Great to have local support from so many people and organisations. Our project is built on donations of old, used or not wanted materials. From this our students make something out of nothing, amazing what can be achieved by using pallet wood and other donated materials. Sydnehams & Headlights of Devizes give us pallets and the students strip them down to make raised beds, gates and so much more. Of course what we can't use we burn in our wood burner.
At the moment we are looking for old corrugated metal sheets to build larger shelters for our goats who certainly do not like the rain. goats need a larger shelter

The start of a pallet fence built by our Saturday team.

pallet fence

Greetings - just doing some updates to the website and found no news on the website for ages! but of course daily updates on our facebook group, which is hidden but you can join by contacting us. So much happens on a daily basis and so many people to thank. Good today to sign off papers for some of our Lackham students who have been doing work experience for the last 7 months. Its good that students can get a hands on experience with the many aspects of farming and of course working through the various seasons. We wish them well though all have asked to continue with the volunteering.

The wet weather today is good for ducks but not for goats and we are looking for corrugated metal sheets for more goat shelters of course we do not need new. Wel off to do the milking.... thanks for reading *smile*

Summer Time has ended so we tried to have a little extra sleep then woke to the feel of winter with a frost outside.

Work over the last couple of weeks has been around getting ready for a cold spell so a good time to try out our hard work.

The chimney flue is now in place all ready for the burner to go in once it has been delivered.

The chicken pen had a good clear out this week from a good team supervised well in military style. It is all clean dry and cosy for them all. They will not mind the shorter days outside with a good roost waiting for them.

The rain poured yesterday but our students worked through with us to prepare a drier bantam pen which was well used last night.

Some sunny spells so work is heading forward in all areas.

The false ceiling is now in place and insulated then the wood treated. The floor is looking great with most of it freshly coated and everyone is looking forward to the warm stove.

So good to have our youngsters here with the core team and great to see their enthusiastic approach to the work.

A busy team all working together, and this week, a bit of a celebration. A very special team member has celebrated spending a year with us volunteering. Without his dedicated time, support and expertise we would not be where we are now ­ grateful thanks to you (we know who you are) we cannot imagine how things would be without you.

The day started a little cool once more, but it soon brightened up and warmed up too. It was field work time with a helpful team today. The front field was topped and the hay field was worked on. First job there was to turn the hay and let the sun work its magic. Later in came the helpers and off they went with the baling.

The team headed out to stack the bales safely. It should be fit to put into the barn tomorrow ­ a tow needed to get it all moved.

The general chores were needed as always. Tiddler came around with the team for a while.

The guys did a fantastic job out in the pig pen. Today they dug out the muddy hollow a little more, then worked on a stronger, secure fence.

Well done team, especially one particular person.

Here we are, now halfway through the year. A new month dawned ­ the first day being the hottest recorded July temperatures on record.

That did not stop the team at Caenhill CC. Everyone rolled up their sleeves, put on the sunblock and set off with the work in hand.

Now the 2nd day was a little cooler and some rain began to fall. This was good for the plants but not for the hay on the field. To top it all off, the evening was showing a full moon.

Work has now taken on a new strength for everyone ­ must do it, must learn it, can manage The team took over on Friday, running the project and looking after everything.

The weekend showed us all what a great team we have.

Rowde Village Fete had kindly invited us to have a stand to promote the project. 2 team members spent the afternoon promoting and chatting to some lovely and very interested people. A busy time for them, but honey was a great hit, courses so popular and a great deal of support from a wonderful bunch of people.

To top that, it was haymaking time. Most of it baled by the morning, a little more to go. The rain threatened, so a brilliant team set to work. Around 800 bales lifted manually onto the trailer then off again and stacked in the barn.

The work would not have happened without the great team. Everyone met their challenges and set to work to help each other. Even had laughs together as the sweat poured off our brows. Caenhill CC has a great team, today it really showed.

It really can get very busy, when you really do not expect it. Well this week has seen the team marching onwards as everyone does their best to get the farm running and keep running.

