some tea. For lunch I cooked mince cutlets, cabbage and rice. For dessert - jelly. After lunch Mick stretched net over the chicken collar. We took a heavy garden table out of stable and put it in front of the house to have meals here. I have stretched an electric tape to protect us from curious horses. Yesterday Mick cultivated a piece of garden, for lunch we had pigeons, for supper muesli with goat milk. Mick cleaned the chimney, so I could cook the dishes over the kitchen stove. The weather improved, it would be good to go for a bike trip to nearby lakes. Before we go, Mick wants to finish stretching the net and I would like to repair the electric wire next to the young stallion.

A grumpy kid

I have arranged a lift for an Estonian man from Tartu in Estonia to at least Suwałki in Poland and he still was not happy and complained! So I have got irritated and told him not to come. Then he sent me his angry 4 paragraph letter and has written a post at his blog :)))) hahaha... Gee... Innitially he was to come here by hitchhiking. And I made to him easy coming here by arranging the lift. And he, instead of be happy and thankful was still whining! Grrr... What a grumpy kid!

Soaking feet

Yesterday we had with Mick special evening :) Mick had idea to use my two new yellow bowls for soaking our feet :) so, we poured hot water into the bowls, sit at the kitchen table and enjoyed Irish music and soaking our feet while drinking tea :) It was very simple, but joyful thing to do :) I think I like Irish ballads...

The worst day ever

Today happened the worst day in my life. People say, that unhappy events walk in pairs. That’s true, at least today. Two extremely negative things happened today to me. Although the Tarot predicted them, I hoped that it had been wrong. Unfortunately hadn’t. What was predicted weeks ago, just happened today. I even don’t have force to cry anymore. I am so overwhelmed with the unhappiness, that I have stopped reacting. I stay calm, peaceful and try to accept what has happened. I know, I couldn’t prevent it. It was written to happen. Such fate.

The flight

I have one person on my mind today... Something finished, before it really started... I feel so sorry, sad and a bit philosophical... what next?

This morning no Sun. Grey sky, wet grass, some shower. I think it will be good day for gardening - making new vegetable beds, sowing and planting some plants. Mick will help me with it, as his hand is soar and he cannot continue his task in the woods.

I have tried to hide my tears before my guest while I was smiling to him this afternoon while preparing breakfast for us. It was late breakfast. I stood up at 11 at noon. Now he went to do some gardening and soon I am going to join him. The life goes on. I cannot let myself fall into depression. But this day my eyes are wet. I hope he cannot notice that.

Monday

Monday is not that sunny like sunday was. At night was raining... Today for breakfast we had tropical muesli with bananas. We milked one goat for the milk. At lunch I have prepared fried chicken with cabbage and boiled potatoes. Now sjesta :))) I need some rest before I go to dig the garden :) Mick is reading the English speaking novel which I have lent out to him. I will have a nap and later take care of the garden.

Too sleepy!

Today I planned to go with Mick to try some fishing, but after eating lunch, I fell asleep and now I am still so tired and sleepy! The weather is great, hope it will last longer. Certainly we will go to fish, but not today. At least bicycles are okay – Mick checked them. So we can go for some trips around the area. I think first we will go to visit some nearby lakes. Hopefully the sunny weather will last longer... Today I am really too tired to go anywhere except to bed! Mick is writing his diary outside having benefit from nice, warm, sunny weather. But I need to rest! I don’t know why I am so sleepy!

The tropical pan cakes a la Isabelle

I have made special pastry for my experimental tropical pan cakes. The pastry consist of:
Goat milk
eco eggs
sliced bananas
tropical muesli
some suger and a bit of salt

I have put the pastry to fridge. When we be hungry – I will fry wonderful pan cakes :) I am sure, Mick will be happy to eat them. He likes pan cakes, and these pan cakes will be fabulous... :)

We have eaten the pan cakes with ice creams :) With ice creams were even more delicious :) Mick also have taken more grand salad, as he likes it very much :) After working outside we have great appetite :)

The grand salad

For breakfast I made grand salad. It was big and delicious.
For the salad I used:
boiled young potatoes
beautiful and tasty eco eggs from my happy hens (they have orange yolks!)
onion
fresh tomatoes
fresh milfoil
salt, pepper
Polish mayonnaise

A summer shower

Today a summer, delicate shower. Mick is cutting wood in my forest, I am about to milk a goat and to extend pasture for horses and then to dig garden in order to sow more vegetables. I am wondering what to cook for dinner. For lunch Mick wanted pan cakes, so I will fry pan cakes :)

Mick liked the pan cakes. He said, that tasted better than Irish pan cakes, so I am glad :))) For the pan cakes I used:
goat milk from my goat
eco eggs from my eco hens
flour
some sugar
a bit salt
a bit of rape oil

For dinner I have prepared fish:
fried fish
fried champignons
fried onion
boiled young potatoes
fresh tomato salad
wine

Everything was highly delicious and my guest have eaten everything with great appetite.

