Happy pigs!
The extraordinary vision of Maryse Anand for her farm on Loch Tay includes an eco-village, a Scottish Centre for Alternative Technology, a healing centre and a space for children to develop in the spirit of the Anastasia writings. This is all while Maryse continues to run her Bunkhouse accommodation business, keeps busy giving distant healing treatments and has just recently become a host for the Academy of Agricultural Philosophy from Japan.
I share all of Maryse's enthusiasm and vision for the work and believe it's vital we start building a sustainable, resilient world now. Why can't we swing a couple of billion Maryse's way instead of shoring up the crumbling towers of fear and greed? I think she'd achieve a bloomin' sight more than certain politicians I can think of. As it is, much of the work at Culdees is done by volunteers like myself. While I was there, there were also visitors from France, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the US and the UK as well as two monks from Japan.
(And in that vein look at the hassle the Lammas ecovillage project in Wales is being given by the planning authorities - these people need support not endless stupid obstacles ... rant rant rant ...)
My contribution: the raised beds in the polytunnel were getting very wobbley so I used a bit of acoustic guitar making technology in the form of X-bracing to firm them up. (Plus I was able to help a bit with a translation of the Academy of Agricultural Philosophy's manifesto - very interesting in itself, all to do with reviving natural systems of agriculture which respect the Earth. More soon about that I hope, there is even a plan to start growing rice at Culdees.)
Good luck Maryse! Thanks for all the delicious food, fascinating talks and hope to see you again very soon.
Here are four ducks en route from a breeder in Kent to a home in the highlands with Sue and Tober at Tombreck. These are Super Ducks, sorry, I've forgotten the name of the breed, which lay an egg a day as well as chomping up slugs and other pests without destroying plants. Chickens tend to scratch up plants but, having webbed feet, ducks don't.
The journey took two days - it must be a long time to be kept inside a cardboard box.
...and here are the ducks a week later safely in their new home inside Sue and Tober's poly-tunnel, complete with mini pond and all the duck food you could ask for. They were still very shy, the journey seemed to have been a bit traumatic for them. Maybe they take a while to adjust to being 500 miles further North as much as anything else; if anyone knows any tips towards happy duck transportation please let me know. Hopefully they will be up to full duck power before too long. 