Internet weather forecasts make weather watching while hay making a different game from the past, with multiple updates during the day and hourly predictions. You can still get caught out though. When Phil started mowing last Friday (26th June) a relatively stable period of weather was forecast. This slowly changed
For the past couple of years I have mowed a labyrinth into the wild flower meadow in the Top Field as part of the Summer Solstice celebration we hold here at the Trust. The children really enjoy it, and were determined there should be another one this year. So, wielding
Phil got back from the West Country Scythe Festival last night. He was back out mowing for hay first thing this morning. Essential parts of an early morning mowing kit! Coffee sweetened with honey from our own bees As usual, much fun was had at the scythe festival and during
What unusual hay making weather it has been. The wind has blown from all four quadrants and has now settled in the North. We have had at least two June grass frosts this week, including one last night (emergency fleece has been deployed in the garden to protect tender crops!).
We started bringing in hay on Saturday, and bought in more Sunday. With tonight’s hauling, we have quarter of an acre of herb rich hay safe in the barn. Hay spread in the sun. The most recently mown at the top, down to hay ready to cart at the bottom
Here is Phil mowing in the Top Field early yesterday morning. The crop is shorter then usual after a cool spring, although it never grows very long on the majority of this herb rich meadow dominated by Rough Hawkbit (Leontodon hispidus ). We have about quarter of an acre down
With rain forecast, we got the May hay up on racks yesterday afternoon and evening. The short mowings from the early cut made for racks that look quite different from our summer “hairy monsters”. A neat little hay rack
We had our first Scythe Course of the season on Saturday. It was a really excellent day. The course was full with participants both local and from further afield. As well as the scythe teaching there was plenty of interesting conversation over lunch and tea breaks, covering scything and grass
One of the most amazing place we visited whilst in the Faroe islands was the little community of Saksun. After a beautiful cycle along a fjord then up a glacial valley, we climbed a small rise to find the settlement perched above a tidal lagoon, with mountains and cascading waterfalls
Last summer, after filling the barn with hay we built an outdoor hay stack. (See here). Here it is when freshly built. We meant to put a tarp or something over it to protect the top and help it shed water, but we somehow never got around to it. Over
Twice a day I go to the barn to fetch hay for the livestock. Just recently I have reached a particularly fragrant layer in one of the stacks. As I pull out the hay I am surrounded by the rich, sweet smell of summer. Happy hay munchers Looking at the
The last of Cae Mari Jones has been cut. Some of the patches that had a lot of Knapweed in have been used to mulch various areas of perennial plants. We have also made a couple more racks, managing to wilt the hay sufficiently between the showers. The patch of