I hope for some more fish, as a friend invited us to fish at his lake. I hope we will be able to catch at least 3 nice fish :)

Irish birthday

Yesterday, exactly at my birthday arrived grand Irishman. We spent the whole day and evening together, talking, eating, drinking and laughing. I love his Irish accent! He speaks naturally very fast with Irish accent which is quite challenging for my understanding his English, but I can understand fairly well, just need to focus more.

Mick is very cheerful, open, heartful and generous person. It's great to have him around. Today we went to my forest to cut some wood for the fence and to bark poles. He is very good with his hands. He is hardworking, full of good energy person. While I was preparing dinner, he started to learn Polish language and I have taught him a few words and expressions, also we trained typical Polish sounds like "ć","ź","ż","ą","ę","c","dz" which made us laugh a lot, since in his language he doesnt have these sounds and his pronunciation was very funny, but after some trials we managed to have satisfactory results... We will continue tommorrow :)

Before storm

I have planned to do some gardening today, but first I went to the old stable to cover the whole over the hen pan in order to prevent one smart hen against escaping from the hen box. My vegetable garden is not secured against the poultry, so hens tend to go there and eat my seeds and destroy young seedlings. Now, since the poultry is shut due to fox attacks – the garden seems to be secured. Only this one smart hen was using the whole over the hen pan to get outside. Now she cannot. I have covered the whole with some wooden sticks.

Being in the attic over the damaged stable – I removed a pile of bricks. The stable is in a very bad condition. It should be demolished. I will have lots of building material usable for extending my house and repairing roofs over my house and the other stable. It should be enough material to build small hen pan and a shed or veranda.

Then I went to visit my young stallion Dagonett. He lost his halter, so I found it and put on back on his head. At first he opposed, but then I have manage to pu on the halter on his head. I was considering purchase of an arabian horse, but it seems that I don't need anymore. The young stallion's grandfather and grand grandmother were arabians and now their Arabian features prevailed. It looks like I have got one Arabian in my herd of horses :) He will be great for long distance rides :) He is also highly intelligent and friendly creature. Like Arabians which used to sleep with their masters in their tents some hundreds years ago...

Permaculture applied

Today I moved the mobile electric fence further to open new grass sector for my horses to graze in young orchard. My horses eat the grass very precisely, so I don't have to cut the grass in the orchard. That's great, because I don't have a tractor to do it ;)))

So, I cut the grass in the orchard in the most natural way - by my alive eco mowers :))) They do it much better than any machine would do it, especially if the area is hilly.

So, since my horses cut the grass in the orchard instead of me - I have some time to sow some vegetables in my garden.



As far as recycling is concerned, I used net from bale of hay to secure my garden against poultry and hairs as well as against goats and dogs.

In order to build fast fence around my new garden - I used plastic mobile fence and electric wire plus the net.

Yesterday I had to shut poultry in the hen pan because a fox killed another hen. Besides hawks started to fly around again. So my poultry is not safe outside anymore. They were so happy to graze so far away from my settlement, but now it's over. I specially feel sympathy for geese who love so much to swim in ponds and stream. But the fox is cheeky enough to attack them there as well during day and in my presence.



I have built a poultry-run next to the hen pan, but it's busy now with seedlings and besides the net is not dense enough so hens can get out, so I will need to use there also the net from bale of hay. What's more, hens can be attacked by hawkes from air, so first I need to stretch there a net over the place. I have bought it last year. It's time to use it. I hope some of the volunteers would help me with it. An Irish and Scottish men are comming soon, also Estonian, so we will be able to stretch the net fast...

Later I went to the nearby village to do some shopping and order the birthday cake for my birthday :) I did the shopping in the little village shop, but the cake I ordered at Library :))) The librarian can make really delicious cakes. I tried them a couple of weeks ago and decided to order the nut and cream cake. It is just awesome! I know, maybe I should bake the cake personaly, but this time I decided to order it. I am busy with gardening all day every day and besides the libriarian salary is not big, so I prefer to pay for the woman so she will have some extra money and I will not have to bother with baking the cake - I prefer to take care of the garden and my animals...

