Signs of Life
by Esther Smith
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We have recently enjoyed some beautiful weather here at Crag House Farm, the home of Caring For Life. This is a real answer to prayer. We have major building projects in progress and the builders were held up by several weeks due to torrential rain and high winds.

The mornings have been frosty and sometimes foggy, but most days recently we have reveled in sunshine, clear blue skies and signs of spring, albeit maybe a premature spring.

Signs of life are all around. In the sensory gardens snowdrops are through and the first wild plum blossom is out. Daffodils are coming up under the trees and the whole area is full of bird song.

Abi and Helen, two of our TFJs, are organizing the CFL “Springwatch” competition this year and are putting a beautifully illustrated display up on the notice board in the refectory. As people queue up for their lunch they can read about different birds, butterflies and animals, preparing themselves for rushing to be the first person to spot those creatures and win a prize. We will be taking our hats off to the first young person to correctly identify a chiffchaff … or to the staff member or volunteer who is able to confirm that identification!!

The building work is continuing apace, sometimes with tall cranes on site, sometimes a stream of lorries and always plenty of machinery and a bustle about the place. The birds are continuing regardless of this disruption and everywhere there are tree sparrows disappearing into holes in the barn walls, their beaks stuffed with nesting materials. When the 18th C barn was re-pointed last year, the workmen were careful to leave the nesting holes free.

Other birds are busy gaining the highest vantage point they can, from which to sing and announce their territory. It is amusing to see several species taking up their posts on scaffolding poles on the building site and using those new high spots to sing from. Crag House Farm must look quite different from the air with the new buildings going up, but hopefully our friends the swallows will recognise the area when they arrive back from their wintering grounds in South Africa and won’t “overshoot” the farm!

All these lovely signs of spring and new life are not as lost on those in CFL’s care as they used to be. Many still focus solely on their own worries and troubles, but more are now able to notice the beauty of creation and to take some interest in the changing seasons.

We are also thrilled to see signs of new spiritual life in some of those in our care who have never shown such an interest before. In our morning prayer times, some men and women who have hardly prayed before are praying every single day. We pray that as Easter approaches, we will be able to share the news of God’s wonderful grace, of Christ being raised from the dead and of new life in Christ, with some who have never heard this amazing good news before.

Snowdrops

Wild Plum blossom

Helen with Joanne filling the bird feeders


Robins are regular visitors to our feeders

Jake with Joe installing new bird boxes.