Community Life

Beth Hardwick posted this on 28th May 2009

I guess I am in a moment when I truly love the community Sam and I have here in Sussex. Every aspect works and works well. It’s the first time in a long time where I have felt like this.  On the other hand, discussions and ideas are flowing for Bivouac sites outside of this area and I believe in this business as a lifestyle opportunity.

I feel torn.

I am learning to give fully to all and any community that we find ourselves in and believe that we can feel fulfilled anywhere we lay our hat if it is the right place to be (not Sam’s silly hat though).
As a wise friend said recently… “you are not leaving our community but taking us with you on your journey”

A bit more of this action please

David Sorley posted this on 27th May 2009

The Best man is training to be a stunt man so the weekend was always going to be a mad one…

This is me trying to jump into the basin of a little waterfall called ‘The Washing machine’ in the lake district at a recent stag weekend.
I can’t wait for us all doing this sort of thing at The Bivouac!

Bivouac Hat

Sam Hardwick posted this on 27th May 2009

I know we haven’t secured the first Bivouac site yet… but in amongst all the important planning, I often find my mind drifting to the smaller but arguably more important details.  With our eyes looking as far north as the Orkney Islands and as far south as Cornwall, I’m very aware that I’m going to need a good hat. A very good hat. A hat that’s at home in torrential rain and blazing sunshine. 

I have a confession… I already own such a hat.

It has stood by me through months of international travel and despite my sustained abuse, it has remained faithful. But I’m nervous. Overseas it’s perfectly acceptable to be dressed like an eccentric Englishman with an aging, British-made felt hat. In fact people flocked to it. But here… in the UK… in 2009. I’m not sure.  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

More Chicken News

David Sorley posted this on 25th May 2009

I’ve had a few hints and tips about deterring Foxes including high explosives…

Apparently a good one (according to Sue Price) is to spray Mens urine around the boundaries of your garden!

So I’ll keep you posted! Two new hens joining us next week - Very excited.

Update… My friend Thom has the following to say…

Thing with foxes is that they can get over most high fences & will dig under any gap they see but it shouldn’t matter.  Theres very little you can do to deter them so just make sure the chicks have somewhere secure to roost overnight – my parents use me & my bros old playhouse, slightly modified with laying boxes sticking out the back. Its got a proper door latch which we wedge tight & theres no way anythings getting in or out of there. It does mean however you have to open it up & lock it tight everyday.

Our Family Adventure

Claire Sorley posted this on 15th May 2009

So we’ve taken the plunge to make our Bivouac adventure an adventure for the entire family and decided to…...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/viridianphoto/5185743657/sizes/z/in/photostream/

Home School/Home Educate/ “learn outside the classroom” with our 2 Children Milly (4) and Ben (2), not that they need much more than life and play at the moment! It’s either madness or genius, or a bit of both- I am sure they go together well! We want them to love being outside, learn to build things, grow things, look after animals, cook, play etc etc, all the things that parents want for their children. We are so excited about the way the bivouac will be able to provide these opportunities for our family and everyone else’s! The Biv team are bursting with ideas to make family time the best time and we can’t wait for our ideas to become reality! In the mean time our lucky kids can be the “guinea pigs” and let us know how to do it even better.
When we told Amelias’s nursery our plans, we were really nervous that they would think that we were a bit nuts. In actual fact the Nursery Teacher just said “well you’ve got to live the dream-Good Luck!”. We’ll do that then, here goes!

The Chicken Incident

David Sorley posted this on 09th May 2009

I’m sure my first blog post about our two new amazing chickens, run and coop is supposed to be a happy one…

We’d had our lovely egg laying Wyandot hens for about three weeks.

Living in the mighty city of Leeds we wanted a bit of the country with us. So I made what I thought was a secure run and coop in the bottom of the garden.

Last night it looks like something got them! So… I need to secure it even more and then find two new lovely birds to pop out more eggs for us.

Does anyone else out there keep chickens? If so, how do you keep them all safe?

UPDATE… It turns out it was Foxy Loxy that got our wee chickens. Improved security measures almost in place! looking forward to fresh eggs again. Mmmmm…

It’s real life

Beth Hardwick posted this on 09th May 2009

Today is the first time in 18 months of this project where I have my little girl Martha Willow being looked after and I am sitting in an office away from the little shed; the shed that we have converted ourselves and now call home.

I can fully get into the detail and concentrate. It feels wonderful. I am excited about all the avenues this project is taking us down. I truly believe something special is being born. It’s daunting. It’s real life. It’s not bringing in any income at a time where one is really needed. But it’s peaceful. I hope you get some of the magic… and come with us on the journey of The Bivouac together.

The Bivouac has arrived

Sam Hardwick posted this on 08th May 2009

The new Bivouac website has arrived. A huge thank you to Matt and the team at Box-head* for putting this together.  Keep your eye on our founder diaries. As each of us work to pull the different elements of the project together, we’re going to share our journey right here. We’ve already come across loads of great things that we’d love to share with you and now we have the chance to do just that.

I’ll start with an update. What are we up to? We are currently looking for the first site for The Bivouac. We are looking for somewhere just right… somewhere uncompromisingly perfect. It’s got to have that something special.  We’ve had a great couple of months traveling the length and breadth of the UK looking at sites and chatting to landowners. We’ve got several conversations open and we’re optimistic for an agreement very soon.

Do you know an area or landowner that could host The Bivouac? – We’d love to hear from you.