To say that it's been a little while since I last posted on here would be a little of an understatement! The last 6 months have contained a mixture of times; times when I have been simply too busy to write, times when there has been so little going on that there seemed little point in writing, and other times where my motivation was simply missing.
But here I am, back in the digital world and ready to bring you back up to speed with the wheres, whens and whys of what goes on in our crazy little lives!
Back in September (when I last wrote) we were just about to embark on a holiday (our first since the epic trip around the world) to Iceland (no...not the frozen food supermarket famous for it's £5 prawn ring).
Traveling through the "Land of Fire and Ice" was an extraordinary experience. Based at our friend Siobhan's house in Reykjavik the 3 of us explored the south and west coasts of the country, taking in Volcanoes, Mountains (occasionally through the mist), Geothermally heated water pools and Glacial Lagoons to name just a few things.
Just a few weeks later the snow came to Iceland, making many areas I am sure unrecognisable from how we saw them during our stay. A trip back to experience an Icelandic winter will at some point I am sure become a reality for us.
From a work point of view, both of our contracts with Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust came to an end in November. A few frantic weeks toward the end were eventually completed by me actually having to finish all of my training course work during our leaving party! As far as we know both of our work has met the grade, and has gone off to be externally verified by the examining body.
When we arrived back in the UK following our lengthy travels nearly 2 and a half years ago, we made the promise to ourselves that we would do everything we could to make our goal of working in the outdoors a reality. After 2 years of working full time without pay, putting in endless hours in front of computers and in books and sticking to a strict budget I am proud to say that both of us have finally seen our dream become a reality!
As of 6 weeks ago I joined the team at Magdalen Farm (near Chard in Somerset) as an Environmental Education Officer on a 6 month contract. The 132 acre farm is organic and promotes sustainable methodology and technology. As well as receiving a full salary, Vicky and I are also given a caravan on site to live in which means we have no housing or fuel costs associated with my job.
I mainly work with primary school children (typically aged 7-11) who come for either day visits or residential stays. We spend a lot of time with the children (on occasions up to 12 hours a day) and we cover everything from learning about organic animal welfare, organic food production, sustainable fuel sources, wildlife tracking/spotting, outdoor survival to team building and campfires.
Vicky has just managed to land a 9 month contract with the Dorset Wildlife Trust based at Chesil Beach. She starts her job on Monday next week, and so I will save further details for this on my next update.
While as yet neither of our jobs are permanent, we are both so pleased to get our first paid roles within the industry. The step from being an unpaid trainee to a "proper" member of staff in someways seems small, but in other ways it can be one of the biggest and hardest steps to actually achieve.
The largest downfall we have found to our new location is our connectivity. Rural Somerset is a little like the land that time forgot in terms of technology, with phone signals varying on a (sometimes daily but sometimes by the minute) basis. As a result sometimes we can go days without a mobile signal. There is therefore of course no mobile data to access.
The farm's wifi network barely reaches our caravan, and so the internet is also an unknown quantity. I actually went to start this blog last night, but part way through the internet disappeared for around 22 hours. Had it not been for the dreary weather I may even have considered sitting outside to get closer to the signal.
I was astonished to find that some small towns and villages here still do not even have broadband, demonstrating how much the technological revolution left them in the shadows. I will try and make regular contributions to my blog as I did in the past, but I am conscious that given the circumstances this might not always be possible.
As was always traditionally the case, I would like to finish the entry with a news story that made me either happy or laugh.
In a week where good news seems to have been thin on the ground I was tempted to go with one member of One Direction having enough and leaving the band ;)
However with Spring in the air and Easter around the corner I had to chuckle at one Scottish butchers contribution to the season...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-32069147
See you all next time :)
But here I am, back in the digital world and ready to bring you back up to speed with the wheres, whens and whys of what goes on in our crazy little lives!
Back in September (when I last wrote) we were just about to embark on a holiday (our first since the epic trip around the world) to Iceland (no...not the frozen food supermarket famous for it's £5 prawn ring).
