No, not the poem, just a judgement on the remains of our old Butterfly Garden. We had a look while we were visiting the farm on Friday to visit Men in Sheds.
There is nobody in the centre or kitchen anymore, as things didn’t work out. This is a shame as they did a lot of work and it has presumably cost them a lot of money. It may still be costing them money if they signed a lease.
Sadly, without our (free) help, the farm appears unable to maintain the place.
Standing and looking at the place we spent five years working you half expect a tumbleweed to roll past, or a loose door to creak in the wind.
The willow work is out of control, the buddleias are going mad and the log xylophone has been torn out.
In other beds the shasta daisies, the borage and the oregano have all been ripped out.
As a result we didn’t see many as many pollinators as we should have been and there were no brown butterflies, which used to love the oregano.
It’s seven months since we had to close down (or were evicted, to be more accurate) and the negative feelings are gradually fading as we move other things.
It’s also time to re-evaluate the title and content of the blog, as it’s clearly no longer the story of a Nottinghamshire Care Farm. I’ve been thinking of this for a while, and putting it off as it seems so final.
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I am so pleased you are now ready to move on and think of the future and make new plans 🙂 It’s always difficult revisiting old haunts.
Planning is always good.
“We Will Always Have Compost” – How could you choose anything else. Genius.
Thank you, I’ll do my best to live up to the title. 🙂
We had a great time back then when we were doing the community bread and I met a lot of good people. It is a shame that money seems to have won over community.
Everything happens for a reason, and often those reasons are just bullshit.
The blog is going from strength to strength, so hope you come up with a fetching title to match 🙂
Cheers
Marcus
In the next day or two I will put up photos of the newly revamped cafe – looks good but no room for bread classes.
I learned many new skills over the years, so I can’t really complain. Also met many fine people. And you.
😉
So very sad! Onward to another phase, and I hope blogging will be part of this phase. I really enjoy your posts.
Thank you – I’m definitely carrying on with the blogging and using the last five years as a valuable lesson. 🙂
Good, good!
Though I’m not saying I’ll carry on as the cheery, sweet tempered person I am now… 🙂
Don’t look. I once created something special in Social Services, and I try not to go there now
Sound advice there. That is the magic of WordPress – all that wisdom. 🙂
🙂
I guess you must have learned much from running the care. I am of course saddened on your behalf by what has happened. At the same time, I am sure the knowledge you have gained will be put to good use in the future.
Yes, we have learned a lot, and Julia is putting this to use with the new job. It’s taken seven months but I think we are now using the positives. 🙂
Of course 😊.
Sad.
It is, but I think this post marks the end of the sadness and the beginning of er…
Planning has never been one of my strengths. 🙂
It’s sad that things are in disrepair there. Still, you’ve had some other stuff going on and are indeed moving to other things. Good luck with changing the blog theme a bit to show new circumstances.
Yes, time moves on, and Julia has another garden to run.
As for the new theme – how about “We will always have Compost”? 🙂
That might be good!
On Wednesday she has two Men in Sheds coming down to see how they can help. It’s amazing how she puts these things together.
Now that’s gathering your old friends!!
Definitely old – they are both in their 80s and put me to shame with their energy and range of hobbies.
Hugs to you. It’s hard to feel like you had to leave such love and care and hard work behind. But try to remember that all that work and care and love has enriched you to become the person you are today. They can’t take that away from you no matter where you are.
Thank you. It’s taken seven months and several posts but I think I’ve now worked it out of my system and realised that we weren’t the losers in the situation.
You are right about the personal growth, and it shows in the way Julia is now running the Mencap garden. 🙂