Some great contacts this week with Jamie and his farm project and the Eco projects at Create in Bristol. It was so encouraging to talk to both projects, talk about our different but similar projects and part company as friends to see and contact soon. The team on Tuesday set about the work near the stable and wondered what the buzzing sound was? Only a swarm of bees in the tree. A group of ladies all suited up and a hardy guy with a saw at the ready to help. It all went well. Next day though was not so good, perhaps it was the breakfast menu but the seemed to want to leave again.

A great team in who worked away on the small pond area for the tiny ducks, some painting then some thistle and nettle cutting. Need to get things going now for the Business Games day ­ lots of teams beginning to come along.

Another week goes sailing by and we see the grass growing, the elderflower out in bloom and the hedgerows full of life.

The farm has been busy as usual and we are still tackling the strong winds. The sun came out to tease us into warm summer days ahead.

2 new ducklings appeared this week, and the mother occasionally lets us see them. She guards them well.

A great team came in this week from AMC to help us with some of the farm work. What a team! Painting done until the pots were dry, soil moved out of the pond area, the barn

cleared out, and Tracey just bleated away in the background!

The sheep have now moved fields to get to some fresh grazing so not so far to go to check everything out.

We head towards the summer solstice and warm days ahead, with plenty of work ahead.

Wow, what a week for the start of summer ­ in like a roaring lion! It is improving now though.

The farm has been very busy all week. Rescuing plants, a poorly lamb, and more, and here we are still smiling.

It was good to welcome a team from Arval this week. Plenty for them to do and we hope they enjoyed their time.

Sheep shearing this week as the weather warms up. Those ‘woolly jumpers’ are just a little too much now. A first time for Dot, Minty, Spot, Polly, Tweedle dum and Tweedle dee ­ hard to work out who is who now. It all looks like an instant diet ­ they all look so sleek and fit.

The Aylesbury ducks went out to the small pond this week. Turbo joined them too. They just loved their new pond and the greenery. A really happy bunch.

A swarm of bees kept our beekeeper on the go for a couple of days ­ all settling down here in the hives down the field.

BIG NEWS ­ the turkeys have hatched! Mum turkey has done a wonderful job in getting them to this point, and is now proudly sitting with them all as they see their new world.

Lots of helpers with the wash down and tidy up. Always more to do.

It is now summer, a full moon to be seen by all tomorrow ­ but the day was very challenging with stormier conditions as the day progressed.It has all started rather disappointingly but promises to get better.

We have a group coming in this week who are keen to share the farm experience with us all.

Summer activities beckon ­ sheep shearing, hay making, even the hint of strawberries coming through. The bee swarm from the weekend seem to be settled into the hive rather quietly, Maybe they are exhausted, maybe they find it a bit too cold at the moment.

The members met together on Friday and discussed the work to keep the project moving through the rest of the year. Some great ideas and some helpful and useful people.

Off we all go, now let’s have the summer sun to help us through!

So.... first time blogging on the new site and I timed out and lost my post. Let's start again.

It's been a good year now since I started volunteering at Caenhill Countryside Centre. The blog posts and daily photographs might have eased off over the last couple of months, but I've still been taking photographs every week and will soon be making a shortlist of images to pass to Chris for the 2016 calendar. I've no idea how that came around so fast! June 12th will see the anniversary of when I first picked up a DSLR at the farm, and wow has that changed my life. I'm partway through a university foundation course in photography (learning how little I really know) and am on the cusp of an embarrassingly soft launch of my own business (ditto).

In a year it's hard to know which has changed more - my own life and passions, or the CCC that provided me with such wonderful opportunities. I'm photographing and writing about creatures, plants and structures that just weren't here 12 months ago. First generation turkeys are sitting on the second generation, pigs are starting to get frisky, Billy's getting very possessive over anything that's female and feathered, and my husband now measures all other eggs against the gold standard of CCC eggs. We have honey from Caenhill bees on our toast, and B got to help with planting potatoes. I got to photograph a team of amazing soldiers from the British Army who volunteered via Help for Heroes, what an absolute honour.

It's impossible to list out all the improvements that have been made and they all deserve far more words than I have here, so I think I'll run a series of blog posts now that I'm back in the saddle.