Chop chop chop

It's been a few days since my last post so I'll try and remember what I've been up to.

On Thursday we spent a few hours in the tool shed being taught how to care for your tools. It was a great day, and Stu who came in to teach us is incredible. He's full of knowledge. We sharpened lots of tools from knives and chisels to spades and drill bits. It really showed us how wasteful we are as a nation, throwing away drill bits cos we think they're rubbish when it takes 5 seconds to sharpen it so it does the job properly again. I now need to get into a good habit of looking after tools properly and passing on the knowledge I gained onto others.

That evening I worked with the kids again who were camping on site. It was a lovely evening. We went badger watching. Unfortunately we saw none, the kids were too noisy and kept shining their torches into the badger holes. I think it's amazing though that all it took was for one kid to say 'I saw three badgers' for then everyone to claim they saw badgers. The amazing thing is these kids will probably go home saying they saw them and will always believe they saw them too! We made pizzas with the kids in the clay oven and I taught them a few things you can do in the dark. I wish I could have been working with those kids all week. Anna and Beth who run the activity days want to get me on board with planning the Forest Schools for September.

On Friday we went to Labrador Bay, an RSPB nature reserve. We were doing some habitat management to help the Cirl Bunting bird population. We pulled out two tractor trailers full of ragwort. Cirl Bunting like areas of varied lengths of meadows. By removing the ragwort, which is poisonous to mammals, they can get some Dartmoor ponies to graze the land allowing for more variety in grasses for the cirl bunting.

I was up until about 4 last night. We went out for a ska and reggae night in Totnes. Was a fantastic night and when we got back Rich and I could hear music I the distance so trekked across farms fields and down country lanes but never found where it was coming from.

I killed my first chicken today. It was the younger cockerel. Hopefully the mornings will be quieter. I was told that one of the most humane ways is an axe to the neck. It does the job quickly and guarantees that it's actually dead instead of just paralyzing it. It's nuts how much it runs, jumps and flaps about without a head. last for a good minute or so. It's going to be dinner tonight Yum yum.