Barndromin Farm

We are finally settled again but this time on a beautiful sheep farm/B&B in Oban. This family, just like the last, has welcomed us with open arms and has so far made our stay very comfortable. It actually reminds me a lot of home, it is as though we have just joined the family and are carrying on with the family chores. Without these families or this entire HelpX experience I am not sure I would have made it this far without considering the option of going home. When Nate and I are living in scummy hostels and trying to find a place to eat our dinner that is not the side of the road it really makes me miss my bed and my family. But thankfully that is not the case most of the time (and yes I do realize that those scummy hostels and road side dining is our choice), we have been blessed with these people who took us in not having a clue who we were and gave us a bed and fed us and have so far treated us as more than strangers.
So for a change Nate and I are for the most part working separate most of the time. I tend to stay within the home and/or Bed and Breakfast changing over rooms, ironing, cooking and just general cleaning. While as Nate spends his days out in the fields tending to his flock.


Like Sophie has said things have been great here on the farm and we are enjoying our time here. I spend most of the time helping Jamie do a variety of things with the sheep like dosing, organizing them for culling and spraying them down for flies etc. Today we started sheering, my job is to basically wrestle the sheep out of the pen and toss them on their bums so he can grab them right away. It's tough! Especially as the beginning when I didn't have clue what I was doing. Now I have the technique down though and it's a bit easier but wow I will be sore tomorrow! I usually just work all day with Jamie so in compensation for all the extra work we are doing our hosts are going to pay for a trip to the Isle of Mull for us, which is fantastic.

On Sunday we had a day off and went with our host to hike up a munro to see some rare flowers (He is  quite the flower enthusiast). A munro is anything over 3,000 feet in Scotland.....I said to myself 3,000 feet can't be that high. Big Mistake! So we headed off on this day trip with our bikes, first we biked 6km to the mountain and then hiked all the way up it. Brutal, my legs were trembling on the way down to say the least. Lots of fun and Sophie is basically a mountain girl now.




Didn't have an amazing view cause we were in the clouds but still some great scenery and a great experience! Definitely the highest mountain I've ever climbed. Tomorrow we will be out shearing again (my poor arms!) and then on Thursday we will probably be taking our trip to the Isle of Mull, our hosts our farmers so we don't really work around the weekend but more the weather. Lots of fun and learning  tonnes!