I dream about new saddle :)

Soon my birthday :) As the birthday present I would like a new, comfortable and safe saddle good for riding long distance rides... :)

Meantime I continue the work in my vegetable garden. Today is windy, so I cannot sow very tiny seeds. This is why I sow the biggest seeds which I have :)

Gardening

Today I spent all day outside sowing vegetables in my new garden. The day was sunny and nice. In the evening it was a bit raining, so I didn’t have to water the seeds...

Creative Heaven

I plan to transform creatively and permaculturely farm in heaven on earth :) Dear friends and volunteers will have the opportunity to take part in the operation and have benefite and pleasure from dealing with surrounding built beauty :)

Natural mower ;)

My stallion Hannibal helps me to cut grass in the yard :) He is very precise which I really appreciate :) My horses have lots of grass in meadows and orchard, but they prefer to cut the grass short in the yard which is fine with me :)

Skidding wood

I am considering learning skidding wood in autumn and winter, so I need to prepare myself and my stallion for that purpose.

Every detail is important when you plan to do something well. So first harness. I will need strong harness for the skidding wood. So it has to be made from good, strong material.

The harness has to fit well on my stallion, so I am measuring him today :) He wasn't happy about it and made it difficult to approach him, but after some time I managed to take all needed measurements. It's better to order right harness than risk buying something which will not fit well and will cause for example abrasions during work.

The best is thick leather blank - it's strong and flexible.

Split leather is stiff and ill fits the horse and can cause horse abrasions and harness rupture during use at high loads. So it is better to obtain a harness made ​​of blank leather or grain blanks.

Skóra dwoina jest sztywna i źle dopasowuje się do konia i może powodować u konia otarcia naskórka oraz pękać w trakcie użytkowania przy dużych naciągach. Zatem lepiej jest zaopatrzyć się w uprząż wykonaną ze skóry blankowej czyli licowej.

EXPLANATION
Skidding wood - in the forest: roundwood transport activity of the place of production (from the trunk) to the loading, storage, pretreatment, etc.

Zrywka drewna – w leśnictwie: czynność transportu drewna okrągłego z miejsca pozyskania (od pnia) do miejsca załadunku, składowania, wstępnej obróbki itp.

Leather blank, blank, tanned cowhide or mixed vegetable tanning (chrome-plant) with a thickness of 1.5-5 mm. He meets the skin a natural-colored blanks, colored and apreturowane (apreturowanie). Leather blanks are divided into: harness - thicker, vegetable tanning, a natural color or black, used to manufacture the harness and horse trappings, and simply - thinner, smartly dressed, for the manufacture of briefcases, suitcases and small leather goods.

Skóra blankowa, blank, wyprawiona skóra bydlęca garbowania roślinnego lub mieszanego (chromowo-roślinnego) o grubości 1,5-5 mm. Spotyka się skóry blankowe o barwie naturalnej, barwione i apreturowane (apreturowanie).

Skóry blankowe dzielą się na: rymarskie - grubsze, garbowania roślinnego, o kolorach naturalnych lub czarne, używane do wytwarzania uprzęży i rzędów końskich, oraz zwykłe - cieńsze, efektownie wykończone, przeznaczone do wyrobu neseserów, walizek i drobnej galanterii skórzanej.

Sleepy morning

Sleepy, but doing office work :) partly in sleep :) like a lunatic ;) Typing with eyes closed :D

The international volunteers

Some interesting summer volunteers are comming here soon. Very various people. I will have a real Babel tower here soon.I wonder, if we be able to do here something significant and have good fun at the same time...

I will need to find a balance between a good, solid work and great fun. It won't be easy I think. Last years I was only working. I don't know how to have great fun :))) I will need to learn it again... hmmm... I don't know if I can :) But I think I should try :)

I used to work so hard and so long... It was neccassary, but now for my own goodness I should relax a bit. I am not a machine. I should rest sometimes and just relax. It won't be possible though... I have too many worries to be able to relax. But I may try to create for others nice relaxing place here... The place is nice and relaxing itself anyway. I will only think how to organise the work and fun well to make it interesting, fullfilling, satisfactory and rewarding... I want to create valuable active vacations for the volunteers - in order to reward them well for their help.

The Sunday plan

I spent all day today outside doing many different things. So many, that I don't remember exactly what I was doing today :))).

Well, for sure I have made two flower beds and increased and corrected mobile electric fence for my horses.

