We have moved

This is now our new home in Lavenham, I hope to be offering willow weaving courses in the spring.
To contact me email info@clayhillfarm.co.uk. I was sad to leave Bungeons but excited about our future plans to build a new home. I aim to start a new website and blog so if there is anyone out there who would like to trade a day or two willow weaving for help with internet stuff please contact me.

Border terrier Puppies

Sleepy Soli before pups.

Sam

Great news Soli has had 4 puppies, 2 girls 2 boys and they are all doing well. It was and still is an incredible experience . She was mated with Stowthorney Swinging Sam owned by Julie and Robert in Stowmarket

Newly born.

first feed

Izzy was up here at Bungeons with me and we are really grateful to Robert and Julie who called up to help as the last 2 puppies were being born to lend a hand and offer advice and reassurance.
We potentially have homes for 2 of the puppies , the other 2 border terrier pups are for sale.
I find time just slips away as I get drawn to watching Soli and puppies,

Not surprisingly we have many visitors and Soli is quite happy to be made a fuss of and let people see her puppies, she is a good mum

Smallholding for sale

Bungeons Harvest

Mead brewing on a sunny windowsill

We have taken 66lbs of honey and have more mead on the go. There is an abundance of flowers and we have elderflower wine brewing and cordial stored away, Cutting paths through the grass has worked well for the clover for the bees and both nuc boxes seem to be florishing,It is time to pick the marigold flowers and lavender to make the handcream infusions. Strawberries are rewarding us with plenty to store for the freezer. We grow a jam variety which are slower to ripen and firmer. The rasberries are quite sad though, too much cold and wet. The transplanted willows are away. We have our own organic beef in the freezer to sell or exchange.The crops further afield seem to be recovering after the cold winter and Chris is busy adapting machinery ready for direct drilling in the autumn.

Nuc box

Lots of the birds have successfully fledged . The young spotted woodpeckers are very amusing to watch.

Bungeons is at her most beautiful and I am pleased we have this time to reap the rewards and enjoy living 

here quite calmly while waiting for a sale. My main work at the moment  takes place at 

Clayhill Farm. http://newbuildclayhill.wordpress.com/blog/

More weaving

Adam with one of the large panels he made using the last of the bendy green willow we coppiced earlier in the year.We have chicks and cattle again at Bungeons, the vegetable garden is slow and suffering from lack of attention due to all the willow work I have been doing but we have a feast of asparagus at last. The summer raspberries are very behind but lots of flowers on the strawberries..The bees are doing well although we still need a run of warm sunny days any surplus honey they collect they then need to use on these wet grey days. I am really looking forwards to the first honey of the year.

Mum and some of the chicks , we have 2 hens sharing this brood . I spend quite a bit of time hunting out any other potential broods as we don't need any more chicks.We don't have the heart to dispose of the cockerel though.
Latest weavings, Willow work is going on hold for a while.

Willow workshop dates

Spring is finally here. I saw the first swallow on April 15th and heard my first cuckoo yesterday. The 3 colonies have made it through the winter and the rape is now in flower (slowly) it is a very late spring.
The next weaving workshops dates are;-
Monday May 20th
Wednesday May 22 at  http://www.brookfarmstudio.co.uk/ in Bildeston  where we will be making the birdfeeders like the one in the picture.
Wednesday May 29th
Saturday 1st June
Please contact for more information and to book.

Willow weaving workshop.

I have 2 spaces available on the workshop this Saturday 20th April.
Also spaces available on Weds May 29th . Please get in touch if your interested or would like to arrange a workshop on another date, I am making and taking orders for willow edging and willow trellis at the moment .

Willow platters

Tomorrow is Lavenham Farmers Market, I shall have these platters for sale and also the living willow chairs as well as plant supports,cloches,and birdfeeders. I have had Lilly from Germany staying for the last 3 weeks, a contact through Workaway. She was a huge help to me and we got lots of willow sorted, lavender bags made and she even made lovely cushions for the kitchen.
No progress on the gardening front it is still so cold and wet.The birds have started nesting , Chris is regularly filling the bird feeders very little progress on the farming front either surely we must get some warm dry weather soon. The last few workshops have been a success we managed to weave in the summerhouse without whipping each other too much. with the wood burner to keep us warm.

Living willow chairs

We are selling these chairs, They are made with green willow and just need planting 12 inches into the ground and a few more live rods woven into and around them.
I have put the dates together for future willow weaving workshops

Sue Whitton Willow

Saturday March 9^th 2013

Saturday March 16^th 2013

Saturday April 20^th 2013

Saturday April 27^th 2013

Saturday May 18^th 2013

Please contact me  07932 141366 if you have another date in mind, it is possible to run workshops on a week day. 
In the workshops  you will make your own plant support or cloche and learn information about sourcing,growing, and preparing willow for weaving.
The cost is £45 and includes a light lunch and all materials. 

Lavenham Farmers Market

First stall of the year at Lavenham farmers market very cold but no worse than being outside weaving.
I almost sold out and so enjoyable talking to people about willow and gardening. There was also loads of goodies inside to tempt me but contented myself with some daffodils, samosas, a curry for dinner and some baking potatoes all I have left from my crop are about the size of golf balls.
Hope to coppice more willow this week. I have added more workshop dates and will put them on the blog in the week. The ground is finally beginning to dry a bit although the temperatures are still below freezing most days. As my dad said "February is full of promise" I didn't used to believe him but he was right.

Moving the willows

A rare day of no snow or rain so decided to move the willows to Clayhill.

Some are just too big to move but with kens help we dug quite a few and still had the rods which I left on some of the plants to use as cuttings.
The ground at Bungeons is much kinder than Clayhill ,the name says it all!
It felt good to be planting at Clayhill  a step towards the future , we shall mulch them well with the rotted straw in the background to take advantage of all this wet weather and hopefully they should soon establish themselves here.
I still have some spaces available on the willow weaving workshops on March 9th and march 16th Please contact me for more information.

Willow weaving workshops

The dates for the willow workshops are:-
Saturdays 16th Feb, 9th March, 16th march.
Please contact me if you would like to arrange a week day workshop.

We had a rare sunny day at Bungeons and cut right back the wild garden . It is a haven for birds and small creatures but we felt that most of the seeds have been eaten and a bit of control was needed.
it now looks like this :-

Roll on spring ,It is a bit bleak to look at.