Inspiration comes when you least expect it

Visitors Centre map

So life is pretty up and down at the moment. Change is always difficult and we are trying to move at the same time as dealing with the passing of my Mum. The house is in chaos with car loads of extra stuff coming in from the clearance of her house in Stevenage. I think it is important to get away from it all and the opportunity came last Tuesday with the monthly meeting of the East Essex Smallholders Group as a farm visit to Lauriston Farm in Goldhanger, Essex. 

Having got lost on the way despite having printed out directions, the place is quite remote and down an unmarked gravel road well off the beaten track. Among the first of the group to arrive, we donned our trusty walking boots and we duly sprayed against bug attacks.

Essex salt marsh

Lauriston Farm is a bio-dynamic organic farm. ??? It was explained to us, I think, but basically the owners are operating a permaculture. ??? Operating organically, they do not bring in any fertilisers or pesticides. All the manure is recycled on the farm. They had North Ronaldsay sheep and Shetland cows. North Ronaldsay sheep typically live on the rugged coast line of the island with the same name, so it is ideally suited to grazing the Essex salt marsh. Cool! After the chat in the 'education centre' we were taken for a trek around the farm. This led us past sheep and cows, then up to the sea wall. This is a scene that I am familiar with but usually from a different direction. The farm has 225 acres which includes an ancient decoy pond and a salt extraction site dating back to Roman times. It was all very educational! 

Happy, friendly sheep

The final part of the walk took us back into a field where we were met by some very nice sheep. Their fleeces were starting to shed and were coming off in big chunks. The owners shear the sheep themselves and then send the fleece to be processed. This is a costly undertaking and always a gamble as they then have to sell on the resulting balls of yarn. We were shown some of these upon our return to the education centre. There were 50g balls of double knit at £3.50 each and 100g balls of double knit at £4.50 each. We were also told a story about how they had sent 75kg of their fleeces to be processed which had been lumped in together, rather than sorting for similar colours, resulting 75kg of grey wool. They weren't impressed with this so the processors over-dyed some of the wool in heather (dark purple) and plum. Upon closer inspection, the grey is more of a fawn/brown colour, which I liked. They also sell sheepskin rugs and meat boxes from their farm gate and run courses on getting to grips with a bio-dynamic farm. A brilliant evening enjoyed by all.

It wasn't really until the dog walk the next day that the idea came to me that my husband will be celebrating his 50th birthday in 6 months time. What could I buy him? He had commented that he didn't have any warm outside jumpers. I have made him a beautiful, intricate aran jumper which took years and he is too afraid to wear  . . . so I decided to make him a jumper from this North Ronaldsay wool. After a quick email to the farm, a few days later I was back down the gravel track to purchase 10 x 100g balls of the fawn/brown wool. Six months seems plenty of time but with all the current upheaval going on, it will soon fly. Better get busy knitting!

The North Ronaldsay wool is a little courser than the typical double knit that I'm used to but it does have the rugged quality that I was looking for. It knits up well and isn't so dark that it is difficult to work in the evenings. Lauriston Farm only seem to operate a farm-gate sales for their produce but they offer a friendly welcome via their website. www.lauristonfarm.co.uk

A lifetime of craft

Ann Wheeler (1st July 1936-7th April 2014)

On April 7th 2014  my Mum lost her short battle against cancer. She was my teacher, my inspiration and my friend. She introduced me to knitting, crochet, cross-stitch, dressmaking, photography, flower arranging, cooking, cake making and cake decorating. With a family of six children, making things was infinitely cheaper than buying them. I have fond memories of christmas cakes and trays of bread pudding. Dresses were made for special occasions and I was delighted when she agreed to make the cake, bouquets and some of the bridesmaids dresses for my wedding 25 years ago.

One of the crafts which remained unique to my Mum was that of egg decorating. I was still living at home when she began this craft which involved using real blown eggs with doors cut and hinged, then smothered with beads and pearls. Each child as we were married were happy to have a special egg for the top of the cake. As her skills improved, the eggs become more and more delicate and complicated. 

The family have had to clear her house and it struck me that the world has lost a crafts person of great skill. Her vast stash of crafting materials will be sent to the egging guild for redistribution and the collection of eggs that she created have been divided between the family. Its all very sad. I did manage to salvage the photographic record of all her decorated eggs which fills three photo albums. 

As a footnote to this blog I would like to say, share your craft as widely as possible. Teach, display and distribute. It is a gift which may well leave when you do.