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I’ve been lucky this autumn; it’s made up for the diabolical summer.
The sun and gentle mild days have made the grass sweet and palatable, and with the lack of consistent autumnal rain we’ve avoided the sodden, muddy quagmire we’re usually experiencing at this time of the year.
What possessed me?
I began the day quite normally. Checking animals, being bowled over by the sunrise, cursing as I’d forgotten my camera.
What did possess me?
I’d made the phone calls I needed to. Pressure washed the Bobcat and yard scraper ready for the mechanic to check an irrepressible oil leak and change the scraper rubber.
Splattered with a peppering of FYM I was walking back up to the house for a sponge down and a cup of tea when the possession hit…
The mist had rolled back and the day was ice blue and golden.
Perfect for drying, I thought.
The next thing I knew I was stripping the covers off the sofas, bunging them into the washing machine and thinking ‘what if I move the sitting room into the dinning room?’ Read the rest of this entry »
Last night we donned our warmest coats, scarves, hats, and gloves and set off for the Hatherleigh Carnival. A ritual.
All photos courtesy of Will’s (my son) mobile phone Read the rest of this entry »
I hate fireworks – whilst it seems that the rest of the world is going ‘oooh’ and ‘ahhh’ I would rather be anywhere else, which of course I am. I have no idea where this loathing came from, nothing bad firework-wise has happened to me (I don’t think), and I’m pretty sure I’m not nursing some hidden psychological problem (though others may disagree). Read the rest of this entry »
Words flow when I’m excited, upset or angry. Having a rant or getting nitty-gritty isn’t a problem. But the gentle, dry autumn weather has soothed and calmed, I feel peaceful and relaxed. The words in my head are amorphous, languid and nebulous; hardly entertaining for a punchy, pithy post. Read the rest of this entry »
We have a dearth of fungi this year, but yesterday, returning home through a glade in Marymead birch wood I found the floor dotted with these glorious deep purplish-lilac fungi. The Amethyst Deceiver. I love the gothic implications. However my book assures me they are ‘quite edible’ and boringly ‘very common’ – but I’ve never found them there before…a deception? Read the rest of this entry »
Has anyone seen one of these?
He decided to lure me away. Promises of a romantic night in an ancient manor house. Being wined and dined. Lazy morning (no animal checking) and colossal breakfast.
What girl could resist?
Then came the rub: ‘Well actually, I really do have to be at the national hedgelaying championships’
‘What – all day?’
‘Yess…ish. But then we’ll go home!.’ Grrr…eat. Read the rest of this entry »
At the moment we are in the middle of the red deer rut. It began last Wednesday morning when I first heard, and then saw, a young stag with a small group of hinds cavorting in the early morning mist in the field behind the cows.
Every year I sell some of my cows and heifers. Generally it’s a handful of my yearling heifers and a few cows from the main herd.
Heather’s a young down calving heifer who’s up for sale. She’s due to calve in the next few weeks with her second calf. Yesterday when I checked the cows she looked very imminent. Her vulva was engorged and she was holding her tail high, her bones were soft and her udder was beginning to fill. I decided to bring her back up to the farm to keep an eye on her. Read the rest of this entry »
