Cooking in the Woods

Myself and Mr Kite went to the woods over the weekend to cook for a bunch of hungry woodworkers who were learning how to make stools using green wood, shave horses and pole lathes.

The kitchen.

the workshops

log cabins/ campsite

we slept in this one.

The bath area (in progress). The bath is heated by a fire underneath.

Cooking in the woods 2

Here are some photos I took of project week at the woods (older photos in my previous post). I took a lot less photos than I remember. That's probably a good thing.

The kitchen with the workshop beyond, the new workshop space beyond that and Ollie's yurt beyond that. The new workshop space was what most people were working on during the week. I didn't photograph the finished thing, but it looked totally awesome. The basic shape of it is in the next photo. Next time I go, I'll photograph it because it looks really good:


This is the new workshop space before the roof struts were raised or the canvas put over it. Now this roof is erected and there's a yurt canvas stretched over it :D


A silly artsy photo of some plates, plus a small amount of the cool new rack Ollie made for drying them:


Mary, the new cook of the woods, making a yummy bannana cake for Edward's 11th birthday:


This is the oven that Mary's cake was cooked in. Pizza's do well in this, as does pretty much anything:


Tae, born in a yurt in the woods. He's the coolest kid ever, so relaxed and healthy and he giggles all the time. His mum puts him in a bouncy thing in the kitchen and he kicks around in that babbling away. I love the hammoc he was in a few weeks ago as well; it looked super fun:


Kellykettle on fire:

Cooking in the Woods 1

“The more civilised, the more unconscious and complicated a man is, the less he is able to follow his instincts. His complicated living conditions and the influence of his environment are so strong that they drown the quiet voice of nature. Opinions, beliefs, theories, and collective tendencies appear in its stead and back up all the aberrations of the unconscious mind. Deliberate attention should then be given to the unconscious so that the compensation can set to work. ” Jung, ‘The Syzygy: Anima and Animus’

Or alternatively, become less civilised and live a simple, uncomplicated life.

I have been in the woods for a while. Photos will come, eventually. Until then here are some old ones of the same place:

The yurt and workshop about two years ago. When I eventually upload the new images you will notice some changes:

This was where my friend Gabriel lived 2 years ago. A short dreadlocked man named Ollie with a great sense of humour now lives here. Ali lived here last year:

Here is some of the interior of the yurt when messy Gabriel lived in it:

When I go to the woods I usually cook for the workers because I enjoy it a lot more than manual lifting and woodwork. Here is the hob and a meal prepared by the previous cook, Ali:

In the background you can see the oven, This is the general kitchen, and lovely Dani:

Mr Kite lived in the far cabin for a month last January. He says this was the best month of his whole life. The closer cabin now has a turf roof:

Yes, you can have a hot shower in the woods:

When I came back after this year's spring project week I felt so intune, so relaxed and creative. I had only spent three or so nights in the woods, and already my whole being had started to shift into something more complete and relaxed. I will write about my time in the woods properly when I am less tired and I have some current photographs to show you. There is a baby in the woods now. He was born in a yurt there. He is the cutest, most reslient and healthy baby I have ever met. I'll talk about him more later. I hope you get to meet him some day because this dude is going to be the coolest kid you ever knew.

I saw an Osprey just the other day.

I’ve been away from the internet for a short time, and might not be back for a few days or weeks. As I said in my last post; I finished writing the first draft of a novel and figured it would be nice to spend some time doing practical things. I feel like jotting down some interesting things I have seen and done recently.

I saw an Osprey down at a lake a little way from my house, in fact there is a picture of the lake on an earlier post and a mention of spotting a strange large bird that I thought was black, or at least dark. It transpires that the bird was probably an Osprey; and even if it wasn’t, I later saw one for sure. I had the great fortune to go by the lake when some twitters were set up there with their long lenses. I asked them what the bird I might have seen earlier in the month might have been and they directed me to look in the lenses. There it was sitting in a tree, all proud and beautiful. An Osprey. I couldn’t believe it.

Myself and my boyfriend (Mr Kite) made some jam (a batch of strawberry and a batch of raspberry, picked at Ansty PYO). It’s so delicious. We’re going to make some hedgerow jams and jellies tomorrow with the help of our newest fabulous friend, Mary. I love meeting new friends, especially ones who are on my same wavelength. Today we went to the woods near Bath, and Mary and I were working in the outdoor kitchen together, baking a cake in the cob oven and making delicious food for the workers to wolf down. We both would like very much to be homemakers in self-sufficient heaven. Maybe someday we will. Maybe I will post some photos of this sometime.

Cheese fair in Stir on Saturday and then back to the woods for more outdoor cookery on Sunday. Fun times!

Yule-tide

Just a quick post to say Happy Solstice! We had a lovely party in the woods yesterday, complete with huge fire, african drumming, lots of amazing food cooked in an earth oven/ on an open fire, paper lanterns and fireworks. The fireworks made the trees all pretty colours; the shadows moved and jumped.
Today we went up to Win Green for a dusk-time walk in honour of the shortest day. It was windy and beautiful.

I forgot my camera for both these occasions; no photos then. Use your visual imaginations to dream up a lovely picture of solistice fun times.