The meadow was mown two days ago and the sun has shone since.
Our meadow has been mown, about a month later than usual, Simon our neighbouring farmer cuts it bails it and takes it away to use as fodder for his cattle through the winter. Meadows need managing, ours is just over 3 acres, you could keep a horse on it if that was your thing, but if you bear in mind that I think sailing involves to much faffing around with kit, you might understand that I think anyone who keeps a horse is a bit mad; a least you don’t have to muck out and feed a sailing dinghy nor do they get colic. If I could keep a horse tied up by the back door, jump on it go for a quick trot round the back lanes and then tie it up again, job done, I could see the attraction; but I am too lazy to be a horse owner.
If you left a field to its own devices it would soon be a tangle of brambles docks and nettles, ours has minimum attention, we use weed-killer on any major clumps of weeds and Simon ‘mucks’ it and puts cattle on to graze it for a few weeks each year. The crop from our field is no where as bountiful as his own fields, on which he lavishes much attention, but it is still of use to him and we are all happy with the arrangement.
As soon as it was down the local cats started prowling the perimeter looking for displaced mice and voles, and a chestnut backed kestrel has been standing in the wind, looking watching waiting for prey. It smells gorgeous, top of the range eau de ‘cut grass’, each day Simon or one of his boys, (no such thing as a summer holiday when you are a farmers son.) Comes along with the ‘tedder’ this flick and turns the cut grass, allowing it to dry evenly.
The scent of the grass changes each time, it is becoming a sweeter with a ‘fruity’ note.
Last night I drove past a small group of people bringing in a field of hay, it could have been a scene from the 1960’s, small bales, ancient tractor, all the generations of a family working in the field, it was a time warp; I wish I had the camera with me.
Most farmers now use much more mechanized methods of dealing with the crop, they have a range of options as to how they handle it; I could now spend some time researching and telling you the differences between silage, haylage and hay, but its a beautiful day, far to nice to be sat at a PC, I’m off to make hay whilst the sun shines.
Oh, the three boys of yesterdays post, having spent over two days running, sliding and slipping they are so stiff they can barely move, I am sending them out to pick blackberries.
Uphilldowndale 