At night I discovered that I am hungry and decided to bake a chicken. It is already baking and the beautiful tempting smell of it is spreading around reaching my nose as well and making me even more hungry... :)

Tomorrow Sunday, I think I should write some legal papers concerning depriving me possibility of access to the fast Internet at my farm, but, I feel more like spending this nice day in the garden, so I will probably create another flower beds and new vegetable beds. The legal papers will wait till Monday. It's so beautiful warm weather - it would be big waste not to sow something tomorrow... My fingers are eaching... I want to sow! :D

Volunteering at the Rancho

I would like to invite you to a beautiful, scenic Rancho in Poland and let you take part in making it even more beautiful :) I am a romantic dreamer :) I would like to meet noble people who want to help me to make true all my beautiful romantic and noble dreams :)))

Some years ago, I was left with 6 horses on my own to take care of them. Only one was mine, freshly bought, but the five other horses belonged to a woman who promised to help me with them and to teach me riding, but she only brought her herd of horses at my farm in winter and soon left not caring about her own horses, neither their food, vet services nor everyday care. Being without any experience with horses – suddenly I was faced to tackle with herd of 6 horses including aggressive stallion! Gee... it was very difficult and hard time to me :) But I have managed! :) Of course, nobody from locals believed that an inexperienced person would manage with horses without any help, but I actually managed with them very well :))))) Since that time I breed horses on my own. Until now I have bred 5 new horses of a stunning beauty :)They are great sport mounts which need training now...



So now I would like to meet some good, noble people with sincere, good intentions who really would like to help me to continue and develop my breed... People, who love horses and can train them are always welcomed here, but also other enthusiastic people who want to help here in any other way...

I used to live in a big Polish city, but I always dreamed about living close to the Nature. I have very good memories from my childhood, when I was spending most my vacations at farm of my Grandparents. I have just loved it! I loved to help at the farm - to feed animals, to do some gardening... to ride an old horse, to go by wagon to the forest meadows to make hay for the horse and other animals... It was so wonderful, happy time of my childhood :) I try to live the same life style :)

When I became adult, my next big passion became web designing. My first trees I was planting at my websites, but soon I felt it was not enough, so I bought a farm and moved here to create here my dreamed paradise at the most beautiful part of Poland – in The Hilly Masurian region (Mazury Garbate).

I live at the farm alone doing everything on my own since years. It's a lot of work for just one person, so I thought that it would be good idea to invite some people, who would like to take part in my projects having in the same time active vacations in the outdoors.

Here is always something to do, the biggest amount of work is always in spring. Most time I am working on my farm on my own. I have learned everything – agriculture, breed, gardening, planting, fencing, cheese making, bread baking, renovating – all on my own. From handbooks, books, internet. I may share with you my knowledge.

But I am not experienced in training horses. I have got theoretical knowledge and excellent approach to horses. I know their habits and how to deal with them. I love my horses and they love me. I need practical help in training my horses. I also want to learn the training in order to be able to train my next horses on my own.

The old Masurian house which I bought together with the farm is traditional one building made of bricks, stones and wood. I have renovated a part of it. I need help with some more renovating: kitchen, rooms, bathrooms, corridor, so such skills like plumbing, plastering, concrete making, tiles sticking are needed, but also simple cleaning and some basic tasks which do not require building skills. Some building skills I can teach.

I also plan to adapt attic over the house for an apartament and basement for sauna, baths, summer kitchen. Besides I would like to renovate one of the stables and adapt the attic over it for a hostel for my volunteers and future participants of riding camps which I plan to organise here.

I have got here 5 hectares of a young orchard and another 5 ha of meadows, 1 ha of a forest. Some ponds, stream. I want to fence all land around so I need also help with fencing.

My forest I plan to transform into useful paradise park so it needs to be cleared, some branches and wood have to be removed from here. So I need someone for collecting the branches and wood from it. Also someone to cut down some bushes and branches.

Well, the Rancho is beautiful and full of various tasks which should be done, so any help is welcomed :) In return for the help I can offer a free stay at my farm, home cooked meals and interesting active vacation at my farm where you can learn a lot of new skills – farming skills (gardening, planting, fencing, breeding) and renovating skills (polishing, wall building, plumbing, plastering, concrete making, tiles sticking). Also you will have chance to see the scenic neighbourhood around. I will take you to some longer trips around as well. I will show you local clean fish lakes, some wild hiking trails. If during your stay at my farm will be a festival nearby – I will take you to it as well. I have tourist maps, bikes and the region is amazingly beautiful – worth of hiking, biking, horses riding – whatever :) So, if you feel you would like to be part of my beautiful project and have valuable vacations at the same time - feel free to come :)

In order to apply please send me your message. In return you will get an application form. Please, fill in and send it back to me. I will contact you soon to discuss the details of your arrival and stay here. If you have any questions - feel free to ask them.

Love, light and laughter :)

Isabelle

The Child Day

I have decided to make something sweet... :)

I know that I am a little bit grown up, but still a child deep inside ;)))

And I like sweets... ;)))

Making hay