London City Farms

There are approximately 14 farms in London.  I've been to a few and I think they are great.  People can go and visit the farms and get the 'country' experience.  The farm that I go to the most is

Stepney City Farm.

 

The farms are working farms and mostly run by volunteers.  Stepney grows their own vegetables which are used and sold in their cafe.  Check out the green house... it is made from water bottles.

 

 

The farm(s) also provide allotments where people can come and grow their own veg.

 

The farms also have animals.  Some have different animals than others.  Schools will come to farms for field trips.  Most city kids have never seen these animals.

 

Here is mama pig taking a needed break from her 5 piglets... spring is here!  :)

 

Chickens and roosters just run about...  The farm sells chicken, goose, and duck eggs.  This is a bantam rooster.  Bantam chicken eggs are about half the size of a regular chicken egg and they don't lay everyday either.  I hear duck eggs are very rich...

 

Daddy goat... donkeys in the field behind him.

 

Mama goat and one of her babies.  There are 4 baby goats this year.

 

Mama sheep and her lambs.... I think I counted 5 lambs in all....

 

CUTE!

 

I found out about Stepney Farm when I was looking at volunteering for something.  Stepney Farm has a project called Furry Tales.  We take some of the smaller more cuddly animals to senior homes as a therapy project.  It is amazing to see the seniors light up when we bring the animals out. 

 

Butterscotch had 5 bunnies this spring.  We took her and all her bunnies one week.  This week we took Ginger (from her last litter) and 2 babies... A mama and 5 babies get heavy to carry after a bit.  Butterscotch's babies will be handled as much as possible to prepare them to be therapy bunnies.  (The brown bunny there only has 1 ear)

 

We also take Guinea Pigs.... They make good therapy animals.

 

And believe it or not, we also take a chicken.  Mable had a broken leg when she was born and was handled a lot.  She has been a good therapy pet.  The east side of London was a very poor part of the city and it was not uncommon for people to have their own chickens in their gardens.  Mable seems to trigger a memory for some of the seniors.  Some seniors are a little intimidated by her at first but once they stroke (pet) her, they fall in love.  Mable will perch on our arm and we can walk her around... she is very calm and as soft as silk.

 

Don't you just LOVE this face!!  I wish I could take her home with me... but I don't think she would last long in a 500 sq ft flat  :(

 

Here is mama telling her baby to get away from the crazy human!!

 

And what would a city farm be without pigeons?!?

 

Stepney City Farm also provides a metal working shop, a wood working shop, and a ceramics class.  They also have a farmers market once a week. 

 

I hope you have enjoyed!!

 

A Visit to the Irelands

Marco had a conference in Belfast (Northern Ireland and part of the UK) and in Dublin (Republic of Ireland) this past week and I got to tag along.  We flew into Belfast and had just enough time to visit the Titanic Museum before Marco had to get to work.  The museum was very well done!  It started with the history of Belfast before the Titanic was built.  It then takes you through the process of the ship being built, the maiden voyage, about the crew and passengers, the communication after the ship hit the iceberg, the aftermath, a journey to bottom of the ocean, and then finally live feed of current work being done by Professor Ballard (who discovered the Titanic).

While Marco was working, I visited the Belfast Castle.  It was much smaller than I expected.

The first castle was built in the last 12th century.  The current castle was completed in 1870.

The gardens surrounding the castle...

The castle sits up on the slopes of Cave Hill and looks out over the city of Belfast.

It is said that good fortune will come to those who visit Belfast Castle as long as the tradition of the Castle Cat is kept (sounds a bit like the ravens at the Tower of London).  The story goes that there has always been a resident white cat at the castle.  The gardens celebrate this tale with 9 cats in the gardens in the form of mosaics, statues, a topiary, etc.

We stayed the night in Belfast and then took the train to Dublin early the next morning.  We only had one snag on the trip...  One of the carriages had an electrical fire so we had to wait for that issue to be resolved.  Fortunately no one was hurt and we were soon on our way.  We passed a lot of farms and small villages.  I like to travel by train so you can see the countryside.

Again, while Marco was working, I got to do some site seeing.  I visited Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells.  The Book of Kells is the four gospels in Latin and written early 9th century in Scotland and probably by monks.  During this time all bibles were written in Greek or Hebrew.  The gospels were written on calf skin and has elaborate art work telling the stories of the gospels.  The Book of Kells was sent to Dublin around 1653 for safe keeping when Vikings attacked the area where it was kept in Iona.  The Book of Kells has been at Trinity College since 1661.

The college's library (behind the tree) was completed in 1732.  The library has the books on the upper floors to protect from dampness.  The Liffey River came up to the walls of the college and flooding was a problem.  It is no longer a problem though.  The river no longer reaches that far and there are 2 Oregon Oaks planted in the green space and they have sucked enough of the water that dampness is no longer an issue.

All over Dublin signs are written in English and Gaelic.

I visited the Dublin Castle.  It was not very impressive.  I had a friend say that the castle "should have been called 'offices from where you will be ruled by England for 500 years'".

I met up with Marco after he was finished with work.  We went to a local pub for dinner.  They had live music and then they had Irish dancers.  The music made me think of Bluegrass and the River dancing made me think of cloggers.  It was very enjoyable!

The following day, Marco and saw St. Patrick's Cathedral.  We were not able to go in because of a graduation taking place.

The Cathedral Gardens were very nice and full of people enjoying the sunshine (even though it was cold!).

I almost missed this plaque for looking up....

Store fronts...

The last thing we did was visit the Guinness Brewery (top of Marco's list)

It was very interesting!

The tour ended with a pint (I had a half...).  Here are some pints settling before they are topped off.

It was a short trip and there were things we did not have time to see and do (another time) but we had a great time!

I hope you have enjoyed!!

London - Clipper Round the World Race 13/14

 We are so lucky (& blessed) to experience the events in London since we have been here.  The latest event was seeing the Clipper Round the World Race 13/14 leaving from London.  The boats came in a week ago and were docked at St. Katherine's Docks - just down the river from us.  The boats left September 1 for their 40,000 mile, 11 month race and they passed right by our balcony. 

We invited some of our friends over to watch and it was very exciting!!

Here is Team GB (Great Britain).  There are 12 teams, 8 legs of the race, and 23 crew members.

 

Here is Team Qingdao.  Qingdao is a major city in the province of Shandong, China.  The 5th leg of the race travels from Eastern Australia to Eastern China.

Here is Team Jamaica.

Team Switzerland...

Team Invest Africa.  The boats are currently on their way to South America.  The second leg with be to South Africa and then to Western Australia.

Companies also sponsor boats.  The crew is not required to have any sailing experience when they sign on.  The Skipper is the only experienced / professional sailor on board.  It was very interesting talking to volunteers at St. Katherine's Dock who have done this before.  An experience of a lifetime.

Team Old Putney....  Crew members can choose to race the whole 40,000 miles or they can choose to do particular legs of the race.

Team Garmin & Team Mission Performance....  The 23 crew members work in shifts.  I'm not sure I would want the night shift in the middle of the ocean some where!

Team Logistics....  The boats are 70 feet and the new design is all about speed.

Team Derry-Londonderry-Daire...

Team Henri Lloyd...

Getting ready....

And, they're off!!  See y'all back in July!

Spectators were out in full force cheering the teams as they left for their adventure of a lifetime.

While the clippers were getting ready for the race earlier in the week, these boats were also in town for a visit.  They were in Greenwich which is southeast of us.  Greenwich is where the Old Royal Naval College is.  The boats did come by our apartment and we got to enjoy their splendor from our balcony.

Hope you have enjoyed!!