The 2 of us swimming between continents. One one side is the Eurasian continental plate and on the other is the North American continental plate. The visibility is awesome and the water a constant 2 degrees celcius!
Traveling through the "Land of Fire and Ice" was an extraordinary experience. Based at our friend Siobhan's house in Reykjavik the 3 of us explored the south and west coasts of the country, taking in Volcanoes, Mountains (occasionally through the mist), Geothermally heated water pools and Glacial Lagoons to name just a few things.
Nothing like "chilling out" at a glacial lagoon on a Friday afternoon! You can see the glacier (just) in the background and all of these icebergs have carved off of it
From a work point of view, both of our contracts with Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust came to an end in November. A few frantic weeks toward the end were eventually completed by me actually having to finish all of my training course work during our leaving party! As far as we know both of our work has met the grade, and has gone off to be externally verified by the examining body.
Occombe Farm is no longer our home and work. While we do miss it we have merely moved on to the next step on our little adventure
When we arrived back in the UK following our lengthy travels nearly 2 and a half years ago, we made the promise to ourselves that we would do everything we could to make our goal of working in the outdoors a reality. After 2 years of working full time without pay, putting in endless hours in front of computers and in books and sticking to a strict budget I am proud to say that both of us have finally seen our dream become a reality!
As of 6 weeks ago I joined the team at Magdalen Farm (near Chard in Somerset) as an Environmental Education Officer on a 6 month contract. The 132 acre farm is organic and promotes sustainable methodology and technology. As well as receiving a full salary, Vicky and I are also given a caravan on site to live in which means we have no housing or fuel costs associated with my job.
Literally surrounded by countryside, you can just about see the end of our caravan in this photo. A 15 metre commute to work means I can hardly blame the traffic if I am late!
I mainly work with primary school children (typically aged 7-11) who come for either day visits or residential stays. We spend a lot of time with the children (on occasions up to 12 hours a day) and we cover everything from learning about organic animal welfare, organic food production, sustainable fuel sources, wildlife tracking/spotting, outdoor survival to team building and campfires.
Why's it all gone dark?! Damn these big ears! At the farm children really get to understand where our food comes from, and that means telling them that in 7 months time these new piglets will become the meat products they eat when they stay at the farm. As far as practical the farm tries to provide itself with as much of the food that it uses as possible. Local and organic. I think I will stick to my lentil loaf and salad thank you very much :)
Vicky has just managed to land a 9 month contract with the Dorset Wildlife Trust based at Chesil Beach. She starts her job on Monday next week, and so I will save further details for this on my next update.
While as yet neither of our jobs are permanent, we are both so pleased to get our first paid roles within the industry. The step from being an unpaid trainee to a "proper" member of staff in someways seems small, but in other ways it can be one of the biggest and hardest steps to actually achieve.
The largest downfall we have found to our new location is our connectivity. Rural Somerset is a little like the land that time forgot in terms of technology, with phone signals varying on a (sometimes daily but sometimes by the minute) basis. As a result sometimes we can go days without a mobile signal. There is therefore of course no mobile data to access.
The farm's wifi network barely reaches our caravan, and so the internet is also an unknown quantity. I actually went to start this blog last night, but part way through the internet disappeared for around 22 hours. Had it not been for the dreary weather I may even have considered sitting outside to get closer to the signal.
I was astonished to find that some small towns and villages here still do not even have broadband, demonstrating how much the technological revolution left them in the shadows. I will try and make regular contributions to my blog as I did in the past, but I am conscious that given the circumstances this might not always be possible.
Spring is certainly a time for all things cute on a farm!
As was always traditionally the case, I would like to finish the entry with a news story that made me either happy or laugh.
In a week where good news seems to have been thin on the ground I was tempted to go with one member of One Direction having enough and leaving the band ;)
However with Spring in the air and Easter around the corner I had to chuckle at one Scottish butchers contribution to the season...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-32069147
See you all next time :)
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