Delayed Departure

You may remember that we were planning to change locations this week. On Monday we packed up our bags, tidied our room and put the bedsheets in the wash. Pretty soon after starting the washing cycle we were rung by our next hosts and told that they were getting tested for COVID-19 and that we would need to delay our move by at least a couple of days. Great news to hear at the start of a week! After a minor panic, we went to tell our Nanaimo hosts who were probably looking forward to some privacy later that day. Fortunately, they were very supportive and said they could tolerate us for a little while longer. We duly put our work gear back on and did what we now do best – clearing out animal poop. This week’s variety was chicken. The farm uses the deep litter technique, basically a laissez faire method, which involves building up the droppings and occasionally topping it up with wood shavings to stop the smell! However, it should make some good compost. We also picked up a lot of rocks and levelled out some mounds of mud to turn into pasture.

Before this drama we had a nice relaxing weekend with highlights including another mountain bike ride around Westwood Lakes for Ollie and having a video call with our old pub quiz team. We were jealous of everyone relaxing with wine, it was only midday for us at the start, but at least we had the luxury of 7 acres of land that we could walk around afterwards! 

The following morning, Rosie was a bit late for Skype with the Tomlinsons, as two new lambs were born! This was a bit of a surprise, we had assumed their mum wasn’t pregnant as she didn’t look large enough. They are both doing much better than Finn and were feeding straight away. Rosie trimmed the umbilical cords and treated them with iodine. The largest has been named Bubbles and the scrawniest has been named Rosy, as you could see the pink of her skin through her fur. You’re not the cutest anymore Finn!

We finally received a message on Wednesday saying that the COVID-19 test had come back negative, it was just a kid cough, and so we could arrive whenever we liked! On Thursday we repeated Monday morning’s routine and made our way down to the ferry terminal. The 25 minute ferry ride was very strange for us. Most passengers were in cars and remained sat in them, whilst we and the 2 other foot passengers stood quite a distance apart from each other in the queues. This was our first experience of the new social distancing measures in public and we found it quite unnerving. 

We were picked up and driven to our new home, where we met the couple hosting us, their two kids (3 and 1) plus a cousin who is staying with them and also working on the farm. Oh, also 30 chickens, 7 icelandic sheep, 2 horses and 3 dogs. We were optimistic about not catching the viral cough, but within minutes we had toddler hands in our pockets, had been sneezed on and were being used as ladders! They are very cute though, so we will forgive them.

That evening, to Ollie’s delight, we learnt that they produced their own pear cider, and lots of it! It’s like good traditional British Perry, not the usual sickeningly sweet Canadian stuff you can buy in liquor stores. For dinner, we had some wild stinging nettle spanakopitas – neither of us have ever eaten stinging nettles before and it was great. 

We’ve been making lots of vegetable beds (18 so far) and planted beets, radishes and carrots for the apocalypse. We’re not sure how long we will stay here given the current situation, but we imagine it might be for quite awhile. We should be able to learn a lot though. Plus there are plenty of beaches, cycling trails around the island and the couple often go out sailing on the weekend. 

We hope you are all OK, wherever you are. Here’s another hummingbird to keep the bird fans happy…